Doug Williams (quarterback)

Douglas Lee Williams (born August 9, 1955) is an American football executive and former quarterback and coach. Williams is best known for his performance with the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XXII against the Denver Broncos, being named Super Bowl MVP for his efforts. He passed for 340 yards and four touchdowns, a single-quarter record which he set in the second quarter, to win the game, making him the first African-American quarterback to win a Super Bowl.

For the lineman, see Doug Williams (offensive lineman).

Doug Williams
Williams in 2015
Washington Redskins
Position:Senior vice president of player development
Personal information
Born: (1955-08-09) August 9, 1955
Zachary, Louisiana
Height:6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight:236 lb (107 kg)
Career information
High school:Zachary (LA) Chaneyville
College:Grambling State
NFL Draft:1978 / Round: 1 / Pick: 17
Career history
As player:
As coach:
As executive:
Career highlights and awards
  • Super Bowl champion (XXII)
  • Super Bowl MVP (XXII)
  • NFL All-Rookie Team (1978)
  • 80 Greatest Redskins
  • Washington Redskins Ring of Fame
  • Tampa Stadium Krewe of Honor
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers Ring of Honor
  • College Football Hall of Fame inductee (2001)
Career NFL statistics
Pass attempts:2,507
Pass completions:1,240
Percentage:49.5
TD–INT:100–93
Passing yards:16,998
Passer rating:69.4
Player stats at NFL.com

Following his playing career, Williams began coaching, most notably serving as the head coach of the Grambling State Tigers. In addition to being a coach, Williams has been a team executive for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Virginia Destroyers, and Redskins.

Collegiate career

Williams attended Grambling State University, where he played for legendary head coach Eddie Robinson. In his first two seasons, he played on the same team as future star NFL receiver Sammy White. Williams guided the Tigers to a 36–7 (.837 winning percentage) record as a four-year starter, and led the Tigers to three Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships. Williams was named Black College Player of the Year twice.[3]

In 1977, Williams led the NCAA in several categories, including total yards from scrimmage (3,249), passing yards (3,286), touchdown passes (38), and yards per play (8.6).[4] Williams finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting, behind Earl Campbell, Terry Miller, and Ken MacAfee.[5] Williams graduated from Grambling with a bachelor's degree in education, and he began work on his master's degree before the 1978 NFL Draft.

Despite the success that he enjoyed on the field, Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Joe Gibbs was the only NFL coach that visited Williams to work him out and scout him. Gibbs spent two days with the 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m), 220 lb (100 kg) quarterback, reviewing play books, film, and going through passing drills. Impressed by his poise, work ethic, and studious nature, Gibbs rated Williams as the best quarterback in the draft,[6] writing in his scouting report that Williams had “a big-time arm with perfect passing mechanics” and was “a natural leader...very academic and extremely prepared...football smart,” and recommended that the Buccaneers select Williams with their first-round draft choice.[7]

Professional career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Following the recommendation of Gibbs, Tampa Bay drafted Williams in the first round (17th overall) of the 1978 NFL Draft. Williams became the first African-American quarterback taken in the first round of an NFL draft.[8] His first preseason pass, a 75-yard incompletion that sailed 10 yards past receiver Isaac Hagins, drew a standing ovation from the Tampa Stadium crowd. He was the first quarterback in Buccaneer history capable of throwing long passes downfield.[9] The team, who had won just two games in the first two years of the franchise, went to the playoffs three times in five seasons with Williams as starter and played in the 1979 NFC Championship Game. During his time in Tampa Williams improved his completion percentage each season.

