January 31, 1988: Doug Williams Writes an Answer

January 31, 1988, 30 years ago: Super Bowl XXII is played at what was then known as Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Fans were expecting a quarterback to put on a big show.

A quarterback did put on a big show. But not the quarterback that most people were expecting.

They were expecting it to be John Elway. The Stanford University alumnus had put up big numbers with the Denver Broncos, and in the 1986 AFC Championship Game, he led them on a 98-yard drive to a tying touchdown in the last 2 minutes of regulation, not merely on the Cleveland Browns but in the direction of the bleachers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, which gained fame (or infamy, depending on how you view it) that season as "The Dawg Pound." The Broncos won the game in overtime on a field goal by Rich Karlis.

Then they lost Super Bowl XXI to the New York Giants. They got back to the AFC Championship Game for the 1987 season, and again faced the Browns, this time at Mile High Stadium in Denver. A late fumble by Earnest Byner sealed a 38-33 win for the Broncos, who again rode Elway's powerful right arm to victory, much more than their famed "Orange Crush" defense.

Now, they were in another Super Bowl, against the Washington Redskins. They had previously lost Super Bowl XII to the Dallas Cowboys, 10 years earlier, so Rocky Mountain fans were hoping the 3rd time would be the charm.

The Redskins had appeared in 6 NFL Championship Games in 10 years from 1936 to 1945, winning in 1937 and 1942. But after World War II, they went into a long decline. They emerged from it in the late 1960s, and won the 1972 NFC Championship, losing Super Bowl VII to the Miami Dolphins.

They went into a transition period, then hired Joe Gibbs to coach the team. With a tough defense, a receiving corps known as the Fun Bunch, and the most famous offensive line in football history, known as The Hogs, they exorcised some of their ghosts, beating their arch-rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, in the 1982 NFC Championship Game, then beating the Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII, for their 1st World Championship in 40 years. They lost Super Bowl XVIII to the Los Angeles Raiders, but remained one of the NFL's best teams, and advanced to Super Bowl XXII.

The Redskins' quarterback was Doug Williams. A student of coach Eddie Robinson at mostly-black Grambling State University in northern Louisiana, he finished 4th in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1977. He had gotten the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the 1979 NFC Championship Game, and into the Playoffs again in 1981. His offensive coordinator there? Joe Gibbs, who was then hired away by the Redskins.

But a salary dispute led Williams to leave the team, and he signed with the Oklahoma Outlaws of the United States Football League. Things did not go well for him: The Outlaws were a bad team, the USFL folded, and his wife Janice died of a brain tumor.

But Gibbs remembered. He signed a few former USFL players, including Williams, running back Kelvin Bryant of the Philadelphia Stars, and receivers Gary Clark of the Jacksonville Bulls and Ricky Sanders of the Houston Gamblers. They were all big reasons why the 'Skins got back to the Roman numeral game.

Still, the Broncos went in favored by 3 points. Was it because they were a team playing on natural grass, as this game was? No, because the Redskins were, too. Was it because, as an AFC West team, they had regularly played there, against the San Diego Chargers? I doubt it. Was it because they had more fans, and thus more of them likely to show up? Unlikely, as the Redskins also had a pretty big fan base. Was it due to experience? I don't think so: While most of the Broncos had appeared in the previous Super Bowl, the Redskins still had a lot of the players from Super Bowls XVII and XVIII. (Joe Theismann was their quarterback then, since forced into retirement by the Giants' Lawrence Taylor breaking his leg.)

No, the main reason for the short but noticeable spread was the quarterbacks. Elway was viewed as a better quarterback. Certainly, he was more talented, with the stronger arm. And he was awarded the NFL's Most Valuable Player award after the regular season. But that didn't necessarily mean he was better. After all, he had been outplayed by Phil Simms of the Giants the year before.

In contrast, Williams was not only in his 1st Super Bowl, but he was going to be the 1st black quarterback to start in the Super Bowl -- which he came within 10 points of doing 8 years earlier with Tampa Bay.

