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CHICAGO – As players like Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurst and Justin Fields continue to write their stories, the story of the NFL’s first Black quarterback also needs to be told as a reminder that sometimes it’s not the statistics that measure great careers, but the opportunities forged for future generations.
Pioneer, trailblazer, quarterback – that’s just part of the scouting report on Willie Thrower.
“One of the things that sticks out is he has extremely large hands – like Ripley’s Believe it or Not large hands,” noted Dr. Louis Moore, historian and author of The Great Black Hope: Doug Williams, Vince Evans, and the Making of the Black Quarterback. “Just allows him to grip that ball and [make] the legendary throws that he has.
“He was doing things that you see Mahomes doing, Jalen Hurts doing. These guys, what they’re doing now, he was doing that in the 50’s,” explained Willie’s son Melvin.
In the late 1940’s, Thrower played high school football in New Kensington, Pennsylvania. His coach, Don Fletcher, switched him from running back to quarterback in a move that would not only improve the team, but begin writing a story of firsts.
Ken High won 24 straight games and two state championships with Thrower at QB, drawing huge crowds along the way.
“They had to enlarge the stadium because there were so many people,” remarked Melvin.
“Back then, western Pennsylvania was king of football throughout the United States,” added Melvyn Smith, President of the Willie Thrower Foundation and a close family friend.
After high school, it was on to Michigan State, where Thrower became the first Black quarterback in Big Ten history.
“The South was recruiting him. Being that it was the Jim Crow Era, they didn’t really know the color of my father. They didn’t really know Thrower was African-American. When they found out, that’s when they pulled his scholarship.”
“Michigan State recruited six people from his class in one year to go there. That class won the National Championship in 1952. They beat Notre Dame. And they beat Notre Dame on the strength of Willie’s arm,” Smith shared.
“At Michigan State, instead of having punting practice, they’d have him throw the ball. That’s how far and how high he could throw the ball,” Moore mentioned.
After playing for the Spartans, Thrower set his sights on the NFL, but went undrafted in 1953.
“At that time there were 12 NFL teams. All 12 teams passed him up. 361 players got called besides him.”
“This quarterback has to be – what they say – a thinker. He has to be a leader. He has to be the smartest person on the field,” Moore explained. “America wasn’t ready to see Black people in that light.”
But one team gave him a chance.
The Chicago Bears signed Thrower to a one-year contract, serving as a backup to George Blanda.
“He loved it there,” remembered Melvin. “They would literally chant his name, ‘Willie! Willie! Willie!’”
History was made on October 18th, 1953 in a loss to the 49ers at Wrigley Field.
Thrower replaced a struggling Blanda, throwing 8 passes for 27 yards.
“George was having a bad game. Coach Halas calls in my father Willie Thrower and says, ‘Willie! Get in there.’ My dad goes in there and drives them down inside the 10-yard line, 5-yards line.
“Then he pulled him out. When he pulled him out, Blanda came in and that’s when they scored.”
“I guess they wanted to keep his ego up. Put him back in the game and let him score the touchdown. Although, Willie certainly earned the right to do that,” Smith opined.
Thrower played in just one more game before being released, ending his short NFL career and leaving his story and the acknowledgement of him being the first Black quarterback in the NFL, in the shadows.
“Because he’s not Jackie Robinson,” believes Moore. “What I mean by that is one – Jackie played baseball. That was America’s game. Football was popular, but college football at that time was a little more popular than pro football.
“So, this idea that -‘Oh gosh. We have a Black quarterback.’ – doesn’t really become a big deal for almost another decade.”
“It was 15 years after that before the next Black quarterback came along,” added Smith. “So, George Halas was way out in front of the pack.”
“If he was playing 15 years later from 1953, he would be a household name,” Melvin noted. “We would be talking about him. They would be honoring him at games. They would be wearing patches on their jerseys.”
“The NFL dropped the ball,” said Smith. “If the NFL had chosen to – his name would be as well known as a name can be.”
For the Thrower family, their father’s story is an important one, illustrating a need for opportunity and a willingness to break barriers.
“He always told us, ‘Anything you do, always be a giant.’ This was the mind frame that he had back then. Adversity is your friend. You’ve got to push through it because there is a reward on the other side. You’ll never know what that reward on the other side is, if you stop.”
“He lived the word humble.”
But, more recognition of the trail Thrower blazed, would go a long way for his friends and family.”
“If the Bears did something like that, they’d be walking on air for the balance of their lives.”
Thrower died of a heart attack in 2002 at the age of 71. However, his legacy lives on in western Pennsylvania through the Willie Thrower award – handed out to the area’s best high school quarterback each year.
It recognizes the talent of the present, while honoring the past – paying tribute to the trail blazing kid from New Kensington.
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