Only three Black starting quarterbacks — Mahomes, Doug Williams and Russell Wilson — have won the Super Bowl.
(Bloomberg) — For the first time in the Super Bowl’s 57-year history, two Black starting quarterbacks will face off — a milestone that’s drawing renewed attention to the small number of Black NFL coaches and the dearth of Black owners.
Patrick Mahomes, who led the Kansas City Chiefs to Super Bowl victory three years ago, will vie with the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts for the championship ring in Arizona on Feb.
12. While the matchup next month is a watershed moment, it underscores the lack of leadership diversity in a league where just under 60% of players are Black.
Only three Black starting quarterbacks — Mahomes, Doug Williams and Russell Wilson — have won the Super Bowl.
A record 11 teams had starting Black quarterbacks during the 2022 season, representing just over a third of the league’s 32 franchises.
“Black players have faced a long, uphill battle when it comes to the quarterback position,” said George Cunningham, a professor and the chair of the Department of Sport Management at the University of Florida.
“The contest on Sunday shows that Black players can and do lead their teams to the pinnacle of success.”
Racist stereotypes served as a key inhibitor to Black players’ opportunities as quarterbacks, Cunningham said, and those biases have also affected Black coaches.
“The continued success of Black quarterbacks will hopefully lead to a change in these biases,” he said.
When the Denver Broncos were sold in August, Starbucks Corp. chair Mellody Hobson, former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, who are Black, became limited owners. A total of seven Black head coaches led teams during the 2022 season, according to a November report from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.
One of them — Lovie Smith, who served as head coach for the Houston Texans — was fired earlier this month after one season in the role.
The NFL has pledged to improve diversity in its leadership ranks.
Last year, former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores sued the NFL on the basis of racial bias, saying that discrimination stopped him from landing the top job at the New York Giants.
Representatives for the Chiefs and the Eagles didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
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