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Posts tagged as “Grambling State University”

BHM100*: Celebrating NFL Trailblazer Doug Williams, the 1st Black Quarterback to Win a Super Bowl Championship and Super Bowl MVP

BHM100*: Celebrating NFL Trailblazer Doug Williams, the 1st Black Quarterback to Win a Super Bowl Championship and Super Bowl MVP

By goodblacknews on February 8, 2026

On a January evening in 1988, Doug Williams became first Black quarterback in the National Football League to both start and win a Super Bowl. Williams’ performance leading the Washington Redskins (now Commanders) in Super Bowl XXII remains one of the most significant moments in sports history, a triumph that resonated far beyond the gridiron.

Born August 9, 1955, in Zachary, Louisiana, Williams grew up in an era when the very idea of a Black quarterback leading an NFL team seemed impossible. He honed his skills at Grambling State University from 1974 to 1977, playing under legendary coach Eddie Robinson. At Grambling, Williams passed for over 8,000 yards and 93 touchdowns, leading the Tigers to three Black College National Championships and finishing fourth in Heisman Trophy voting in 1977.

In 1978, Williams made history when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected him 17th overall, making him the first Black quarterback drafted in the first round. Over five seasons with Tampa Bay, he led the team to the playoffs three times, including an NFC Championship Game appearance in 1979.

Despite his success, Williams was significantly underpaid compared to his white counterparts, a disparity he later attributed to racism. After a brief stint in the now-defunct USFL (United States Football League), Williams joined Washington’s team in 1986 as a backup QB. When head coach Joe Gibbs named him the starter for the 1987 playoffs, few could have predicted the historic performance that would follow.

In Super Bowl XXII against the Denver Broncos, Williams delivered one of the greatest quarters in football history, throwing four touchdown passes in the second quarter alone. He finished with 340 passing yards and led his team to a commanding 42-10 victory, earning Super Bowl MVP honors.

When a reporter at Media Day asked Williams, “How long have you been a Black quarterback?” he famously responded, “I’ve been a quarterback since high school, and I’ve been Black all my life.”

Following his historic Super Bowl XXII win, Williams continued playing for Washington through the 1989 season, though injuries limited his playing time in subsequent years. After retiring as a player, Williams transitioned into coaching and personnel roles.

He returned to his alma mater Grambling, serving as head coach (1998-2003, 2011-2013), where he won four Southwestern Athletic Conference championships. In 2010, Williams helped establish the Black College Football Hall of Fame, ensuring that the achievements of HBCU athletes would be properly honored and remembered.

In 2024, Williams was selected as the American Football Coaches Association‘s recipient of the Trailblazer Award as one of the most storied “G-Men” in the history of Grambling State’s program.

After a stint in the NFL as a personnel executive with Tampa Bay, Williams eventually rejoined the Washington franchise in various front office capacities, and currently serves as senior advisor to the Commanders. In a full-circle moment, his son D.J. Williams was named the team’s quarterbacks coach in January 2026.

To learn more about Williams, read The Great Black Hope: Doug Williams, Vince Evans, and the Making of the Black Quarterback by Louis Moore or Black Trailblazers in Sports: Doug Williams by David Lee Morgan, Jr.

Sources:

*This year marks the 100th anniversary since Dr. Carter G. Woodson founded Negro History Week in February 1926. Fifty years after that, President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month. In 1986, Congress passed a law designating February as Black History Month across the U.S.

GBN GIVEAWAY: Enter by 2/28 for a Chance to Win the “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody” DVD Blue-Ray… and More!

GBN GIVEAWAY: Enter by 2/28 for a Chance to Win the “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody” DVD Blue-Ray… and More!

By goodblacknews on February 26, 2023

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

In conjunction with the 2/28 release of Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody on DVD/Blu-Ray, Good Black News is giving away one bundled prize pack, courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

The items in the prize pack include:

  • Blu-ray
  • Vinyl album
  • Karaoke mic
  • Kodak Printomatic Instant Camera  – with package of photo paper
  • Movie night popcorn set
  • Box of conversation hearts

 

 

To enter for a chance to win, send your first and last name and an email address with the subject heading “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody Giveaway” to goodblacknewsgiveaways@yahoo.com from now until 11:59PM PST on Tuesday, February 28.

One entry per email, and GBN will announce the name of the winner in a post on March 1st, then contact them for a mailing address to receive their prize pack bundle.

Directed by Kasi Lemmons (Harriet, Eve’s Bayou, Candyman) and written by Academy Award® nominee Anthony McCarten (Best Adapted Screenplay, The Two Popes, 2019), produced by legendary music executive Clive Davis and starring BAFTA Award® winner Naomi Ackie, the film  — which is currently available on all digital platforms — is a no-holds-barred portrait of the complex and multifaceted woman behind The Voice.

From New Jersey choir girl to one of the best-selling and most awarded recording artists of all time, audiences are taken on a journey through Whitney Houston’s trailblazing life and career, with show-stopping performances and a soundtrack of the icon’s most beloved hits as you’ve never heard them before.

As it’s still Black History Month, GBN is taking the opportunity of this giveaway to highlight some Whitney Houston history that, unlike her timeless music, is not as well known.

