History was made last weekend, and one person watched it with a different perspective than most of the millions worldwide who followed the NFL Draft. That person was Warren Moon, the former quarterback for the Houston Oilers and 2006 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
More precisely, Moon is the first Black quarterback ever inducted into the Hall of Fame. As Moon sat in his living room in Redmond, Washington watching the program, amazement sunk in as three of the first four players drafted were Black quarterbacks. They were Alabama quarterback Bryce Young (No. 1), Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud (No. 2), and Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson (No. 4). Not only did they go one, two and four, they are set to sign some of the richest rookie deals in NFL history. Young will play at the Carolina Panthers, Stroud with the Houston Texans and Richardson with the Indianapolis Colts.
All are incredibly versatile athletes who are ushering in a new normal that will continue to change the way the game is played.
And then, as Moon watched the T.V. and let his thoughts drift, his amazement was replaced by a surge of pride as he realized that the he had a connection to these young men relatively few people would notice, a connection forged by the choice he’d made many years ago that set the stage for this historic night.
You see, while the night was indeed historic, it had a catalyst. And that catalyst was Moon.
“It's just amazing to me, something I'm very, very proud of because I feel like I played a small part in in making this progress happen,” Moon said during our conversation. “I think one of my strongest assets as a player was that I could stand in the pocket and throw like most quarterbacks, but I also moved around and ran. I did all those things that the best quarterbacks are being asked to do now.”
Yes, Moon could do all those things but it took his profession a while to appreciate all he could do. While Moon was performing as one of the best college players in the country at Washington in 1977, another Black quarterback named Tony Dungy was breaking records at the University of Minnesota. At the time, professional scouts didn’t think Black quarterbacks, despite their transparent accomplishments at top colleges, were “smart enough” to run a complex professional offense. Few said it aloud, but everyone, as Moon recounted, believed there was an “intangible” that Black quarterbacks didn’t possess.
So Black players who played quarterback in college had limited options in the NFL. For Dungy, this meant switching positions in order to turn professional, becoming a defensive back for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Moon refused to buckle under to prejudice, however, even though it meant being excluded from the NFL and having to ply his trade as the quarterback for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.
From 1978 to 1983, he led the Eskimos to five consecutive Grey Cup victories (the Canadian equivalent of the Super Bowl), a record of achievement and leadership that earned a second look from the NFL. The Houston Oilers won a bidding war for Moon’s services with one of the richest deals in history up to that time. Over 23 seasons, nine of which he spent at Houston, Moon broke myriad passing records and garnered most of the accolades available to a professional quarterback. When he retired, he’d thrown for more than 70,000 yards.
Dungy, for his part, went on to become one of the most respected coaches in the league, winning pro football’s George Halas award given to the player, coach or staffer who overcomes the most adversity to succeed, and in 2007 led Indianapolis to its first Super Bowl Championship in 37 years.
The world of professional football has changed since these leaders confronted roadblocks to achievement based on race, although the sad thing is that that time wasn’t so very long ago for sports fans of a certain age. After he retired, Moon went on to a radio career as a broadcaster for the Seattle Seahawks.
Today, Moon has cleared his schedule to leave plenty of time to support his son, a high school sophomore in Washington who loves football and plays wingback on offense and safety on defense.
“He wants to be a receiver in college,” said Moon. One thing the younger Moon won’t have to worry about, thanks to the trailblazing courage of his dad and those who followed his example right up to the very moment when Bryce Young’s name was announced on T.V., is how many options he will have that match his talent and desire.
As of this writing, Moon remains the only Black quarterback enshrined in the Hall of Fame. That imbalance won’t last very long, however, given the opportunity today’s players enjoy, thanks in no “small part” to someone who once was told, “No, you can’t lead a team,” and replied, “Oh, yes I can!”
And did.