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This should not have taken until 1988 to occur. And, now that it had, it shouldn't have been a big deal. It had been 51 years and change since Jesse Owens shattered the Nazi myth of Aryan supremacy at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin; nearly 50 years since Joe Louis wrecked unwilling symbol of Aryan supremacy Max Schmeling in 2 minutes at Yankee Stadium; 41 seasons since Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Marion Motley and Bill Willis reintegrated pro football; 40 years and change since Jackie Robinson reintegrated Major League Baseball.

It had been 39 years and change since Larry Doby became the 1st black man to play on a World Series winner, and the 1st to hit a home run in World Series play; 37 years and change since Earl Lloyd, Charles Cooper and Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton integrated the NBA; 34 years since Willie Thrower and George Taliaferro became the 1st black quarterbacks in the NFL; 33 years and change since Brown v. Board; 32 years since the Montgomery Bus Boycott; and 30 years since Willie O'Ree became the 1st black player in the NHL (there had previously been a Canadian player of Chinese descent).

It had been nearly 26 years since Baker v. Carr mandated "one man, one vote"; 24 years and change since Martin Luther King electrified the March On Washington; 23 years and change since the Civil Rights Act of 1964; 22 years and change since the Voting Rights Act of 1965; 21 years and change since Bill Russell became the 1st black head coach of a true major league team (the NFL could hardly have been called "major league" in 1920, when Fritz Pollard was both head coach and quarterback of the Akron Pros).

It had been 19 years and change since Marlin Briscoe became the 1st black quarterback to start in pro football, followed within days by the protest of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City; 13 years since Frank Robinson was hired as the 1st black manager in MLB; and 11 years since Bill Lucas was hired as the 1st black general manager in MLB.

Still, there was a perception that black men shouldn't be quarterbacks. They could play on defense, or as running backs, or as receivers, but not in a "thinking position" like quarterback. As if any other position on the field didn't require a man to be able to think clearly about what he had to do, and how to do it. And, since the aforementioned Fritz Pollard, there hadn't been a black head coach in the NFL. Art Shell would break that barrier with the Los Angeles Raiders in 1989.

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This was compounded by something that Jimmy Snyder, an analyst for CBS' NFL studio show, The NFL Today, had just said. "Jimmy the Greek" made his name on prejudice, but not against his own ethnic group or religion.

In 1948, already an established bookmaker, he bet $10,000 on Harry Truman to win a full term as President. His reasoning? Not that the power of incumbency helped, or that people remembered how Truman handled the end of World War II, or that he was handling the Cold War well, or that he was likable, or that he was a poor boy made good, or that people still didn't trust the Republican Party after the Great Depression. No, Jimmy bet on Truman because his opponent, Thomas E. Dewey, had a mustache, and "American women don't trust men with a mustache." (Clark Gable, William Powell, Cesar Romero and Vincent Price, couldn't be reached for comment.)

Jimmy got 17-1 odds. When Truman won, Jimmy won $170,000 -- about $1.74 million in today's money.

He invested his winnings in the energy sector, but it didn't work. So, in 1956, already in the American West, he went to Las Vegas, and established a sports betting line. He became well-known enough with this that he was hired for The NFL Today when it began in 1975. As sports betting was illegal outside of Nevada, he couldn't mention gambling, but he could predict results and scores, a backhanded way of saying, "Team A will win, and Team B will (or will not) cover the point spread." He became a national star in his late 50s.

But he went off the rails in the 1987 season. First, he predicted that the season finale, Super Bowl XXII (the game I'm talking about) would result in the Raiders beating the St. Louis Cardinals. No, Jimmy was not getting his sports mixed up: At the time, there was also a football team named the St. Louis Cardinals. But, in a season cut to 15 games due to a players' strike, they went 7-8, missed the Playoffs, and announced their move to Arizona. The Raiders, meanwhile, expected by most to bounce back from an uncharacteristic 8-8 in 1986, crashed to 5-10.

That should have wrecked Jimmy's reputation as a prognosticator. But it is mostly forgotten now, because of an interview he gave at the legendary (but now defunct) Duke Zeibert's restaurant in Washington on January 15, 1988, 16 days before the Super Bowl. (He wouldn't be covering it for CBS, anyway, because ABC had the broadcast rights.)