Evelyn F. Crayton Becomes 1st African American President of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

By goodblacknews on July 21, 2015

Evelyn Crayton (Photo via eatrightpro.org)
Evelyn Crayton (Photo via eatrightpro.org)

Evelyn F. Crayton, professor emerita at Auburn University in Alabama, is the new president of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The academy is the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. The academy was founded in 1917 and has 76,000 members. Dr. Crayton is the organization’s 90th leader and the first African American to hold the post.
A native of Jones, Louisiana, Dr. Crayton is a graduate of Grambling State University. She earned a master’s degree at Saint Louis University and a doctorate from Auburn University.
When she was granted emerita status at Auburn University, Dr. Crayton was a professor of nutrition dietetics, and hospitality management and assistant director of extension family and consumer sciences. She is a past president of the Alabama Dietetic Association.
article via jbhe.com

Apple Commits More Than $50 million to Diversity Efforts

By goodblacknews on March 11, 2015
A flashy new smart watch isn’t all Apple has up its sleeve. The company is donating more than $50 million to organizations that aim to get more women, minorities, and veterans working in tech.
In an exclusive interview with Fortune, Apple’s human resources chief Denise Young Smith said the company is partnering with several non-profit organizations on a multi-year, multi-million-dollar effort to increase the pipeline of women, minorities, and veterans in the technology industry—and, of course, at Apple.
“We wanted to create opportunities for minority candidates to get their first job at Apple,” said Young Smith, who took over as its head of HR a little over a year ago. (Before her current role, the longtime Apple exec spent a decade running recruiting for the retail side of the business.) “There is tremendous upside to that and we are dogged about the fact that we can’t innovate without being diverse and inclusive.”
Young Smith likes to say that diversity extends race and gender—Apple wants its employee base to also reflect different lifestyles and sexual orientations. (Last fall, CEO Tim Cook publicly acknowledged that he is gay—the first Fortune500 chief executive to do so while holding the title.) But, at least for now, its diversity initiatives are mostly focused on expanding its pipeline of women and minorities.
To that end, the company is partnering with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, a non-profit that supports students enrolled in public, historically black colleges and universities (known as HBCUs). These schools include North Carolina A&T State University, Howard University, and Grambling State University (where Young Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and journalism in 1978). All told, there are 100 HBCUs across the country—47 of them are considered public—and collectively they graduate nearly 20% of African-Americans who earn undergraduate degrees.
“Historically, other organizations have provided scholarship dollars or focused on whatever area matters most to them,” says Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. “What differentiates this partnership with Apple is that it hits on everything that we do—it is the most comprehensive program ever offered to an HBCU organization.”

Ollie Tyler, 69, Becomes 1st Black Woman to be Elected Mayor of Shreveport

By goodblacknews on January 5, 2015
(Image: Twitter)
Mayor Ollie Tyler (Image: Twitter)
Shreveport, Louisiana made history over the weekend as the city swore in Ollie Tyler, their first-ever black female mayor. Tyler, 69, won with 65% of the city’s votes. “Your vote was your voice and you sent a message to the next generations that we are vested in our city and will use the challenges we face as opportunities to create unity around a vision that will move us to build a stronger, better Shreveport,” Tyler wrote in a letter to the citizens of Shreveport. “I will work with a sense of urgency to bring pride, excitement, and economic growth to our city.”
Ollie Tyler was elected the 48th Mayor of the City of Shreveport. Council members-elect are Willie Bradford, Jeff Everson, Oliver Jenkins, Michael Corbin, James Flurry, Stephanie Lynch and Jerry Bowman. Mayor Tyler was formerly an education administrator, according to USA Today, and this is her first time serving as an elected official. She revealed several of her aims at the Inauguration, which included enhancing police force in high-crime areas, calculating a budget to balance the city’s finances, improving sewers and streets, attracting Fortune 500 companies, and cleaning up Shreveport’s major gateways.
During Tyler’s political race, a piece of her past resurfaced and it was revealed that the now mayor fatally shot her abusive husband in 1968. USA Today reported that “Tyler said she was never indicted and said the killing was ruled an ‘accidental and justifiable homicide.’” After the incident, Tyler proved that you really can overcome anything by becoming a teacher, Parish of Caddo’s Director of Middle Schools, New Orleans city schools’ Deputy Superintendent, Superintendent of Caddo Parish Public Schools, Louisiana’s Deputy Superintendent of Education and Acting State Superintendent of Education. Her latest victory as Shreveport’s first black mayor involved her defeating a white woman lawyer who’s 15 years younger.
Mayor Tyler was born in Caddo Parish. She obtained her Bachelor of Science from Grambling State University, and a Master of Education from Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge.
article by Essence Gant via blackenterprise.com

Grambling State University Graduates Its First Marine Corps Officer in Nearly 40 Years

By goodblacknews on January 6, 2013

ogunyemiEarlier this month Olaolu Ogunyemi graduated from Grambling State University in Louisiana. He also was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. He is the first Grambling student to receive a Marine Corps commission in nearly 40 years. Grambling State University does not have a Marine ROTC program, so Lt. Ogunyemi had to navigate the program on his own.
Ogunyemi is a native of Simsboro, Louisiana. His father is director of institutional research at Grambling and his mother is the acting chair of the department of educational leadership at the university.
Ogunyemi will now report for additional Marine Corps training in Quantico, Virginia.
article via jbhe.com