Doug Williams has a shot at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The former Washington Redskins quarterback was named as one of five “contributor” nominees for enshrinement in next year’s Hall of Fame class on Wednesday.
Williams was the first Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl when he led Washington to the NFL title after the 1987 season.
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The Grambling State product started just two regular-season games that year before posting three wins in the postseason, highlighted by his passing for four touchdowns in a 42-10 rout of the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl.
After his playing career, Williams worked as a coach at Grambling State and as an executive with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who originally drafted him.
His quarterbacking prowess at Grambling vaulted him into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001.
Williams is currently serving as a senior adviser to Adam Peters, general manager of the Washington Commanders, formerly known as the Washington Redskins.
The former quarterback is not being nominated solely for his on-field play. His 100 career touchdown passes lag far behind the rest of the Hall of Fame signal-callers.
But Williams is being honored for his role in helping break a perceived color barrier that kept Black players from becoming quarterbacks.
The position was largely off-limits to players of color before Williams won the Super Bowl in dominant fashion.
Before the title game, one media member reportedly asked Williams how long he’d been a Black quarterback.
“I guess I wasn’t black until I went to Grambling,” he responded. “And when I got to the NFL, I got real black.”
The Hall of Fame committee features different processes for coaches, modern-era players, senior players from decades past, and contributors. Most contributors are league officials, owners or front office personnel who don’t fit neatly into other categories.
The other contributor nominees for next year’s Hall of Fame class include New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft; the late Virginia Halas McCaskey, who owned the Chicago Bears; former guard and NFL diversity advocate John Wooten; and NFL co-founder Ralph Hay.
The Hall of Fame’s contributor subcommittee will meet Nov. 17 to select one final nominee for enshrinement consideration.
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