Rise of the Black Quarterback: What It Means for America

SARA SIDNER: Now, turning to sport. As arguably, the greatest female tennis player ever maybe playing her last game, set and match. 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams managed advanced, powerfully, to the second round of the U.S. Open in what she has heavily hinted will be her last tournament. Her outfit included a customer six-layer diamond encrusted skirt, in a nod to her six U.S. Open titles. She is, of course, a pioneer in the world of sports. Serena and her sister Venus became the first female black minority owners of NFL team back in 2009. Diversity and leadership remains a problem for American football however, as a significant minority — majority of coaches, owners and quarterbacks are white. NFL writer and columnist Jason Reid is tackling the history of racism in the game with his latest book and joins Michel Martin to elaborate on breaking these barriers.

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MICHEL MARTIN, CONTRIBUTOR: Sara, thank you. Jason Reid, thank you so much for joining us.

JASON REID, AUTHOR, “RISE OF THE BLACK QUARTERBACK”: Thank you for having me.

MARTIN: So, your book, “Rise of the Black Quarterback,” is based on reporting in a series that focused on the 2019 season. Why is that? What was so special about it?

REID: Because never before in this league, in professional sports most successful powerful league, have black men been in a position to do such great things collectively. And as it turned out, Lamar Jackson in his first world season as a starter won the league’s MVP Award. Patrick Mahomes led the Kansas City Chiefs to the first Super Bowl Championship in 50 years. Kyler Murray, who was the number one overall pick in the draft that year won the AP offensive rookie of the year award. Dak Prescott with the Dallas Cowboys had a great season. Russell Wilson had another great season. So, as it turned out, it actually truly was the year of the black quarterback in the NFL.

MARTIN: You know, quarterbacks — just to wrap (ph) quarterbacks for a minute. I mean, I think even if you don’t follow football, if you don’t really care, then people know quarterbacks. And you write that quarterbacks are the most celebrated players in football. They are among the most scrutinized and the highest paid in professional sports, not just football, but in professional sports. But by contrast, you say that black quarterbacks are the most marginalized group of players in NFL history. That’s a pretty strong statement. I mean, why do you say that?

REID: Well, historically, black men with the quarterbacks were the most marginalized in the league. They were believed to be too stupid, there’s really no other way to put it, to play the position because quarterback is the ultimate thinking man’s position, you actually have to read the defense, you have to be able to inspire. And obviously, when you’re talking about inspiring people, intelligence is one thing that makes people gravitate toward people who want to be leaders So, yes, without a question, these were the most historically within the NFL marginalized players, marginalized group. But the racism that we saw that prompted these ideas, these wrongheaded, these ideas, these myths, well it went away overtime, but went away over a great period of time.

MARTIN: You know, so, you had some really fascinating stories in this book that, you know, I’d certainly never heard these before about — I guess I’ll call them hidden figures of the NFL, that you write that black players were actually intrinsic to the founding of professional football and yet, they were, you know, isolated. I want to ask you to tell me about Fritz Pollard. Now, this is a — I mean, he is in the professional football Hall of Fame, but not for sort of the totality of his accomplishment. So, tell me about that. Why was he such a pivotal figure?

REID: I’m so glad you asked me about Fritz Pollard. Fritz Pollard who was there at the beginning, when the NFL was founded back in 1920, he would go on to become the first black head coach in NFL history. He was the first black quarterback in NFL history. He was the first black superstar player in NFL history. And, you know, when we talk about Fritz Pollard, you know, much of his story was lost to history for a very long time because the NFL didn’t want to celebrate the accomplishments of black players who were there at its founding. And Fritz Pollard was the first one. And what he had to endure, what he went through to be a pioneer so that these other players who came after him could stand on his shoulders, it was really a testament to his inner strength, his fortitude, that he could deal with the racist chants of crowds that he dealt with no one wanting him around, you know, often when other — when the other parts of his team, you know, his teammates were out doing things together. And when I think about what he endured, he really laid the groundwork for all of the players who came after him. You know, I talked about he was also quarterback. Now, he lined up at quarterback. It isn’t quarterback as we know it today, this celebrated position where, you know, these guys are paid so spectacularly well. But he was the first quarterback. And when you are the first of so many things, you should be celebrated and honored. And finally, you know, long after his death, he did get into Pro Football Hall of Fame.

MARTIN: Talk a little bit more, if you will, about how he contributed to the creation of the Professional Football League that really is the foundation for the NFL today.

