The quarterback position has changed over the years and did not exist in its modern form in the early 20th century. In the early days of football, quarterbacks were called upon to throw the ball, run the ball, and kick the ball; the forward pass was not adopted widely until the 1930s. However,
tailbacks who played in the
single-wing formation are "the equivalent of a modern-day quarterback" or "the closest thing to it." typically begins with the center (C) throwing the ball to the tailback (TB), while the quarterback (QB) is used as a
blocker. , in which the quarterback (QB) lines up directly behind the center (C) to receive the ball in a hand-off. This led to a reduction in
fumbles and the evolution of the quarterback from a blocker to a passer and leader of the offense. Single-wing tailback
Fritz Pollard, a key figure in the early days of the NFL, became the league's first Black quarterback when he started playing the position for the
Hammond Pros in 1923. By that time, he had already become the first Black head coach in the NFL, and prior to his professional career, the first Black quarterback
All-American and the first to appear in the
Rose Bowl. Pollard faced racism throughout his career, including from his teammates. In college, fans were reported to sing "
Bye Bye Blackbird" when he took the field. Pollard would sometimes have to enter the field through a separate gate, or be driven onto the field in a car for his own safety, in order to avoid fans who chanted "kill the nigger" and threw bottles and bricks at him. After retiring from football, Pollard started the first Black tabloid newspaper, the
New York Independent News. In 2005, Pollard was inducted into the
Pro Football Hall of Fame. The demise of the competing
American Football League (AFL) in the 1920s left a "glut of available white players eager to sign on with the NFL, rendering Black players expendable." In 1926, there were five Black players in the NFL, in 1927 only one. With the onset of the
Great Depression in the 1930s, economic pressures led to a further deterioration of race relations, and minorities were often vilified and scapegoated. When the
Chicago Cardinals signed
Joe Lillard in 1932, the same year a rule change expanded the forward pass and
Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the US presidency with 75% of the Black vote, he was the NFL's only Black player at the time. Lillard started 12 games with the Chicago Cardinals, and although he threw passes, ran the ball, kicked the ball, and returned punts, he was used sparingly as a quarterback. 1932 was also the year that segregationist
George Preston Marshall founded the
Boston Braves. The following year, Marshall renamed the Braves the
Boston Redskins and brokered an NFL-wide ban on Black players. Joe Lillard was released, and by 1934, there were no Black players with NFL contracts. In 1937, Marshall moved the Redskins to the southern city of Washington, D.C., which was still segregated, renaming the team the
Washington Redskins. Marshall's so-called "gentlemen's agreement" barring Black players from the NFL lasted until after World War II, when the
All-America Football Conference (AAFC) launched in 1946 as an unsegregated competing league. NFL owners relented and lifted the ban, although Marshall nevertheless refused to sign any Black players to the Redskins until 1962, when he finally relented under threat from President
John F. Kennedy to cancel the Redskins' 30-year stadium lease unless they integrated. depicting
George Taliaferro, who became the first Black player drafted in the
NFL in 1949, and went on to play quarterback and six other positions until 1955. In 1949,
George Taliaferro became the first Black player
drafted into the NFL. Taliaferro had previously played college football for the
Indiana Hoosiers. He missed the 1946 season when he was
conscripted into the
US Army but returned to lead the Hoosiers in both rushing and passing in 1948. The NFL's
Chicago Bears drafted Taliaferro in 1949, but he had already signed a contract with the
Los Angeles Dons in the AAFC. The LA Dons later folded, and several of its players joined the NFL, Taliaferro among them. He played an unprecedented seven positions during his career, including single-wing tailback or quarterback, more than any player in NFL history. Taliaferro retired in 1955. Two other Black quarterbacks made brief appearances in the pre-Super Bowl NFL.
Willie Thrower, "the first Black NFL quarterback of the modern mold", played for
Michigan State in college before playing one professional game at quarterback for the Bears, in relief duty, on October 18, 1953.
Charlie Brackins, the NFL's first Black quarterback to have graduated from a
historically Black college or university (HBCU), played one game as quarterback for the
Green Bay Packers in 1955, missed both of his pass attempts, and was released by the team before the next game. == First by team (Super Bowl era) ==