THE AFRICAN AMERICAN QUARTERBACK--Story, A1

Black quarterbacks have overcome stereotypes to make a big impact on the NFL. A chronology of African American quarterbacks in college and pro football since 1949:

1949--George Taliaferro of the Los Angeles Dons (All-America Football Conference) is the first African American quarterback in pro football. He goes on to play halfback for four NFL teams, the last being Philadelphia in 1955.

1953--Willie Thrower is the first African American to play in an NFL game. He gets in one game for the Chicago Bears, completing three of eight passes for 27 yards.

1955--Charlie “Choo Choo” Brackins plays in seven games for the Green Bay Packers.

1960--Sandy Stephens leads the University of Minnesota to a national championship (Associated Press). The next season Stephens becomes the first African American major-college All-American quarterback and finishes fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting. Stephens is a second-round NFL draft choice of Cleveland and the fifth overall selection in the AFL draft by the New York Titans. Both teams say that they won’t use him as a quarterback and he never plays a down in either league. Stephens dies June 6, 2000.

1965--The first of three seasons that Jimmy Raye is quarterback at Michigan State. He leads Michigan State to two Big Ten titles and a 1966 Rose Bowl berth. He also plays in the “Battle of the Century” game against Notre Dame in 1966 that results in a 10-10 tie. Converted to defensive back in the NFL, Raye spends the 1969 season with Philadelphia. Raye is now offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs.

1968--Denver selects Nebraska Omaha’s Marlin Briscoe in the 14th round of the NFL/AFL draft. Briscoe becomes the first African American starting quarterback in the AFL or NFL, passing for 1,589 yards and 14 touchdowns in 14 games. However, Briscoe is converted to wide receiver the next season and never plays quarterback again. Briscoe goes on to have a good NFL/AFL career as a wide receiver with 224 catches and 30 touchdowns for Buffalo, Miami, San Diego, Detroit and New England. He retires in 1976.

1968--Oakland selects Tennessee State’s Eldridge Dickey in the first round of the NFL/AFL draft but takes Alabama’s Ken Stabler in the second round. Dickey is eventually moved to wide receiver and plays sparingly between 1968 and 1971.

1969--Buffalo selects Grambling’s James Harris in the fourth round of the NFL/AFL draft. In 1974, Harris takes over as the starter of the Los Angeles Rams and leads them to an NFC West title. In 1975, he leads the Rams to another division title, is named to the Pro Bowl and is the MVP of the game. He retires in 1979 after playing with San Diego. Harris is the Baltimore Ravens’ director of pro personnel.

1970--Jimmy Jones is the quarterback of USC’s “all-black” backfield, which includes running back Clarence Davis and fullback Sam “Bam” Cunningham. Jones leads USC to a 42-21 victory over Bear Bryant’s “all-white” Alabama team. Jones never plays in the NFL.

1974--Pittsburgh selects Tennessee State’s Joe Gilliam in the 11th round. In 1974, Gilliam, who became known as “Jefferson Street Joe” in drawing comparisons with “Broadway Joe” Namath, leads Pittsburgh to a 4-1-1 record after Terry Bradshaw is sidelined. After battling drug addiction, Gilliam flames out of the NFL by 1975, reappearing briefly with the Washington Federals of the USFL in 1983. Gilliam dies on Christmas Day, 2000.

1975--The Miami Dolphins draft Freddie Solomon in the second round after a record-setting career as quarterback at the University of Tampa. Solomon is converted to wide receiver and has fine career with the Dolphins and 49ers, catching 371 passes for 5,846 yards and 48 touchdowns before retiring in 1985. Solomon sees brief action at quarterback throughout his career,however, and completes five of 10 passes for 85 yards for the 49ers in 1978.

1977--USC’s Vince Evans is selected by Chicago in the sixth round. Evans has a long career as a starter and backup for the Bears and Raiders as well as Denver and Chicago of the USFL. He retires a Raider in 1995 at age 40.

1977--After establishing most of the passing records at the University of Minnesota, Tony Dungy is undrafted and signs as a free agent with Pittsburgh. Dungy is converted to safety but plays in one game as a quarterback with Pittsburgh before retiring in 1979 after playing with San Francisco. Dungy is in his fifth season as head coach for Tampa Bay--one of two African Americans to currently hold the position in the NFL (Minnesota’s Dennis Green is the other).

1978--Tampa Bay makes Grambling’s Doug Williams the first African American quarterback chosen in the first round of the NFL draft. Williams is Tampa Bay’s starter for five seasons, then he defects to Oklahoma/Arizona of the USFL before returning to the NFL with Washington in 1986. Williams becomes the first African American quarterback to start in a Super Bowl and Washington beats Denver, 42-10, in the 1988 game. With Washington trailing, 10-0, after one quarter, Williams throws for 228 yards and a record four touchdowns in the second quarter. He earns the Super Bowl MVP award for his record 340-yard passing performance. Williams retires in 1989 and is the head coach at Grambling.

