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First African-American Quarter-back To Win A Super Bowl

February 1, 2012 by · 1 Comment 

First African-American Quarter-back To Win A Super Bowl, Douglas Lee “Doug” Williams (born August 9, 1955) is a former American football quarterback and head football coach of the Grambling State University Tigers. Williams is best known for his MVP performance in Super Bowl XXII with the Washington Redskins.

Williams was drafted in the first round (17th overall) of the 1978 NFL Draft, chosen by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers out of Grambling State University. The Bucs, who had never been to the playoffs before Williams arrived, went to the playoffs three times in four years and played in the 1979 NFC Championship Game. Williams improved his completion percentage each year with the Bucs, but was regarded as the heart and soul of the team, and the driving force behind the winning.

However, during his tenure in Tampa, Williams was only paid $120,000 a year-far and away the lowest salary for a starting quarterback in the league, and behind 12 backups. After the 1982 season, Williams asked for a $600,000 contract. Bucs owner Hugh Culverhouse refused to budge from his initial offer of $400,000 despite protests from coach John McKay. While Culverhouse’s offer was still more than triple Williams’ previous salary, he would have still been among the lowest-paid starters in the league.

Feeling that Culverhouse wasn’t paying him what a starter should earn, Williams bolted to the upstart United States Football League. The next year the Bucs went 2-14, and they would not make the playoffs again for 14 years until after the 1997 season, and lost ten games in every season but one in that stretch. Many Bucs fans blame Culverhouse’s refusal to bend in the negotiations with Williams as a major factor. Culverhouse’s willingness to let Williams get away over such a relatively small amount of money was seen as particularly insensitive, coming only months after Williams’ wife Janice died of a brain tumor.

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