N/S RIP Marlin Briscoe (1 Viewer)

[Optimus Prime]

Marlin Briscoe, who was the first Black quarterback to start for pro football in the United States, when he took the field for the Denver Broncos in 1968, died June 27 at a hospital in Norwalk, Calif. He was 76.


The cause was pneumonia, his daughter, Angela Marriott, told the Associated Press. He had been hospitalized with circulation problems in his legs.


Mr. Briscoe was a star quarterback for Omaha University before the Denver Broncos, then in the old American Football League, drafted him as a cornerback in the 14th round in 1968.

He told the team he’d return home to become a teacher if he couldn’t get a tryout at quarterback.


Denver agreed to an audition, and the 5-foot-10 dynamo nicknamed “The Magician” nearly rallied the Broncos to victory as a reserve against the Boston Patriots before earning his historic start on Oct. 6.


Mr. Briscoe started five games that season and was runner-up for AFL rookie of the year after passing for 1,589 yards and 14 touchdowns and rushing for 308 yards and three scores.


Despite his success, Denver Coach Lou Saban didn’t give him a chance to compete for the quarterback job in 1969, and Mr. Briscoe asked to be released.

He then joined the Buffalo Bills, where he became a Pro Bowl receiver, catching 57 passes in 1970……..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/06/27/afl-quarterback-marlin-briscoe-dies/

 

[Saint Droopy]

Rest easy Mr Briscoe.

 

[Madmarsha]

I'd like to say I remember him but I wasn't watching much football in '68.

 

[Dr. Sting]

The man was a trailblazer. He was a great football talent and unfortunately not given a real opportunity to play QB by the league. May he rest in peace.

 

[COACHTDL]

RIP to Mr Briscoe. However, Fritz Pollard was the first African American QB to play in pro football back in 1923.

 

[No2DC]

RIP

 

[AARPSaint]

Marlin Briscoe, who was the first Black quarterback to start for pro football in the United States, when he took the field for the Denver Broncos in 1968, died June 27 at a hospital in Norwalk, Calif. He was 76.


The cause was pneumonia, his daughter, Angela Marriott, told the Associated Press. He had been hospitalized with circulation problems in his legs.


Mr. Briscoe was a star quarterback for Omaha University before the Denver Broncos, then in the old American Football League, drafted him as a cornerback in the 14th round in 1968.

He told the team he’d return home to become a teacher if he couldn’t get a tryout at quarterback.


Denver agreed to an audition, and the 5-foot-10 dynamo nicknamed “The Magician” nearly rallied the Broncos to victory as a reserve against the Boston Patriots before earning his historic start on Oct. 6.


Mr. Briscoe started five games that season and was runner-up for AFL rookie of the year after passing for 1,589 yards and 14 touchdowns and rushing for 308 yards and three scores.


Despite his success, Denver Coach Lou Saban didn’t give him a chance to compete for the quarterback job in 1969, and Mr. Briscoe asked to be released.

He then joined the Buffalo Bills, where he became a Pro Bowl receiver, catching 57 passes in 1970……..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/06/27/afl-quarterback-marlin-briscoe-dies/

Aha. I remember him as a receiver, not a QB. That explains why I was puzzled when I saw the headline about him being a QB. RIP.

 

[Day1]

Pretty sure I had his football card back in the day as a WR.

 

[nolaswede]

RIP!

 

[NatureBoy]

Remember him as a Dolphin. RIP.

 

[SigFreudianSlip]

RIP.

 

[St.Dan]

Pretty sure I had his football card back in the day as a WR.

He went to the Dolphins in the early ‘70s as a WR, yes. Picked up two SB wins as a member of Shula’a mini-dynasty team.

 

[Saintslfc13]

He actually did some coaching with my HS FB Team when I was there. Mostly worked with the receivers so I didn't get to know him too well but he definitely addressed all levels that I was apart of multiple times. Ran some camps in the area as well. Always seemed like a really good dude. Was very proud to be on that 72 Dolphins team and I believe he had another ring as well. RIP.

 

[Saintman2884]

The man was a trailblazer. He was a great football talent and unfortunately not given a real opportunity to play QB by the league. May he rest in peace.

He and James Harris, who later played from early-mid 70's for the L.A. Rams and took the Rams to three NFCCG's, and actually looked very good in most of his games he played as Rams starter, were true, authentic trailblazers who cracked the still- solid, deeply entrenched bigoted facade that African-Americans couldn't play QB at the NFL level, these guys put the first huge dents in that facade before Doug Williams, Warren Moon, Kordell Stewart, McNabb and Vick finally smashed the whole, rotten house to the ground where it belonged.

 

[Optimus Prime]

……It all started with Briscoe.


He played in 11 games at quarterback for the Broncos in 1968, starting five. He only got that chance — initially as a reserve — after starter Steve Tensi was sidelined with a broken collarbone, the Broncos waived two other quarterbacks and their offense was struggling in an early-season game against the Boston Patriots.


Desperate, Coach Lou Saban inserted Briscoe during the fourth quarter. Briscoe, who had starred at quarterback for three years at the University of Omaha but was drafted in the 14th round as a cornerback, led an 80-yard touchdown drive and played well enough to earn a start the next week.
He threw for 1,589 yards that season — including 335 yards and four touchdowns in a game against the Buffalo Bills.


What happened next is the sort of thing that routinely obstructed Black quarterbacks coming into pro football. Briscoe believed he had earned the chance to compete for the starting quarterback job.

Saban’s response was to sign Pete Liske from the Canadian Football League and to select Alan Pastrana out of Maryland in the 11th round of the 1969 draft.


He then brought his quarterbacks to Denver for pre-training camp meetings. Briscoe wasn’t invited.

“Someone told me Saban had brought the quarterbacks in to meet,” Briscoe told me. “I flew out there and went to his office. You could tell I wasn’t exactly expected. The secretary said to me that he was in a meeting. I waited. A few minutes later, the door opened and out came Saban — with all the quarterbacks.”

Briscoe demanded his release and got it, but only after Saban had delayed a week, apparently to make contact with other coaches to let them know Briscoe was not good enough to play quarterback.

He ended up signing in Buffalo — which had just drafted Harris — as a wide receiver. Three years later, he was traded to Miami for a first-round draft pick, playing opposite Paul Warfield on the Dolphins’ back-to-back Super Bowl-winning teams — the first of which is still the last NFL team to go undefeated……

After getting out of jail, Briscoe remarried and stayed clean. He became the director of a Boys and Girls Club in Long Beach, Calif.; founded a football camp for children; and worked as a part-time high school coach.

When I spoke to him, a biopic on his life called “The Magician” — his nickname dating from his high school days — was in production, but it hasn’t yet been made.

There was a holdup: The NFL was refusing to grant permission for the producers to use team names and uniforms from the period when Briscoe was playing. (The league did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.)

“I don’t think they’re very comfortable with the story being revisited,” Briscoe said. “It isn’t exactly a shining moment in their history.”……..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/06/28/marlin-briscoe-death-black-qbs/