REID: The NFL as we know today is the 800-pound gorilla. But back in 1920, the NFL, when it was in its infancy, taking its baby steps, it was dwarfed by Major League Baseball and it was dwarfed in college football. And the reality of it is, no one knew for sure if this new upstart league was going to even be able to take a foothold and survive. So, the NFL — the team owners of the time, they wanted players who had recognition from their college days. And Fritz Pollard, this black man, who, you know, wasn’t very big in terms of, you know, physical stature, you know, he’s 5’9″, but he was a great star running back at Brown University. You know, Brown in the Ivy League, this prestigious school. He leads Brown to the rose bowl. So, within the consciousness of football in America and specifically college football, Fritz Pollard was known. So, if you’re starting up a new league, you want people with some name recognition. Hopefully, they can draw people to the stadiums and put some butts in seats. And what Fritz Pollard did in that first year, especially because he had this rivalry with Jim Thorpe, the great Native American athlete, the star of the 1912 Olympics, that what that did was Jim Thorpe and Fritz Pollard having this rivalry in this first of this new league, it helped to bring in fans and it helped the new league to get going.

MARTIN: You know, it may not be surprising, but it is still shocking to read that despite the fact that black players were so valuable to the creation of the league and so important to it, you said that there was actually a ban on black players, that all black players from 1933 to 1945. Now, you say that there’s no documentation of this. So, why do you call it a ban?

REID: In the 1930s, with The Great Depression, there was a feeling within the NFL that why are we giving jobs to black men when jobs are so scarce that could go to white men? I mean, it was just, quite frankly, a very racist outlet but that’s what it was. And then, additionally, the NFL team owners, they wanted to basically attract more white fans. They really didn’t want black fans. They wanted more white fans. They wanted — that was where they wanted to market the league to that segment of society. And with the emergence of Red Grange, the great college running back who came into the league, they have this white superstar. Because you have to remember, at this point, Fritz Pollard is gone, Jim Thorpe is gone, and the league really wanted a white superstar, you know, a great white hope, so to speak, to build around. They had that in Red Grange. Now, as far as the agreement to keep black players out of the game, it is absolutely true what you said, no documentation has ever been (INAUDIBLE) that actually confirms that owners got together and had a meeting, and so, we’re going to ban black players. It really was a so-called gentleman’s agreement. And how do we know this? Because from the end of the 1933 season all the way up to 1946 there were no black players in the league. Now, later on, executives and officials would say, well, no, there was no racial bias. We just essentially couldn’t find any black players. That just doesn’t ring true. It doesn’t ring true when you say that with all the black men who were playing college football that none were good enough to play in the NFL. I mean, it’s ludicrous on its face. And as it turned out, the reality of it is that the team — that some team owners did want to have black players but there was such overwhelming opposition that it didn’t happen.

MARTIN: One of the most insidious aspects of the treatment of black play callers that you point out in the book is how many talented collegiate quarterbacks were forced to switch to other positions if they wanted to play professionally. Why is that?

REID: I hate to oversimplify this because — but the reality of it is, it was just racism. The belief was that black men could simply not handle the rigors of the position because quarterback is the ultimate thinking man’s position. Yes, you have to have a physical skill set that allows you to thrive, but it really all starts up here. And, for years, at historically black colleges and universities, there were black quarterbacks, very successful black quarterbacks. Additionally, at some other universities, some bigger schools where black people were not in enrollment in great numbers, Michigan State, the University of Southern California in the ’60s had black quarterbacks as well. But the understanding was, and it wasn’t — just like with the band black players, there’s no written documentation that this is what was said to be done. But same thing with black quarterbacks being changed to different positions. There was nothing written, it was just an understanding because black players, black men, black young men were not looked at as individuals, they were being looked at collectively. And the collective stamp on them was that they just weren’t smart enough. So, it was really soul crushing for all these young men because they knew that they had to change positions. Nothing written, it was just understood.

MARTIN: So, what finally what broke the fever? What finally gave the — you know, gave the league the understanding that either this was wrong or that it wasn’t constructive, right, that they were not benefiting from the talents of a whole group of people? What broke the fever?

REID: Yes. Well, what broke it was that the color green eventually trumped the color black. The team owners desired to make money eventually prompted them to slowly — and I mean, very slowly, change their opinions. You know, I break this question up into two answers. We have Doug Williams’ myth busting performance in the Super Bowl for the Washington — well, for the Washington Commanders now against the Denver Broncos, where he becomes the first black quarterback back 1987 to start in the Super Bowl and win the game’s MVP award. He passed it with 340 yards and four touchdowns. Washington crushes the Denver Broncos. And that was a seminal moment because what it did was it planted as seed that, OK, maybe this is a one-off, maybe this black quarterback just had a great day. But what if he didn’t? What if it wasn’t a one-off? What if black quarterback can actually do this? Then, the other part of the answer is, Warren Moon and Randall Cunningham. Warren Moon had a great career at the University of Washington, doesn’t get drafted in 1978. Goes to Canada. Lights it up in Canada. Puts up records. Win championships. Is signed as a free agent, finally, by the Houston Oilers of the NFL. And after a rough transition period, he starts lighting up, lighting it up. He becomes a perennial pro bowler. And now, he’s the only quarterback, black quarterback, enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. At the same time in the late ’80s, early ’90s, Randall Cunningham with the Philadelphia Eagles, he’s a second-round draft choice, but he gets in there. And all of a sudden, he does things the NFL has never seen before because he doesn’t just play from the pocket, which he can and which he succeeds, but he also can outrun the fastest defensive players and becomes this incredible dual threat quarterback. So, the three names that you have to remember when you talked about this law jam finally breaking, Doug Williams, Warren Moon, and Randall Cunningham, and that’s in the late 1980s and the early 1990s.

