Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts tagged as “super-bowl”

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.

Tiffany Haddish's Hilarious Groupon Story Lands Her Spokesperson Gig and Super Bowl Ad

By goodblacknews on January 18, 2018
Tiffany Haddish announces she is new spokesperson for Groupon (image via youtube.com)

by Natasha Bach via fortune.com

Tiffany Haddish’s love for Groupon is sending her to the Super Bowl. The Girls Trip actress went viral last summer, when she told Jimmy Kimmel a story about taking co-star Jada Pinkett-Smith and husband Will Smith on a Groupon swamp tour while filming in New Orleans (watch below).

The hilarious re-telling, which included the revelation that the Smiths had no idea what Groupon was, apparently spread quickly through the ranks of the discount e-commerce site. The company decided that they wanted to work with the actress and offered her a role as spokesperson. Now, she’ll be featured in a series of ads for the company, including its first Super Bowl commercial in seven years, which will air during the fourth quarter of the game.
According to Groupon’s head of marketing for North America, Jon Wild, when the company looked into Haddish, they not only found that the actress is a bonafide fan of its service, but that she is actually in the top 1% of most frequent purchasers. “She knows our product better than a lot of Groupon employees,” Wild said. “She could name what she’d done, the experience she had and how much she’d saved.”
https://youtu.be/ewNEBVwZuxw
That expertise not only landed Haddish the spokesperson gig, but also effectively made her an honorary employee. Groupon has also given Haddish her own section of the site, given her access to the employee app, and “put some Groupon bucks in her account.”
Source: http://fortune.com/2018/01/16/tiffany-haddish-super-bowl-ad-groupon/

Beyoncé Announces The Formation World Tour; Launches Initiative to Help Flint Water Crisis

By goodblacknews on February 8, 2016

Beyonce Dancers for NOW 020816
Beyoncé mid-slay with dancers at yesterday’s Super Bowl Halftime Show (photo via colorlines.com)

article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (follow @lakinhutcherson)
Something tells me we will soon have to invent a new way to say “slay,” because if the boss moves perpetrated in the last two days by Beyoncé have shown us anything, they’ve shown us she has every intention of erecting on top of the foundation she laid with 2013’s “Beyoncé” an impenetrable Fortress of Slayage where the word will soon retire itself (because really, where else has it to go?).
To recap, not only did Queen Bey the day before the Super Bowl drop her “Formation” video – which the internet is still feverishly and giddily unpacking – she performed it at halftime, paid homage to the Black Panthers in the Bay Area on their 50th anniversary during the 50th Super Bowl, paid homage to Malcolm X with her squad’s literal formation, and then claimed the commercial space right after halftime to announce her Formation World Tour, which kicks off April 27 in Miami.  Phew!  No wonder “slay” is ready for a permanent vacation.
According to usatoday.com, the Formation World Tour will be hitting cities nationwide including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia. It ends June 12 in Hershey, Penn., before a string of European dates get underway June 28. Tickets go on sale beginning Tuesday for American Express and Beyhive fan club members, and to the general public starting Feb. 16. [Tour dates listed below.]

But that’s not all new world leader Yoncé’s got going on – along with the tour, the singer also launched a new initiative to aid the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

“True to her life’s work of always giving back, fans will be given the opportunity to participate in Beyoncé’s #BeyGOOD initiative supporting local United Way programs,” Live Nation released in a statement, announcing that the United Way of Genesee County will partner with the Community Foundation of Greater Flint to “create a fund that will address long-term developmental, education, nutrition and health needs of the children affected by the Flint Water Crisis.”

Beyoncé last toured the USA with her husband, rapper Jay Z, on the six-week On the Run Tour in summer 2014, which was filmed for a HBO special. The Formation World Tour is her first solo jaunt since the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour in 2013.

Donald Driver Retires; Receiver’s Career Celebrated at Lambeau Field

By goodblacknews on February 6, 2013
Donald Driver #90 of the Green Bay Packers on the sidelines against theTennessee Titans at Lambeau Field on December 23, 2012 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Tom Lynn /Getty Images)

Donald Driver #90 of the Green Bay Packers on the sidelines against the Tennessee Titans at Lambeau Field on December 23, 2012 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Tom Lynn /Getty Images)
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Donald Driver rewrote the Green Bay Packers record books and on Wednesday morning, the wildly popular wide receiver might’ve rewritten the book on how a player should call it a career.
Officially retiring after 14 seasons – all with the Packers, something that was extremely important to him – the franchise’s all-time leading receiver celebrated his career during an unprecedented event inside the Lambeau Field atrium with 1,500 fans, his family, Packers coaches, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Green Bay mayor Jim Schmitt and a handful of teammates.
Driver says it was a tough decision but he’s ready for the next chapter in his life. He retires after catching 743 passes for 10,137 yards, making the team as a seventh-round draft pick out of Alcorn State in 1999.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via thegrio.com

Ravens’ Brendon Ayanbadejo to Promote Gay Rights at the Super Bowl

By goodblacknews on January 26, 2013
Brendon Ayanbadejo #51 of the Baltimore Ravens celebrates after defeating the New England Patriots during the 2013 AFC Championship game at Gillette Stadium on January 20, 2013 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

Brendon Ayanbadejo #51 of the Baltimore Ravens celebrates after defeating the New England Patriots during the 2013 AFC Championship game at Gillette Stadium on January 20, 2013 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

Ayanbadejo, who will appearing in his first ever Super Bowl on February 3rd, hopes to use the media spotlight from the big game to promote his position against bullying and for marriage equality.
The New York Times reports that Ayanbadejo recently emailed gay marriage advocate Brian Ellner and Michael Skolnik, the political director for Russell Simmons, and asked: “Is there anything I can do for marriage equality or anti- bullying over the next couple of weeks to harness this Super Bowl media?”

Baltimore Raven Torrey Smith’s Emotional Ride Ends With Win Over Patriots

By goodblacknews on September 24, 2012
Torrey Smith #82 of the Baltimore Ravens celebrates after he scored a 25-yard touchdown recpetion in the second quarter against the New England Patriots at M&T Bank Stadium on September 23, 2012 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)Torrey Smith #82 of the Baltimore Ravens celebrates after he scored a 25-yard touchdown recpetion in the second quarter against the New England Patriots at M&T Bank Stadium on September 23, 2012 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE (AP) — Torrey Smith showed up at the stadium tired and drained, unsure if he would suit up for the Baltimore Ravens.  No one would have blamed him if he didn’t. After all, his younger brother had died in a motorcycle accident less than 24 hours earlier.  Smith opted to play, and the second-year wide receiver caught touchdown passes of 25 and 5 yards to help the Ravens beat the New England Patriots 31-30 Sunday night in a rematch of the AFC title game.