From halftime to MVPs, Black history is part of the Super Bowl

By Claretta Bellamy

Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles and Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs will make history Sunday when two Black quarterbacks face each other in a Super Bowl for the first time. If Hurts leads his team to victory, he will be the fourth Black quarterback to do so, following Washington’s Doug Williams in 1988, Mahomes in 2020 and the Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson in 2013.

Only eight Black quarterbacks have started a Super Bowl — with racial stigmas against Black quarterbacks dating to the 1950s that suggested they lacked the intelligence or the skills to successfully play the position.

The league has also had to grapple with the lack of Black coaches and figures in leadership positions, and its failure to institute policies to break these barriers. Last year former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL, the New York Giants and other teams alleging racial discrimination in hiring coaches. According to a 2022 Washington Post series called “Black Out” that examined the lack of Black head coaches in the NFL, while approximately 70% of players in the NFL were Black, only 11% of full-time head coaches since 1990 have been Black. The report also found that Black coaches were most likely to serve as interim coaches, with those teams usually being a bit disorganized before they join.

Here’s a timeline of historic Black firsts in the Super Bowl:

Black firsts in the Super Bowl

Jan. 15, 1967

The Grambling Tigers’ marching band performs at the first Super Bowl

Grambling State University made history when the historically black university’s marching band performed at the first Super Bowl (then called AFL-NFL World Championship Game), won by the Green Bay Packers, 35-10, over the Chiefs.

Jan. 11, 1970

Lionel Hampton becomes the first Black artist to perform at a Super Bowl halftime show

Vibraphonist Lionel Hampton was the first Black artist to perform at a Super Bowl halftime show when he played “A Tribute to Mardi Gras” with jazz trumpeter Doc Severinsen, opera singer Marguerite Piazza, trumpeter Al Hirt and the Southern University marching band. More than 80,000 people were in attendance that day in Tulane Stadium in New Orleans when the Chiefs beat the Minnesota Vikings, 23-7.

Jan. 12, 1975

Steelers’ Franco Harris becomes first Black player to win the Super Bowl MVP

Pittsburgh running back Franco Harris became the first Black and Italian American to be named the game’s MVP when he rushed for 158 yards in leading the Steelers over the Minnesota Vikings, 16-6. It was the Steelers’ first Super Bowl win. (Harris died in December at 72.)

Jan. 31, 1988

Washington’s Doug Williams becomes first Black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl

Before Doug Williams became a football coach and an executive, he made history twice during his playing career. When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected him in the 1978 NFL draft, he became the first Black quarterback picked in the first round. A decade later, he became the first Black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl, in 1988 leading Washington over the Denver Broncos, 42-10. After the historic matchup with Hurts and Mahomes was set last month, Williams told NBC Philadelphia that he wants people to change their mindset surrounding the abilities of Black quarterbacks, adding that Jalen and Mahomes’ historic moment is “overdue.”

Feb. 4, 2007

Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy become the first Black head coaches in a Super Bowl

Before serving as a game analyst for NBC’s “Football Night in America,” Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith became the first Black head coaches to face off in a Super Bowl in 2007. Dungy’s Indianapolis Colts defeated Smith’s Chicago Bears, 29-17, making Dungy the first Black coach to win a Super Bowl.

Feb. 3, 2008

Mike Carey becomes the first Black man to lead an officiating crew in the Super Bowl

Mike Carey was the first Black referee to lead an officiating crew at the Super Bowl (the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots, 17-14). Carey was a running back for the Santa Clara Broncos before graduating in 1971. He joined the NFL in 1990 as a side judge and was promoted to referee during the 1995 season. In 2008, Carey became the second Black referee to preside over an NFL game, after Johnny Grier in 1988.

Feb. 3, 2019

Quinton Peron and Napoleon Jinnies become the first male and openly gay cheerleaders to perform at the Super Bowl

Quinton Peron and Napoleon Jinnies made history as the first Black male and openly gay cheerleaders to perform at the Super Bowl. Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta featured the Los Angeles Rams and New England Patriots, with both Peron and Jinnies cheering for the Rams, which lost to the Patriots, 13-3, in the lowest scoring Super Bowl in history.

Feb. 12, 2023

Autumn Lockwood will be the first Black woman to coach an NFL team at the Super Bowl

Autumn Lockwood, a coaching assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles, is set to become the first Black woman to coach in a Super Bowl. The game on Sunday will also make Lockwood the fourth woman to coach in the Super Bowl, after Katie Sowers, Lori Locust and Maral Javadifar.

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