You want to be what you can see.
In the early 2010s, an impressionable teenager named Tré Moore watched numerous St. Louis high school quarterbacks who were Black.
“It means a lot to younger guys when you see Black quarterbacks doing special things,” said Moore, who named Glenn Bradford (Lutheran North), Kahlid Hagens (Maplewood-Richmond Heights) and Mike Glass (Hazelwood Central), among others. “It’s really inspiring. It just gives you a vote of validation and confidence to keep pushing and working — and maybe you can do that, as well.”
So, he did.
Moore became the starting quarterback at John Burroughs (lost in the state title game in 2014) and then at Yale. On Saturday, as Moore described the inspiration and the motivation, it put in perspective the bigness of this year’s Super Bowl.
On Sunday, both teams will start a Black quarterback for the first time in Super Bowl history.
And it’s cool to think about how many Black kids will watch this game and want to be what they can see.
It’s also incredible to think that it took until the 57th Super Bowl to get to this point.
For whoever says this shouldn’t be a big deal — or says: “Why should a quarterback’s race matter because a good player is a good player?” — the reality is that many Black athletes didn’t get the opportunity to play quarterback in the first place. In a column for Andscape, the great William C. Rhoden wrote about Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts: “What’s equally significant — and tied to the milestone of two Black quarterbacks facing off — is that Hurts will be the first run-pass option (RPO)-style quarterback since Cam Newton to reach the Super Bowl. In a copycat league like the NFL, Hurts’ ascent could escalate the flow of super-athletic Black quarterbacks into the NFL.
“In the past, these athletes — the Lamar Jacksons, the Jalen Hurtses — were routinely switched to wide receiver and defensive back. Those days may be over. Indeed, the great athlete will be sought out to play quarterback.”
So, yeah, this Super Bowl matchup is significant. And yes, of course, hopefully we get to a point where we don’t have to point out the race of the Super Bowl quarterbacks — because that will mean it’s become commonplace for Black quarterbacks to thrive in the National Football League. So far, seven Black quarterbacks have started in the Super Bowl, beginning, famously, with Doug Williams of world-champion Washington in the 1987 season. The St. Louis Rams defeated Tennessee and Steve McNair in the 1999 season. There has been Donovan McNabb and Colin Kaepernick on the losing side of a Super Bowl and Russell Wilson and Mahomes on the winning side.
“It shows a young kid that — it can be done,” said Chris Cotton, a Black quarterback who started for DeSmet this past season. “Another thing, too — you hear that a typical Black quarterback is a runner. But you look at these two quarterbacks in the Super Bowl now, they’re two of the best passers in the NFL. These are dudes who throw the ball. …
“And Russell Wilson, he’d take over games with his mind. And it was my freshman year when Lamar Jackson had that crazy year.”
Indeed, Baltimore’s Jackson was stupendous in 2019, the season he won the MVP. That was the year that a camera picked up a memorable mid-game conversation between Jackson and coach John Harbaugh of the Ravens.
Harbaugh: “Most quarterbacks worry about their stats.”
Jackson: “I’m worried about my team, coach.”
Harbaugh: “Well, you’re a leader, that’s why they love you. ... I love you, too. I love the way you play. You don’t flinch, you just attack. All you do is attack.”
Jackson: “It’s all I know.”
Harbaugh: “You changed the game, man. Do you know how many little kids in this country are going to be wearing No. 8 playing quarterback for the next 20 years?”
These players are changing stereotypes.
These players are changing the game.
“It shows definitely how far the game has come,” Moore said. “Tradition quarterbacks, when you think of quarterback, is like tall and predominantly, probably white quarterback who stands in the pocket and throws the ball. … So it’s cool for the game. When you’re sitting at home, watching with your family and somebody can tell their son — you can be that guy one day. It’s cool for just a representation in general and just opening the game to different people and inspiring kids to grow up and represent something bigger than yourself, whether it be football or an organization or your family.”
As for Moore, he’s beginning law school at Washington University next fall.
And Cotton is headed to play quarterback in college at Central State in Ohio.
