The Great Black Hope: Doug Williams, Vince Evans, and the Making of the Black Quarterback

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. Agent: Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Literary. (Sept.)