1978--Warren Moon leads the University of Washington to the 1978 Rose Bowl, where it beats Michigan, 27-20. When Moon is passed over in the NFL draft, Edmonton of the Canadian Football League signs him. Moon is a superstar in the CFL and leads Edmonton to an unprecedented five consecutive Grey Cup championships. In 1984, Moon makes it to the NFL, joining Houston and posting stellar passing statistics for 10 seasons. He plays for Minnesota and Seattle before joining Kansas City in 1999 and retiring at the end of this season. Moon’s combined CFL and NFL passing totals (including playoff games) are 9,862 attempts, 5,753 completions for 73,541 yards, with 464 touchdowns and 332 interceptions. He also had 976 carries for 3,939 yards and 40 touchdowns. Moon appears in eight consecutive Pro Bowls, an NFL record for quarterbacks.

1983--Drafted in the sixth round by Dallas, Southern Mississippi quarterback Reggie Collier opts instead to play for Birmingham of the USFL. Collier eventually plays for Pittsburgh, then joins Dallas in 1986 before retiring in 1987.

1985--Nevada Las Vegas quarterback Randall Cunningham is drafted in the second round by Philadelphia. Cunningham is named to the Pro Bowl four times and selected NFL MVP in 1990. He has perhaps his finest season in 1998 with Minnesota, leading the NFL with a 106.0 quarterback rating. Cunningham, a backup in Dallas this season, is the NFL’s all-time leading rusher at quarterback with 4,888 yards.

1985--Cal State Fullerton quarterback Damon Allen signs with Edmonton of the CFL and goes on to set league career passing records. Still plays in the CFL, this past season for Calgary.

1987--Buffalo signs Mississippi Valley State quarterback Willie Totten--who formed a Division I-A record-setting tandem with wide receiver Jerry Rice--as a free agent. Totten plays two games and is out of the NFL by 1988.

1987--Georgia Southern’s Tracy Ham signs with Edmonton of the CFL and goes on to win the league’s most-outstanding-player award in 1989. Still plays in the CFL, this past season for Montreal.

1988--Philadelphia selects Syracuse’s Don McPherson in the sixth round after he sends letters to the general managers of all 28 NFL teams stating that if they did not want him to play quarterback, they shouldn’t draft him. McPherson spends two seasons on the bench, never playing in a regular-season game before joining the CFL in 1991. He retires from Hamilton in the CFL in 1994.

1989--Detroit selects USC’s Rodney Peete in the sixth round. An inconsistent starter for Detroit and Philadelphia, Peete spends a season as a backup with Dallas and is on the Oakland roster this season.

1990--Detroit uses the seventh overall selection on the University of Houston’s Andre Ware--the first African American quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy. Ware spends four seasons with Detroit, never playing to expectations.

1992--The New York Jets select East Carolina’s Jeff Blake in the sixth round. He emerges as a starter at Cincinnati in 1994 and has a Pro Bowl season in 1995. Blake is the starter in 2000 for New Orleans before suffering a season-ending injury.

1993--Florida State quarterback Charlie Ward wins the Heisman Trophy but is passed over in the NFL draft. Ward is in his seventh season as an NBA guard with the New York Knicks.

1995--Houston makes Alcorn State’s Steve McNair the third overall selection, the highest draft position for an African American quarterback. The team moves to Tennessee in 1997 and McNair takes over as the starter. He leads Tennessee to the 2000 Super Bowl, where it loses to St. Louis in a game decided on the final play.

1995--Pittsburgh selects Colorado quarterback Kordell Stewart in the second round with the intention of converting him to wide receiver. After two seasons as a receiving, rushing and passing triple threat as a wide receiver/quarterback, Stewart takes over as Pittsburgh’s starting quarterback. He accounts for 32 touchdowns passing and rushing in 1997 but is occasionally benched the next three seasons because of inconsistency.

1996--St. Louis selects Michigan State’s Tony Banks in the second round. He takes over as the team’s starter in his rookie season and posts decent statistics for three seasons. However, his penchant for fumbling leads to his departure from St. Louis. Banks begins this season as the starter for the Baltimore Ravens but is benched in favor of Trent Dilfer.

1998--Detroit selects Eastern Michigan’s Charlie Batch in the second round. Injuries hold Batch back in his three seasons as a starter.

1999--Three of the first five quarterbacks taken in the draft--Syracuse’s Donovan McNabb (by Philadelphia), Oregon’s Akili Smith (Cincinnati) and Central Florida’s Daunte Culpepper (Minnesota)--are African Americans. The three first-round selections equal the number of African American quarterbacks selected in first rounds of the previous 63 drafts. Two other African American quarterbacks, Tulane’s Shaun King (Tampa Bay) and Virginia’s Aaron Brooks (Green Bay), are taken in the second and fourth rounds.

2000--Fourteen African Americans quarterbacks start at least one game. Five of the 12 starting quarterbacks in the 2000 playoffs are African Americans: Brooks (now with New Orleans), Culpepper, King, McNabb and McNair.

Other notable African American college quarterbacks from the ‘60s to the ‘80s, who didn’t play the position in the NFL: Phil Bradley (Missouri), Marcus Crandell (East Carolina), Rickey Foggie (Minnesota), Tommy Frazier (Nebraska), Major Harris (West Virginia), Jamelle Holieway (Oklahoma), Walter Lewis (Alabama), Kevin Murray (Texas A&M;), Tony Rice (Notre Dame), Steve Taylor (Nebraska), J.C. Watts (Oklahoma).

--Research and comments by ROY JURGENS