Ed Hotaling, a reporter for WRC-Channel 4, the NBC affiliate in Washington, was interviewing people in the legendary (but now defunct) Farragut North watering hole, long popular with politicians and sports fans. The subject was Martin Luther King's birthday, how they felt about Dr. King and his achievements, and what they thought the next step in civil rights progress should be.

Naturally, Jimmy's thoughts turned to his area of expertise, sports. No problem there. But then, probably already having done some drinking, he went into history and genetics, and it sealed his doom:

The black is a better athlete to begin with, because he's been bred to be that way. Because of his high thighs and big thighs that goes up into his back. And they can jump higher and run faster because of their bigger thighs. And he's bred to be the better athlete because this goes back all the way to the Civil War, when, during the slave trading, the big, the owner, the slave owner would, would, would, would breed his big black to his big woman so that he could have uh, a big, a big, a big black kid, see. That's where it all started!

I can't objectively say that it got worse, but he did violate the 1st Rule of Being In a Hole: Don't dig. He also said of black men, "If they take coaching, as I think everyone wants them to, there is not going to be anything left for the white people."

The remarks, as we said in those pre-social media days, hit the papers the next day, and before the Sun was down, Jimmy the Greek was fired. He would later sue CBS for age discrimination (he was 69), defamation and breach of contract. The suit went to trial, and he lost. He later admitted, "What a foolish thing to say."

Jimmy died in 1996. In 2009, ESPN aired a 30 for 30 documentary about him. Irv Cross, an NFL Today correspondent after a career as a Pro Bowl cornerback with the Philadelphia Eagles, said he, as a black man, didn't consider Jimmy to be racist. Frank Deford, writing for Sports Illustrated at the time of the firing, said that Jimmy had a habit of trying to sound more educated than he really was, and that this time, it got him in trouble.

(It's also worth noting that the host of The NFL Today was Brent Musberger, who, as a print journalist in 1968, skewered Smith and Carlos. Nearly half a century later, not only is he unrepentant for that, but, through his comments on Colin Kaepernick, he's shown he hasn't learned anything.)

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So, with that context, the question of what Williams was thinking, and how he would perform, was on people's minds, perhaps more than it should have been.

Michael Wilbon, then with The Washington Post, and since 2001 the co-host of Pardon the Interruption on ESPN, wrote down some of the questions Williams was asked:

"Doug, do you feel like Jackie Robinson?"

"Doug, would you have been able to handle all of this, especially the black thing, if you had made the Super Bowl a few years back, say, when you were 25?"

"Doug, has there been much progress in this country since 1970, when the schools you grew up in were finally integrated?"

"Doug, do you feel because of the black quarterback issue, that the whole country is looking at you and saying, 'Well, what are you going to do?'"

"Doug, would it be easier if you were the second black quarterback to play in the Super Bowl?"

"Doug, why haven't you used being the first black quarterback as a personal forum for yourself?"

"Doug, will America be pulling for the Redskins, or rooting against them because of you?"

"Doug, what were your reactions to what Jimmy the Greek said?"

"Doug, have you been contacted by the Rev. Jesse Jackson or any other black civil rights leaders?"

"Doug, are you upset about all the questions about your being the first black quarterback in the Super Bowl?"

Wilbon wrote, "Actually, the craziest question of all could have been put to Mark May, a Redskins offensive lineman, who was asked, "How does it feel to block for the first black quarterback in the Super Bowl?" (May, also black, started for the Hogs in all 4 Super Bowls they played in, and is now an ESPN teammate of Wilbon's, a studio analyst for college football.)

Wilbon added, "And that was followed closely by a newspaper person from Colorado asking me, "How does it feel to be a black writer covering the first black quarterback in the Super Bowl?"

Williams was calm throughout, never losing his temper or his patience. This would be matched by how he performed in the game.

However, at no time did anyone ever say to Williams, "How long have you been a black quarterback?" That was a myth that sprouted up in the days after the game, but no one said it.