Williams was the only starting African-American quarterback in the NFL at that time. During his tenure with the Buccaneers, Williams was paid $120,000 a year, the lowest salary for a starting quarterback in the league, and less than the salary of 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. Feeling that Culverhouse was not paying him what a starter should earn, Williams bolted to the upstart United States Football League’s Oklahoma Outlaws. The next season the Bucs went 2–14, and did not make the playoffs again until the 1997 season 14 years later. Tampa Bay lost ten games in every season but one in that stretch. Culverhouse’s willingness to let Williams walk away over such a relatively small amount of money was seen as insensitive, especially as it came only months after Williams’ wife Janice died of an aneurysm.[10][11]

Oklahoma/Arizona Outlaws

In 1984, Williams led the Outlaws of the USFL in passing, completing 261 out of 528 passes for 3,084 yards and 15 touchdowns. However, he threw 21 interceptions, ending up with a passer rating of 60.5 during a 6–12 season. In 1985, the team moved to Arizona and merged with the Arizona Wranglers to become the Arizona Outlaws, Williams showed some improvement, completing 271 out of 509 passes for 3,673 yards with 21 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.

Washington Redskins

After the USFL was shut down in 1986, Williams returned to the NFL, joining the Washington Redskins. He was reunited with his former offensive coordinator, Joe Gibbs, who was now the team's head coach. Initially, Williams served as the backup for starting quarterback Jay Schroeder, but after Schroeder became injured, Williams stepped in and led the Redskins to an opening-day victory against the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1987 season. Williams and Schroeder had a somewhat chilly relationship, stemming from Schroeder ordering Williams to get off the field when the Redskins thought Schroeder had been injured in the 1986 NFC title game and sent Williams in to substitute for him. It would be one of three times in 1987 that Williams substituted for Schroeder and led the team to victory (the other two were November 15 against Detroit and December 26 at Minnesota). Williams only started two games, September 20 at Atlanta and November 23 against the Rams. While both starts were losses, at the end of the season, when the Redskins had qualified for the playoffs, Williams, with his 94.0 passer rating, was chosen as the starter. He led the team to Super Bowl XXII in which they routed the Denver Broncos, becoming the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl.

"I get this phone call from Coach Gibbs. He was the only guy who called me Douglas. ‘Douglas, it’s Coach Gibbs,” he said. ‘How you doing?” He asked me to come to Washington to be a backup. Now at this point, I don’t have a job. I told him, ‘Coach, I can be any type of ‘up’ you want me to be.’ He started laughing. He said, ‘OK. [Washington general manager] Bobby Beathard is going to give you a call.’ Bobby called. We agreed [to terms]."

— Doug Williams [12]

According to legend, Williams was asked this question on Media Day: “How long have you been a black quarterback?” He supposedly replied, “I’ve been a quarterback since high school, and I’ve been black all my life.” The story is untrue, but Williams says he still gets asked about it. On February 1, 2013, Williams was interviewed on the Boomer and Carton show, and he was asked by the host Craig Carton if the question ever happened. He replied that it was true. Williams said he thought the reporter was a little nervous and the question may have come out the wrong way and that no ill will was meant towards him.[13][14][15]

On the day before Super Bowl XXII, Williams had a six-hour root canal surgery performed to repair a dental bridge abscess.[16] Facing Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, Williams engineered a 42–10 rout, in which he completed 18 of 29 passes for 340 yards with four touchdowns, all in the second quarter, which set a Super Bowl record for most touchdowns thrown in a single 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.[17]

He suffered from injuries the following season and was outplayed by Mark Rypien, who eventually won the starting job from Williams. Despite competing for the same starting job, Williams and Rypien were so supportive of each other that T-shirts were sold with the caption “United We Stand", depicting the two quarterbacks as cartoon characters with Williams saying “I'm for Mark” and Rypien saying “I'm for Doug”.[18] Williams would play one final season in 1989, as Rypien's backup, during the latter's first Pro Bowl season.

