National Football League

The National Football League (NFL) is the largest professional American football league, consisting of thirty-two teams from American cities. The league was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, which adopted the name "National Football League" in 1922. The NFL is one of the major professional sports leagues of North America.

Racial policies

Although the NFL in 2004 is well-represented at virtually every position by African-American athletes, that was not always the case. The league had a few black players until 1933, one year after entry to the league of George Preston Marshall. Marshall's policies not only excluded blacks from his Washington Redskins team but may have influenced the entire league to drop blacks until 1946, when pressure from the competing All-America Football Conference induced the NFL to be more liberal in its signing of blacks. Another theory holds that the NFL, like most of the United States during the Great Depression, simply fired black workers before white workers, but this could hardly account for the league's apparent "all-white" policy during this period. Still, Marshall refused to sign black players until threatened with civil rights legal action by the Kennedy administration in 1962, in which it was explained to him that his lease on the then-new D.C. Stadium, which was at the time controlled by the United States Department of the Interior, would be voided if he continued to refuse to sign any black players. This action, and pressure by another competing league, the more racially-liberal American Football League, slowly managed to reverse the NFL's racial quotas. The AFL's Denver Broncos were the first modern-era team to have a black starting quarterback, Marlin Briscoe, who started the fourth game of the 1968 season, and broke pro football rookie records for passing yardage and touchdowns. The next year 1969, another American Football League team, the Buffalo Bills were the first professional football team of the modern era to begin the season with a black, James Harris as their starting quarterback. The Chicago Bears had a black quarterback in 1953, Willie Thrower, who played in only one game and did not start in any games. After that, no old-line NFL team had a black starting quarterback until the Steelers' Joe Gilliam in 1972.

Related Topics:
African-American - 1933 - George Preston Marshall - Washington Redskins - All-America Football Conference - Great Depression - Civil rights - Kennedy - 1962 - D.C. Stadium - United States Department of the Interior - American Football League - Denver Broncos - Marlin Briscoe - 1968 - 1969 - Buffalo Bills - James Harris - 1953 - Willie Thrower - Joe Gilliam - 1972

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Even after that, for many NFL teams the door would remain closed to black quarterbacks through the 1970s. 1978 Rose Bowl MVP Warren Moon played for six seasons in the CFL before his abilities finally landed him the starting role with the Houston Oilers. It took until 1988 before a black quarterback started for a Super Bowl team, when Doug Williams won it for the Redskins. To this day, the NFL's head-coach hiring policies are questioned, and it has had to institute measures to attempt to have black head coach candidates be treated more equitably.

Related Topics:
Quarterback - 1970s - 1978 - Rose Bowl - MVP - Warren Moon - CFL - Houston Oilers - 1988 - Doug Williams - Redskins - Coach

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Although there is no official discrimination against white players playing certain positions in the modern NFL, most positions are filled by blacks. There has been increasing discrimination against white running backs, defensive backs, and receivers, who have been less and less visible for the last 25 years. In 2005, a minimal majority of offensive linemen are white. Most quarterbacks, punters, and kickers are white, while almost all running backs, wide receivers, defensive backs, defensive linemen, safeties, punt returners, and kickoff returners are black. Increasingly, positions such as tight end, fullback, and linebacker are represented by blacks. The NFL is 69% black, with whites making up the majority of the remaining players, followed by Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, and Asians.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~