His answer to that question depended on who was telling the story. The one I like best is, "It wouldn't make any difference if I were white. I don't think the football cares."

The night before the game, Williams had to have a root canal on an abscessed tooth. He was pronounced fit to start the game anyway.

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The game began. The Redskins won the coin toss, but went 3-and-out on their 1st possession, and punted. On the Broncos' 1st play from scrimmage, Elway threw a 56-yard pass to Ricky Nattiel. The game was not 2 minutes old, and Denver had a 7-0 lead. At the time, it was the earliest score in Super Bowl history.

The Broncos forced the Redskins to punt. On the ensuing possession, Elway handed off to running back Steve Sewell, and then took off. Sewell threw an option pass, and Elway caught it. It was not the 1st time he had done this (he scored a touchdown on an option pass the preceding season), but it did make him the 1st quarterback to catch a pass in a Super Bowl. The Redskins managed to stop the Broncos at the 6-yard line, but Rich Karlis kicked a field goal, and it was 10-0 Broncos.

No team had ever overcome a deficit of 10 or more points to win any of the preceding 21 Super Bowls. Not until Super Bowl LI would a team overcome one of more than 10 points.

The Redskins were forced to punt again. Elway smelled blood, and a 17-0 1st quarter lead would have sealed the game. But Alvin Walton managed to turn Elway's scrambling ability against him, and sacked him for an 18-yard loss, pushing the Broncos out of Karlis' range.

It didn't seem to matter: Last in the 1st quarter, Williams twisted his leg trying to pass. The photo in Sports Illustrated showed Williams screaming in pain. He had to leave the game, and Jay Schroeder could do no better. The 1st quarter ended Denver 10, Washington 0.

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But I will never forget the next 2 pages in SI, with the headline, "AND THE ROUT WAS ON." What followed was the most shocking quarter of play in the NFL's 1st 100 years.

Williams went back into the game with 14:17 left in the half. On his 1st play back in, he threw to Ricky Sanders, who took it in, 80 yards. 10-7 Denver. On ABC, Dan Dierdorf, the Hall of Fame former offensive tackle for the Cardinals, said as they went to commercial, "If you wanted to see a good game, boy, did we need this!"

The Redskins forced the Broncos to punt, and got to the Denver 27. It was 3rd-and-1. The Broncos expected a run. Instead, Williams threw into the end zone, and Gary Clark made a diving catch. Just like that, it was Washington 14, Denver 10. After 15 minutes of not being able to do anything right, while the Broncos did enough to get the job done, the tables had completely turned.

The Broncos got close enough for a 43-yard field goal attempt. It should have been easy for Karlis. Although it would only have closed the gap to 14-13, it would have been an emotional lift, and made it a game again. But he missed. The Redskins got the ball, and ran 2 plays: a 16-yard pass from Williams to Clark for a 1st down, and a 58-yard run by Timmy Smith -- a rookie making his 1st NFL start -- for a touchdown. 21-10 Washington.

The Broncos couldn't mount a drive. Williams threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Sanders. 28-10 Washington. It made Sanders the 1st player to catch 2 touchdowns in a single Super Bowl quarter.

Elway seemed to get his act back in gear, marching the Broncos into Redskin territory. But he was intercepted by Barry Wilburn on the Washington 21. Smith ran for 43 yards. Williams connected with Sanders twice more, to get to the Denver 7. And then, in their single-back, two-tight-end setup that had worked so well earlier in the decade, when the single back was John Riggins and the 2 tight ends were Don Warren and Clint Didier, Williams passed to Didier to make it Washington 35, Denver 10.

There was 1:04 left in the half. In 13 minutes and 13 seconds, Doug Williams had led 5 touchdown drives.

Williams had thrown 11 passes, completing 9 of them, for 228 yards, and 4 touchdowns. Sanders' catchers had accounted for 4 of those completions, 168 of those yards, and 2 of those touchdowns. Smith rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown. As a team, the Redskins gained 356 yards in 18 offensive plays, and scored 35 points, while holding the opposition scoreless.

In a single quarter.