Finances played a large part in Williams' departure from the Redskins, with Williams slated to make $1 million in 1990 as the team's backup quarterback.[8] The Redskins were able to sign former New York Giants quarterback Jeff Rutledge for the backup role for substantially less money, making Williams expendable.[8] Williams received scant attention from other teams following his waiver by the Redskins — a situation which he flatly attributed to racism.[8] Williams retired with a 5–9 record as Redskins starter (8–9, counting playoffs) and a 38–42–1 record as a regular season starter (42–45–1, including 7 playoff starts). He had 100 passing touchdowns, and 15 rushing touchdowns, in 88 NFL games.

Administrative and coaching career
Williams (left) as head coach of Grambling State, posing with a Marine general (right) in November 2011.

Following his departure from the NFL, Williams worked on television in 1990 as a college football analyst for the Black Entertainment Television (BET).[8] Despite enjoying the change of pace, Williams longed to return to football and when a high school head coaching position opened up in 1991 at the new Pointe Coupee Central High School in the unincorporated Labarre area of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, Williams applied for the job and was hired for the position.[8] Williams led the 35-player team to a 5–5 record in the season, including an upset of the second-ranked school in the state.[8]

In 1992, Williams was able to move on to coach to his former high school in Zachary, now renamed Northeast High.[8] Playing its home games on a field bearing his name, Williams was able to lead the team to an undefeated regular season, finally falling in the state semi-finals.[8] During the 1993 Louisiana HS playoffs, his team notably knocked out Isidore Newman High School, then led by senior quarterback Peyton Manning.

Williams moved to the collegiate coaching ranks in 1994, when he was hired as the running backs coach for the football team of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.[8] He worked as offensive coordinator for the Scottish Claymores of the World League of American Football early in 1995 and as a scout for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars during the 1995 NFL season.

Williams began his collegiate head coaching career at Morehouse College in 1997. He was named the head football coach at Grambling State University in 1998, succeeding the legendary Eddie Robinson. He led the Tigers to three consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference titles from 2000–2002, before leaving to rejoin the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a personnel executive.[19]

At the conclusion of Super Bowl XLII, on the 20th anniversary of being named Super Bowl XXII MVP, Williams carried the Vince Lombardi trophy on to the field for presentation to the winning New York Giants. Williams was named the director of professional scouting for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in February 2009.[20] He was relieved of this position on May 11, 2010.[21]

Williams was subsequently hired as general manager of the Norfolk expansion franchise in the United Football League, now known as the Virginia Destroyers. On February 21, 2011, Williams resigned from the Destroyers to begin his second stint as the head football coach at Grambling State University. He was fired from this position on September 11, 2013.[22] On February 10, 2014, the Washington Redskins hired Williams as a front office personnel executive. The hiring marked Williams’ return to the Redskins.[23] Williams was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President of Player Personnel in June 2017.[24][25] In 2020, following a front office restructure after the hiring of Ron Rivera as head coach, Williams was named the team's senior vice president of player development.[26]

Personal life

Williams was born in Zachary, Louisiana, a town of about 8,000 people located near Baton Rouge.[8] Williams and his wife, Raunda, have eight children: Laura, Lee, Ashley, Adrian, Doug, Jr., Jasmine, Temessia, and Carmaleta; also, he is the first cousin of recording artist Is’real Benton. His sons Adrian and Doug Jr. (D.J.) are both accomplished collegiate athletes. Adrian played basketball for Brown University until graduating after the 2010–11 season[27] while D.J. signed to play for his father at Grambling State University. Doug's nephew Johnny Huggins also played in the NFL.[28]

In 2009, together with fellow Grambling State alumnus James Harris, Williams founded the Black College Football Hall of Fame. Each year, several notable football players from historically black colleges and universities are entered in its hall of fame at an induction ceremony in Atlanta.[29] In July 2019, Grambling State honored Williams by naming a street in his honor on the college's campus.[30]

