Howdy and Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Every Sunday throughout the month is reserved for putting the spotlight on the accolades of Black athletes in different professional sports. I try to focus on four different sports each year to ensure there's some variety. In honor of the big game today, our first Sports Spotlight features a late football great. This is a name I have never heard when discussing any of the late great quarterbacks, so I wanted to make sure I included him in this year's Spotlight. I think with professional sports, it's easy to focus on a player or team's accomplishments and accolades, because that is in large part what it's about. As a result though, the people who didn't rack up the same amount of acclaim kind of fall by the wayside, even if they made an impact on the game that was ultimately more meaningful than winning a trophy. That seems to be the case with today's entrant. Let's get into it!
Name: William Thrower, 1930-2002
Profession: Quarterback
Why is the Spotlight on him today? For being a largely unsung trailblazer for Black quarterbacks playing in the NFL post-WWII
Notables:
--Was an All-American while playing football in high school, with an official record of 35-3-1
--Was recruited to the University of Michigan, a Big Ten conference school, making him the first African-American quarterback to play in a Conference game
--Faced racism by a number of teams throughout his high school career, who refused to play against his team because of his race, and refusals from colleges who were interested in him before finding out he was Black
--Played for four seasons in Canadian football after his Bears contract was up
--Was the first Black post-WWII quarterback to be signed to an NFL team when the Chicago Bears signed him to a one-year contract and was later called in as the backup quarterback
--Was inducted into Westmoreland County's Hall of Fame, the WPIAL Hall of Fame, and the AK Valley Hall of Fame
--Was posthumously honored with a statue erected in his honor at Valley High School in his hometown of New Kensington
--Was also posthumously honored with a state marker in his honor
--Was honored by NFL Hall of Famer Warren Moon for being the first Black NFL quarterback during the latter's Hall of Fame induction speech
Further reading links:
1 | 2 | 3
Quote of the Day:
"But in every social change situation, there is always somebody who is the first, someone who bears the pressure and scrutiny of the change moment. The first is always a legacy that is more than just worthy of being memorialized. The saga of challenge and change is not only incomplete without encompassing recognition of the first, it is to a substantial degree untrue."
--Harry Edwards, professor emeritus of sociology at UC Berkeley
Today's charity:
The Sentencing Project
What does this organization provide? Overall, the organization seeks to bridge the gap of racial disparities that plague the criminal justice system, fix the disfranchisement of American voting laws due to felony crimes, and attempt to help provide a fair and just criminal justice system. The organization also works to bring about jail reform as it relates to drug-related offenses and bringing more attention to the growing amount of women in the prison system. They serve as advocates for those in the system and trying to rebuild their lives post-prison but ultimately work to help change the laws surrounding the criminal justice system.
See you tomorrow!
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