How many times had the Broncos allowed 35 points in an entire game that season? One, and it was during the strike, with replacement players, in a 40-10 loss to the Houston Oilers.

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For those of us stunned by that 2nd quarter -- not even the entire quarter, just 13 minutes -- the 2nd half is a blur. There was no scoring in the 3rd quarter, and only 1 score in the 4th, a 68-yard Redskin drive that ended with Smith scoring from 4 yards out to make the final score: Washington Redskins 42, Denver Broncos 10.

Smith finished with 204 yards. This remains a Super Bowl record, 30 years later. He held out for more money for the next season, reported to training camp overweight, and was cut after the season. He last played in the NFL in 1990, failed in a comeback with the CFL in 1994, and finished his career with 602 yards -- 806 if you count Super Bowl XXII. He later served 2 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Sanders had 193 receiving yards, a record that would be broken the next year by Jerry Rice. He had 235 all-purpose yards, a record since broken. The Broncos' leading rusher was Gene Lang, with just 38 yards.

Elway went 14-of-38 for 257 yards and a touchdown. Those aren't bad numbers, but 3 interceptions is. He would lose a 3rd Super Bowl 2 years later, before finally winning 2, Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII, before calling it a career in 1999.

Williams answered the question of whether a black quarterback could win a Super Bowl.

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Since then, the record of black quarterbacks in the Super Bowl is mixed. There would not be another for 12 years, until Steve McNair got the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV, and they lost to the St. Louis Rams. Donovan McNabb got the Eagles into Super Bowl XXXIX, but they lost to the New England Patriots -- although, given what we now know about the Pats, you can put an asterisk on that.

Colin Kaepernick got the San Francisco 49ers into Super Bowl XLVII, but they lost to the Baltimore Ravens. Russell Wilson got the Seattle Seahawks into Super Bowls XLVIII and XLIX, clobbering the Broncos in the former, and losing to the Patriots in the other. (Another asterisk.) Cam Newton got the Carolina Panthers into Super Bowl 50, but lost to the Broncos.

So black starting quarterbacks are 2-5 in Super Bowls. There has yet to be a Super Bowl in which both starters are black.

Super Bowl XLI, in 2007, had black head coaches opposing each other, guaranteeing that, for the 1st time, a black coach would win a Super Bowl. Tony Dungy's Indianapolis Colts beat Lovie Smith's Chicago Bears. Mike Tomlin won Super Bowl XLIII with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Doug Williams entered the 1988 NFL season as the Redskins' starter, as well he should have. But he suffered knee and back injuries, had to have his appendix taken out, and was replaced as starter by Mark Rypien, who led the 'Skins to win Super Bowl XXVI in 1992 -- the last Washington team to win a World Championship, unless you count D.C. United in soccer. (UPDATE: The Washington Capitals won the 2018 Stanley Cup.)

After failing a tryout with the Raiders, Williams retired as a player in 1990, at age 35. He went into coaching, taking the helms of 2 high school programs in his native Louisiana, where his Northeast High School reached the Playoffs, where they knocked out Isidore Newman of New Orleans, quarterbacked by Peyton Manning.

Williams then served as an assistant coach at the U.S. Naval Academy, and as a scout with the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars. In 1997, the historically black Morehouse College in Atlanta -- Dr. King's alma mater -- named him head coach. When Eddie Robinson finally accepted that he could no longer properly guide Grambling State after 57 seasons, Williams was appointed as his successor.

After 6 seasons, including 3 Conference Championships, he returned to the NFL, to work in the Buccaneers' front office. In 2011, Grambling hired him back, and he won 2 more Conference Championships. The Redskins then hired him for their front office, where he is now senior vice president of player personnel -- essentially, their chief scout.

He and his wife, Raunda, have 8 children, including Doug Jr., a.k.a. D.J., who played under him at Grambling, and Adrian, who played basketball at an Ivy League school, Brown University.

He's been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Ring of Honor, and the Washington Redskins Ring of Fame. Now 62 years old, I wonder if the voters for the Pro Football Hall of Fame might elect him for his role as a pioneer.