He was a standout athlete on his high school football team, leading them to two championship seasons, but as ESPN.com columnist Len Pasquarelli pointed out, “The games also drew college recruiters, many of whom came armed with scholarship offers, only to withdraw them once they noticed through binoculars that Thrower was black.” The New Kensington team was even invited to the 1947 Orange Bowl prep classic, but the offer was withdrawn when organizers learned the team’s star quarterback was black. Although he was only 5 feet 11 inches tall, he could throw the ball as far an accurately as anyone then playing in college. Being the first African-American quarterback in the NFL, in 2002 Thrower told The Valley News Dispatch of Tarentum, Pa, "I look at it like this: I was like the Jackie Robinson of football. Career: Signed with Chicago Bears football team as back—up quarterback, 1953; played three seasons with Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League, 1954-57; became social worker in western Pennsylvania; owned two taverns. He was known to toss a football 70 yards. Thrower was one of only two blacks on the Bears roster that season, and was sent into his first pro game by coach George Halas on October 18, 1953. In addition, many colleges opted not to extend Thrower a scholarship when they discovered his ethnicity. A black quarterback was unheard of before I hit the pros.". ." (George) Blanda and (Fred) Morrison came into the game with a resounding razzberry. Willie Lee Thrower (March 22, 1930 – February 20, 2002) was an American football quarterback. NFL player missing current team parameter, Players of American football from Pennsylvania, African-American players of American football, Racial issues faced by black quarterbacks, THE COFFIN CORNER: Vol. Bears coach George Halas was unhappy with Blanda's play and pulled him, sending in Thrower. 30 Sep. 2020
In the NFL season that concluded before his death, a record 12 African-American quarterbacks started 112 NFL games. William ‘Willie the Pro” Thrower was the first African American to play as a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). In his final game in a Spartan uniform, Thrower completed seven of his 11 attempts for 71 yards and a touchdown, and added a rushing touchdown in a dominating 62–13 win over Marquette that sealed the nation's No.
Willie Thrower was the first African-American quarterback in professional football, but his momentous achievement as a Chicago Bear in a 1953 National Football League (NFL) event—it was another 15 years before a black quarterback carried an NFL game—was long forgotten by sports historians by the time of his death in 2002.
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