Doug Williams

At 69 years old, Doug Williams has this physical status:

College career

Williams played for Grambling State University, where he served under head coach Eddie Robinson. In his first two seasons as a rookie quarterback Sammy White, he was on the same team as future NFL receiver Sammy White. As a four-year starter, Williams led the Tigers to a 36–7 (.837 winning percentage) record and led the Tigers to three Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships. Williams twice named Black College Player of the Year.

Williams led the NCAA in many categories including total yards (3,249), passing yards (3,286), touchdown passes (3,386), and yards per play (8.6) in 1977. In the Heisman Trophy election, Williams came in fourth, behind Earl Campbell, Terry Miller, and Ken MacAfee. Williams earned a bachelor's degree in education and started working on his master's degree before the 1978 NFL Draft.

Despite the success that he adored on the track, Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Joe Gibbs was the only NFL coach to visit Williams to help him out and scout him. Gibbs spent two days with the 6 ft-4 in (1.93 m), 220 lb (100 kg) quarterback, filming, and going through passing drills. Gibbs rated Williams as the best quarterback in the draft, citing his influence, work ethic, and studious nature in his Scouting report, who recommended that the Buccaneers select Williams as their first-round draft pick.

Professional career

In the first round (17th overall) of the 1978 NFL Draft, Tampa Bay drafted Williams following Gibbs' recommendation. In the first round of an NFL draft, Williams became the first African-American quarterback. The Tampa Stadium audience applauded his first preseason pass, a 75-yard incompletion that sailed 10 yards past receiver Isaac Hagins. He was the first quarterback in Buccaneer history to throw long passes downfield. Vince Evans, the Chicago Bears' quarterback, made history by making it the first NFL game ever to feature a black starting quarterback on both teams. Tampa Bay, which had won just two games in the first two years of the franchise, made it to the playoffs three times in five seasons, including Williams as starter and in the 1979 NFC Championship game. Williams maintained his completion percentage each season while living in Tampa Bay.

At that time, Williams was the only starting African-American quarterback in the NFL. Williams made $120,000 per year during his time with the Buccaneers, the lowest compensation for a starting quarterback in the league, and less than the salary of 12 backups. Williams signed a $600,000 contract after the 1982 season. Despite protests from coach John McKay, Buccaneers owner Hugh Culverhouse refused to budge from his initial bid of $400,000. Williams sat out the 1983 season after feeling that Culverhouse was not paying him what a starter should earn. The Buccaneers went 2-14-14 in 1998 and did not make the playoffs again until 1997. Tampa Bay played ten games in a row from 1983 to 1984, with one in that stretch. Williams' decision to let Williams walk away for such a small amount of money was seen as insensitive, particularly because it came only months after Williams' wife Janice died of an aneurysm.

Williams came from football, but the Oklahoma Outlaws of the upstart United States Football League has taken him a year away from football. Sid Gillman, the Hall of Fame coach and quarterbacks, was temporarily suspended from retirement as director of football operations, and Williams was Gillman's highest-profile signing. Williams has signed a $3 million signing bonus, making him one of the highest-paid players in all football. Years later, Bill Tatham Sr. and Bill Tatham Jr. "treated me as a human" rather than "a piece of cattle in a stockyard," rather than "a piece of cattle in a stockyard."

Williams was one of the Outlaws of the United StatesFL in 1984, completing 261 out of 528 passes for 3,084 yards and 15 touchdowns. However, he made 21 interceptions, ending up with a passer rating of 60.5 in a 6–12 season. In 1985, the team moved to Arizona and joined the Arizona Wranglers to form the Arizona Outlaws. Williams made some strides in passing for 3,673 yards with 21 touchdowns and 17 interceptions, leading to a 6th out of 509 passes for 3,673 yards out of 509 yards.

Williams returned to football after the NFL was shut down in 1986, joining the Washington Redskins. He was reunited with his former offensive coordinator, Joe Gibbs, who was then the team's head coach. Williams started as the back-up for starting quarterback Jay Schroeder, but after Schroeder was hurt, Williams came to help the Redskins win in the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1984 season. Williams and Schroeder had a strained friendship starting with Schroeder ordering Williams to get off the field when the Redskins thought Schroeder had been hurt in the 1986 NFC championship game and sent Williams in to substitute for him. It would be one of three times Williams was substituted for Schroeder and led the team to victory in 1987 (the other two were November 15 against Detroit and December 26 at Minnesota). Williams only appeared in two games against the Rams, on September 20 in Atlanta and November 23. Although both starts were losses, Williams, who had been preparing for the playoffs, was chosen as the starter. He coached the team to Super Bowl XXII, in which they defeated the Denver Broncos, becoming the first black quarterback to play in and win a Super Bowl.