Head coaching record
Year Team Overall ConferenceStanding Bowl/playoffs TSN#
Morehouse Maroon Tigers (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) (1997)
1997 Morehouse 3–8
Morehouse: 3–8
Grambling State Tigers (Southwestern Athletic Conference) (1998–2003)
1998 Grambling State 5–64–4T–4th
1999 Grambling State 7–42–23rd (West)
2000 Grambling State 10–26–11st (West)13
2001 Grambling State 10–16–11st (West)8
2002 Grambling State 11–26–11st (West)8
2003 Grambling State 9–36–1T–1st (West)17
Grambling State Tigers (Southwestern Athletic Conference) (2011–2013)
2011 Grambling State 8–46–31st (West)
2012 Grambling State 1–100–95th (West)
2013 Grambling State 0–2*0–1*
Grambling State: 61–3436–23
Total:65–39
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

* Williams was fired on September 11, 2013.

See also

References
  1. "Doug Williams Records 5–5 Mark As H.S. Coach". Jet (vol. 81, no. 13, p. 46). January 20, 1992.
  2. Karen Didier (August 25, 1985). "Jags hire Williams as team consultant". Baton Rouge Sunday Advocate (sec. D, p. 5).
  3. Philipse, Sander (February 20, 2011). "Doug Williams inducted into Black College Football Hall of Fame". BucsNation.com. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  4. "Doug Williams". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  5. "1977 Heisman Trophy Voting". sports-reference.com. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  6. https://gsutigers.com/news/2019/7/10/football-grambling-state-to-honor-doug-williams.aspx
  7. Garber, Greg (January 29, 2013). "Doug Williams embraces history". espn.go.com. Ruston, Louisiana: ESPN. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  8. Rick Snider, "Doug Williams — From Stardom to Obscurity and Back Again," Street & Smith's Pro Football 1994, pp. 76-77.
  9. Tierney, Mike. "30 Seasons: 1976–2005. From Sinking Ship to World-Class Cruise. St. Petersburg Times. September 11, 2005
  10. Scheiber, Dave. “So Who’s Laughing Now?” St. Petersburg Times. January 26, 2003
  11. Lieber, Jill. “Well-Armed Pioneer”. Sports Illustrated. February 1, 1988
  12. "Doug WIlliams: The Real MVP". theundefeated.com. January 31, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  13. Bianchi, Mike (January 30, 2007). "Dumbest question was never asked". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  14. Mikkelson, David. "Quarterback Speak". Snopes.com. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  15. Woods, Mark. "The Question misquoted, but still lives". The Florida Times-Union. Archived from the original on October 16, 2006. Retrieved February 4, 2018 – via jacksonville.com.
  16. Lynch, Kevin; Hession, Joseph. Hit and Tell: War Stories of the NFL. Foghorn Press. ISBN 9780935701975.
  17. Kay, Stanley; Hersh, Daniel (January 24, 2016). "Cam Newton joins select group of black QBs to reach Super Bowl". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  18. Richman, Michael. The Redskins Encyclopedia. Temple University Press, 2007.
  19. http://gramblingfootball.blogspot.com/2006/08/grambling-greats-doug-williams.html
  20. Bucs Promote Williams, Hire Several Assistants Yahoo Sports, February 3, 2009
  21. Ex-Bucs QB Williams leaving front-office job after meeting with GM NFL, May 11, 2010
  22. http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/09/doug-williams-fired-as-grambling-state-s-head-football-coach-93887.html
  23. Redskins hire Doug Williams Washington Post, February 10, 2014
  24. "Redskins Promote Doug Williams To Senior Vice President Of Player Personnel". Redskins.com. June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  25. "Doug Williams to serve as senior VP of player personnel for Redskins". ESPN.com. June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  26. Redskins Public Relations. "Redskins Name Doug Williams Senior Vice President Of Player Development". Redskins.com. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  27. http://brownbears.com/sports/m-baskbl/2010-11/bios/williams_adrian00.html
  28. "J.J. Huggins". all-xfl.com. Archived from the original on March 9, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  29. http://www.blackcollegefootballhof.org/about/halloffame
  30. https://www.redskins.com/news/grambling-state-to-honor-doug-williams-with-street-name
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