The Great Black Hope
Doug Williams, Vince Evans, and the Making of the Black Quarterback
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
The story of two pioneering Black NFL football players that changed the face of America’s game for generations to come.
There is no position in pro sports more important than an NFL quarterback. But quarterbacking was the exclusive domain of white players for many years, and when Doug Williams and Vince Evans arrived in the league in the late 1970s, they got death threats, faced racist questions, and knew that a single mistake could end their careers. The Great Black Hope tells the twin stories of Vince Evans,an electrifying dual-threat quarterback ahead of his time, and of Doug Williams, the first Black quarterback to become a champion. Moore shows how easily Williams' triumphant story could have gone wrong and how his success changed the game and the country.
A skillful blend of game-time drama and social commentary, this book captures unheralded heroes of the NFL and all that they meant, both on the field and off.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Moore (We Will Win the Day), a history professor at Michigan's Grand Valley State University, provides a studious snapshot of the NFL's prickly racial politics in the 1970s and '80s. He focuses his account on Vince Evans of the Chicago Bears and Doug Williams of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who in 1979 became first Black quarterbacks to start an NFL game against each other. The son of educators, Evans enjoyed a comfortable middle-class childhood in Greensboro, N.C., before attending USC. Williams came from more humble means in Chaneyville, La., and played for Grambling State University. Moore emphasizes the stinging racism Evans and Williams faced in the pros, including having to contend with vitriol from white fans and doubts from coaches over whether Black quarterbacks were "smart enough to read a defense." The Buccaneers won the matchup against the Bears and Williams would go on to lead the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XXII, while Evans was benched in favor of white quarterback Jim McMahon in 1983. The academic tone somewhat saps the excitement of the play-by-plays, but Moore makes a persuasive case that Williams and Evans expanded the notion of what was possible for Black athletes. It's a winning examination of an overlooked milestone in football history.