Williams was asked this question on Media Day: "How long have you been a black quarterback?" He ostensibly replied, "I've been a quarterback since high school, and I've been black all my life." Williams was asked by host Craig Carton on February 1, 2013, and he reportedly said no one. It was true, he replied. Williams said he felt the reporter was a little nervous, that the investigation may have been sent in the wrong direction, and that no harm had been intended against him.

Williams underwent a six-hour root canal surgery to repair a dental bridge absces on the day before Super Bowl XXII. He engineered a 42–10 victory over the Broncos, who were led by quarterback John Elway, on January 31, 1988. Williams completed 18 of 29 passes for 340 yards with four touchdown passes. Both four touchdowns were thrown in the second quarter, the highest number in a single half, let alone a quarter. He was named Super Bowl MVP for his efforts, making him the first African-American quarterback to both win a Super Bowl and be named its MVP. He set a record of 331 passing yards set in 1985 by Joe Montana, who tied Williams' record for the next year with 357 yards. In 1979, Williams tied Terry Bradshaw's record for passing touchdowns, which Montana defeated by five in Super Bowl XXIV. Ricky Sanders' 80-yard scoring pass to Kenny King set the Super Bowl record for the longest pass, established by Jim Plunkett's throw to Kenny King in 1981; it was snapped in 1997 by Brett Favre's 81-yard pass to Antonio Freeman for the longest Super Bowl play from scrimmage.

Williams suffered from injuries the previous year and was outplayed by Mark Rypien, who later won the starting job. Williams and Rypien were so supportive of each other that T-shirts were sold with the tag "United We Stand," comparing the two quarterbacks as cartoon characters, with Williams saying "I'm for Mark" and Rypien saying "I'm for Doug" in reference to their respective careers. During the latter's first Pro Bowl season, Williams will play one last season as Rypien's backup.

Williams' separation from the Redskins came as a result of finances, with Williams expected to make $1 million in 1990 as the team's backup quarterback. Jeff Rutledge, the former New York Giants quarterback, was able to play as a backup for a considerable amount less money, making Williams expendable. Following Williams' release by the Redskins' waiver, he received no attention from other teams – a situation that he plainly attributed to bigotry. Williams retired as a Redskins starter (8-9, counting playoffs) and a 38–42–1 record as a regular season starter (42–41–1) with seven consecutive starts). In 88 NFL games, he had 100 passing touchdowns and 15 rushing touchdowns.

Coaching and executive career

Williams departed from football in 1990 as a college football analyst for Black Entertainment Television (BET). Williams, despite enjoying the change of pace, longed to return to football, and when a high school head coaching position opened up in 1991 in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, Williams applied for the position. Williams led the 35-player team to a 5–5 record on the season, with an upset of the second-ranked school in the state's second-ranked school.

Williams was able to teach at his former high school in Zachary in 1992, now named Northeast High. Williams, who was playing on a field embling his name, was able to lead the team to an undefeated regular season before losing in the state semi-finals. His squad notably defeated Isidore Newman High School before being led by senior quarterback Peyton Manning during the 1993 Louisiana high school playoffs.

In 1994, Williams joined the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, as the running backs coach for the football team. He served as offensive coordinator for the Scottish Claymores of American Football as early as 1995 and as a scout for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars during the 1995 NFL season.

Williams began his collegiate head coaching at Morehouse College in 1997. In 1998, he took over as the head football coach at Grambling State University, succeeding the legendary Eddie Robinson. He led the Tigers to three consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference titles from 2000 to 2002 before moving to rejoin the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a staff executive.

Williams carried the Vince Lombardi trophy to the winning New York Giants at the conclusion of Super Bowl XLII. In February 2009, Williams was named the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' director of professional scouting. On May 11, 2010, he was dismissed from this position.

Williams was later hired as the general manager of the Norfolk expansion franchise in the United Football League, now known as the Virginia Destroyers. Williams resigned from the Destroyers on February 21, 2011 to begin his second stint as the head football coach at Grambling State University. On September 11, 2013, he was fired from this position.

Williams rejoined the Redskins as a staff officer in February 2014. Williams' return to the Redskins marked the team's return to the Redskins. In June 2017, Williams was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President of Player Personnel. Williams was named as the team's senior vice president of player growth in 2020 after a front office restructure after the recruitment of Ron Rivera as head coach. He served as a senior advisor to team president Jason Wright for the next year.

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