MARTIN: I don’t know who we can talk about the black quarterback without talking about Colin Kaepernick, and his very kind of unique trajectory. I mean, for people who don’t remember, he was a very successful quarterback until he started kneeling and — during the playing of the National anthem in protest of what he said, social injustice in general, but police violence directed at people of color and specific. He wasn’t resigned after that and he hasn’t played since. He since negotiated at some sort of settlement with the NFL related to that. But it was a huge kind of cultural moment, this occurring sort of during the Trump administration, Trump himself was extremely critical. There was a tremendous backlash against him. Some people would look at that story and say, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t be socially active and still maintain your standing in a league. What do you say?

REID: I disagree with the notion that these young black men, these black quarterbacks, can’t be both socially active and maintain their level of play and do the things that they want to do within their careers because several years after what happen to Colin Kaepernick, Patrick Mahomes decided, after George Lloyd was killed by police officers in Minneapolis, that he wanted to do something. And so, what he did was with a group of other superstar black players, he got — he put out a video. And in the video, Patrick Mahones said, black lives matter. And this is very controversial. The NFL, at that moment, had — did not want to address the Black Lives Matter movement. But what that video was about, it was about pushing team owners and team executives to do more to partner with black players, black players representing about 60 percent of the NFL, to do more to partner with black players to address these issues in the predominately in the communities where these players come from. And Patrick Mahomes said black lives matter, which angered a lot of people. But you know what happened after that, Commissioner Roger Goodell, in basically checking off every item on the players to-do list that they mentioned that video did. And he also said for the first time, black lives matter. Colin Kaepernick just ignited something. And then, these other players, they took it up and ran with it. And Patrick Mahomes, who’s arguably, he’s either the first- or second-best quarterback in the NFL for a couple years there. He was number one without question. Patrick Mahomes used his platform and his (INAUDIBLE) to effect change. And you know what? He still lining up behind center for the Kansas City Chiefs, because he’s too good to get rid of.

MARTIN: I want to go to the second — the subtitle of your book. It’s called — it’s “Rise of the Black Quarterback,” but the subtitle of your book is “What it Means for America.” What does it mean for America? For people listening to our conversation, say, OK, that’s very interesting from a perspective of, you know, the sport pages. But what’s the bigger significance of that?

REID: When we think of quarterback in America away from the field, we think of the smartness. We think of the person who’s the best leader. We think of the person that everyone else wants to rally around. So, the rise of the black water back in an NFL, if you can’t — if black men are excluded from the ultimate leadership position, and we know in the way that the NFL dominates American popular culture, well, what does that say about black people and black men about it our society overall writ large? It says that black men and black people are inferior. So, the rise of the black quarterback in the previous century and this one, was what it shows us is that when people get opportunities, when the playing field is not necessary completely level, but even just a little bit more level and people have the opportunity to compete, all of us, regardless of race, can rise up and contribute to the fabric of the greatest country in the world. So, the “Rise of the Black Quarterback” mirrors the rise of black people in this country in the previous century and this one.

MARTIN: Is there something in particular that gives you the sense that this sort of trajectory of inclusion is not to be reverse?

REID: Yes, I definitely do. And what I point to is that I look at the college ranks, I look at high school no, I look at youth football and, you know, let’s look at traditional college power, schools like Ohio State, Alabama, USC, all led by superstar black quarterbacks at the youth level where, in decades past, eight-year-olds, nine-year-olds, 10-year-olds were told that they can’t play quarterback and they’re moved to the other position. Now, those kids are at quarterback. So, from youth football to high school to college, there is this pipeline right now. And we are truly now in the era of the black quarterback. And what I would is that in five to either years, it would not be surprising at all to see 12 or 16 of the 32 NFL teams being led by superstar black quarterbacks. So, no, this is never going away now because, additionally, in addition to the pipeline coming, the money is too great, the pressure to win is palpable. These teams, these owners, these coaches, these executives simply cannot afford to pass on a talented black quarterback.

MARTIN: Jason Reid, thank you so much for talking with us today.

REID: Oh, thank you for having me.