AMAZING AFRICAN AMERICAN QUARTERBACKS THAT HAVE WON SUPER BOWL

SUPER BOWL WINS AND BLACK QUARTERBACKS

There have only been three Black quarterbacks to win the Super Bowl in the history of the National Football League (NFL): Doug Williams, Patrick Mahomes,and Russell Wilson.

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Speaking of the first, everyone who encounters Doug Williams is aware of the person they are meeting: Doug Williams was the first quarterback of African descent to accomplish this feat. He became a folk hero on January 31, 1988, when he refuted the notion that black quarterbacks were incapable of leading a team to victory and changed the narrative. He was named the Most Valuable Player after leading the Washington Redskins to a victory over the Denver Broncos by a score of 42-10 against the Broncos.

The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the most recent Black quarterback to wear the ring.

In order to complete that list, here are the historic quarterbacks.

Seizing the Opportunities and Conquering the Racial Stereotypes

According to Warren Moon, who was the first Black quarterback to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it was really a product of the fact that they had been getting more and more opportunities to play the quarterback position over the years, and what happened that year as a result of those opportunities could be seen. Moon went on to remark that the talent had always been present, but that it is impossible to exhibit it if one does not have the opportunity to have it displayed

According to Williams, who serves as the senior advisor to the team president Jason Wright for the Washington Commanders, the influence of having two top Black quarterbacks in the big game in 2023 had already taken effect with Mahomes and Hurts, who were the AFC NFL Most Valuable Player and the runner-up, respectively, for the season. But Williams, who had coached at both the high school and college levels, was of the opinion that teams all throughout the league needed to focus on employing more Black coaches.

Furthermore, Williams reflected on the legacy of Black quarterbacks in the league, who had been subjected to racial stereotypes for a considerable amount of time, as well as what he referred to as the “fraternity of Black quarterbacks in the NFL.” An overview of African American quarterbacks who have won the Super Bowl, including their past, present, and future, is presented below.

African American Quarterbacks That Have Won Super Bowl

Patrick Mahomes

As the third and most recent Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl and receive the title of Super Bowl Most Valuable Player, Patrick Mahomes leads the way. Mahomes led the Kansas City Chiefs to a victory in Super Bowl 54 against the San Francisco 49ers, which they secured by a score of 31-20. Mahomes completed 26 of 42 passes for 286 yards and two touchdown passes during the game. Patrick Mahomes skipped his senior year of college football at Texas Tech in order to enter the 2017 NFL Draft. He was subsequently signed by the Kansas City Chiefs on the basis of his performance in the draft.

Beginning with a game at the end of the season in which he started, he spent the majority of his debut year serving as a backup quarterback. After a month, he was presented with the permanent starting quarterback position for the 2018 season. Along the road, he broke a multitude of records, including the record for the most touchdown passes in a season by a first-year starter (50).

Mahomes and Jalen Hurts made history in Super Bowl 57 when they became the first pair of Black quarterbacks to compete against each other for the Lombardi Trophy to be awarded. Following the Chiefs’ victory over the Eagles by a score of 38-35, Mahomes made history by becoming the first Black quarterback to win two Super Bowls!

A lot of significant achievements have been accomplished by Mahomes, who is 24 years old, on his route to leading the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl appearance and victory since 1970 and to being voted the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl LIV. These achievements include:

NFL: The first player to throw for more than 3,000 yards in his first ten games (3,185 yards)

NFL: All-time leader in throwing yards with 7,500 in a career (24 games) Football League

NFL: The youngest quarterback to ever throw for six touchdowns in a single game

Chiefs: Highest number of touchdown passes in a single season: 50 (2018)

Chiefs: Record for the highest number of passing yards in a single season: 5,097 yards achieved in 2018

With the intention of assisting youth initiatives, Mahomes established a charitable organization in 2019 called 15 and the Mahomies Foundation. In November, the organization gave out 15 donations totaling $15,000 to charitable organizations in the Kansas City area. It is now Mahomes’s time to enter the final year of a four-year contract with the Chiefs that is worth $26.5 million.

Russell Wilson

Twenty-six years would pass before another Black quarterback who started in the Super Bowl would win a game. Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks was the only Black quarterback to lead his team to victory in the Super Bowl between the years 1988 and 2019. He led the Seahawks to a 43-8 victory against the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014, exactly like Doug Williams did against the Broncos. A return to the Super Bowl was made by him and the squad in 2015, but they were unable to prevail over the New England Patriots.

Wilson has the second-greatest NFL career passer rating of all time, and he has won more games than any other quarterback in the history of the NFL in his first seven seasons.

After signing a contract deal with the Seahawks in 2015 that was worth $87.6 million over four years, he became the second-highest-paid player in the National Football League’s history at that time. He became the highest-paid player in the National Football League due to the fact that he signed a new four-year agreement worth $140 million in April 2019. Wilson exclusively played for Seattle since he made his professional debut in 2012, following a fruitful college career. In addition to being a professional baseball player, he stands at the age of 31.

With 206 yards and two touchdowns, the quarterback, who is 26 years old, completed 18 of 25 throws. Together with Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, and Ben Roethlisberger, Wilson became the fourth quarterback in his second year to win a Super Bowl. Keith McMillan of The Washington Post claimed at the time that there was never any discussion over Wilson’s skin color.

Additionally, he added that he had come to the conclusion that Wilson’s victory, as well as the fact that he was the second person ever since Williams to win it all, was just as big of a victory as Williams had in 1988. Further, he stated that the skin color of a quarterback is no longer a significant factor, as teams are just concerned with winning, and they will place under center whoever they believe will give them the best chance of winning, which, according to Wilson, is a success that is worthy of celebration.

Doug Williams

The “Doug Williams Game” ought to be the official name of this Super Bowl for the upcoming season. Williams, who was already the first African American quarterback to start a Super Bowl, resolved to further solidify history by becoming the first Black quarterback to be named Super Bowl MVP. As the first Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl, Doug Williams will forever be recognized as a game-changer for the National Football League (NFL). During the first round of the National Football League Draft in 1978, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected the young quarterback.

Williams experienced a remarkable leap from the position of being the starting quarterback with the lowest salary in the National Football League in 1982. During the middle of the 1980s, he took a brief break from the National Football League (NFL), and then in 1986, after playing in the United States Football League (USFL) for a couple of seasons, he joined the Washington Redskins. The club won Super Bowl 22 against the Denver Broncos by a score of 42-10 under Williams’s leadership after the 1987 season.

A powerful rejection of the assumption that great African-American athletes lacked the necessary skills for the intricacy and leadership duties of being an NFL quarterback was Williams’ four-touchdown MVP performance, which inspired a generation of Black quarterbacks who came after him. The quarterback, who was 33 years old at the time, threw four touchdown passes and got the Most Valuable Player award from the Super Bowl. Despite hyperextending his knee during the first quarter of the game, the alumni of Grambling State University was able to complete 18 of 29 passes for 340 yards. Jason Wright, the president of the Washington Commanders squad, now has Williams serving as his senior adviser.

Fun Fact: Williams was able to triumph despite having to endure a root canal procedure that lasted for six hours the day before the game. Williams is now pursuing a career in coaching and being an executive.