NFL Draft Experts' Evaluations of Black Quarterbacks
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J Afr Am St (2008) 12:120–141 DOI 10.1007/s12111-008-9036-7 ARTICLES “An Amazing Specimen”: NFL Draft Experts’ Evaluations of Black Quarterbacks Matthew Bigler & Judson L. Jeffries Published online: 4 March 2008 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008 Abstract This paper, by way of examining two reputable sports publication, uses quantitative methods to study how NFL draft experts evaluate Black college quarterbacks. We find that draft experts buy into and perpetuate racial stereotypes about Blacks that adversely impact Black college quarterbacks’ chances of matriculating to the National Football League. Keywords Black quarterbacks . College . Racial stereotypes Introduction Stereotyping African Americans has long been a favorite American past-time. Complicit in the stereotyping of African Americans has been the American media. In part, because of the manner in which the print and electronic media frame African Americans some non-Blacks, especially whites have unflattering opinions of African Americans. Black men appear to receive the lion’s share of this pejorative coverage when African Americans are the subject of inquiry. Nightly news telecasts as well as television programs like COPS appear to disproportionately showcase Black males as the perpetrators of criminal offenses that involve drug trafficking and an assortment of violent crimes. Also even though, the majority of welfare recipients have historically been white, for many, African Americans are viewed as welfare’s primary beneficiaries. And even though people of all races as well as white females have benefited enormously from Affirmative Action programs, again for many, African Americans are the face of Affirmative Action. It is not uncommon to hear some white broadcasters or scouts refer to a Black athlete as an amazing specimen. M. Bigler Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA J. L. Jeffries (*) Department of African American and African Studies, The Ohio State University, Community Extension Center, 905 Mount Vernon Avenue, Columbus, OH 43203, USA e-mail: [email protected] J Afr Am St (2008) 12:120–141 121 While African Americans are as disparate and/or heterogeneous as any white community, historically the media has framed African Americans in a fashion that is not commensurate with reality. That the media frames events, people and places is well documented; they do so by deciding what things to cover, whether to highlight or downplay them and what to say about them. Media framing transcends story lines and subject matter. Below are two such examples: When Hurricane Katrina touched down in the state of Louisiana, it dealt a deadly and costly blow to numerous towns and jurisdictions in the Gulf coast region. New Orleans was the largest city hit by the hurricane. Consequently, many of the people stranded there were forced to break into supermarkets and neighborhood mom and pop establishments to get food in order to survive. Although both Blacks and whites scrambled for supplies, some in the media found reason to condemn the actions of Blacks while seemingly giving whites a free pass. Case in point: when photos were published on Yahoo.com that showed two separate incidents of New Orleans residents taking food from grocery stores, the caption for the white couple described them as “finding bread and soda” while the caption below the photo of the black person described him as “looting” (Hurricane Katrina 2006). The contrast in language is not inconsequential given the negative connotation that looting has. Media framing of sporting events is also commonplace. One of the most unfortunate, but widely known instances of framing in sports occurred in 1986 and involved major league baseball player Bill Buckner. The play of Buckner, a veteran first baseman for the Boston Red Sox is largely considered the reason for Boston’s defeat in that year’s World Series. During game six, with Boston leading the New York Mets three games to two, a slow ground ball was hit toward first base. As Buckner went to field the weak grounder the ball squirted through his legs enabling the Mets to squeak by and force a seventh and deciding game. The Mets went on to win game seven and their first World Series since 1969, leaving Red Sox fans heart- broken. The story could have been framed as one in which the Red Sox as a team squandered a two run lead allowing the Mets to engineer an unlikely comeback in the tenth inning. The media could also have framed the loss of the series as one in which the entire Boston team failed to close out the Mets in a seventh and deciding game. Unfortunately the Red Sox loss is commonly attributed to Buckner’s late inning blunder, thus casting him as one of sports all-time infamous goats. This paper is concerned with exploring whether stereotypes come into play in the way that NFL draft experts frame African American athletes. More specifically, we are interested in finding out whether draft experts who are ostensibly well-educated, buy into and/or promote racial stereotypes of African Americans when evaluating Black college quarterbacks. We contend that NFL draft experts consistently rate African American quarterbacks higher than whites in the areas of physical abilities and lower in the areas of cognitive abilities, thus perpetuating racial stereotypes of African Americans. In the age of Social Darwinism, science, in particular, gave tremendous currency to a belief that associated dark skin with might and strength, instinctual behavior, and intellectual inferiority. This scientific perspective, which fell squarely within the canon of that era, allowed specific beliefs to be institutionalized in mainstream society. Despite the fact that these racial ideologies were promulgated years ago, to some extent, they still manage to form the beliefs of many Americans. Athletics is just one such area in which this view has persisted (Coakley 2004). 122 J Afr Am St (2008) 12:120–141 Sport has been classified as an indicator of racial progress. It is often suggested that race relations in the USA have improved drastically when we view the percentages of Blacks on professional and collegiate athletic teams (Hawkins 2002). In the last 40 years, not only have the numbers of African American athletes drastically increased, but more Blacks are now playing positions traditionally reserved for whites than ever before. No sport is more evident of this than football. And from our standpoint no position is a better indicator of the country’s racial progress (or lack thereof) than quarterback. No other position on the football field is expected to demonstrate, as much leadership, intelligence and poise than that of the quarterback, attributes that run counter to the prevailing sentiment about Black mentality. Despite the increased numbers of Blacks on collegiate and professional football teams, the numbers of Black quarterbacks in the professional ranks are still relatively small. The reasons for these small numbers may to some extent be a barometer of American race relations in the twenty-first century. Black Quarterbacks in the National Football League: A Truncated History While there has always been a dearth of Black quarterbacks in the National Football League, black quarterbacks have appeared on NFL rosters at least as early as 1953. Backup Chicago Bears quarterback Willie Thrower became the first African American to play quarterback in an NFL game on October 18, 1953 when he took several snaps against the San Francisco 49ers. That same year George Taliaferro, a single-wing tailback from Indiana University started two games as a T-formation quarterback for the Baltimore Colts. His opportunity to play came when the team suffered a rash of injuries at the quarterback position. The next African American to get a chance to stand under center was Charlie “Choo Choo” Brackins in 1955 for the Green Bay Packers. Selected in the 16th round of the 1955 draft out of Prairie View A & M College, Brackins played in the closing minutes of a blowout against the Cleveland Browns on October 23, 1955. Brackins was released later that same season, reportedly for violating team rules. In the decade that followed, it appeared as though Black quarterbacks were on the verge of a breakthrough. In 1968 the Oakland Raiders drafted Eldridge Dickey out of Tennessee A & I University (later Tennessee State University) in the first round with the 25th pick. Dickey became the first African American quarterback selected in the first round by an American Football League (AFL) or National Football League (NFL) team. He had hopes of becoming the first Black quarterback to start on a regular basis, but his dreams never materialized. Instead it was Marlin Briscoe who was drafted that same year, out of the University of Omaha on the 14th round by the Denver Broncos who made a lasting impression during the 1968 season. Due to injuries to the starting and backup quarterbacks, Briscoe played in 11 games, 7 of which he started. He finished with a Broncos rookie record of 1,589 passing yards and 14 touchdowns, plus more than three hundred yards rushing (Briscoe and Schaller 2002). Briscoe would go on to have a solid career as a wide receiver, playing for several teams, one of which was the 1972 Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins. The following season in 1969, the Buffalo Bills drafted James Harris out of Grambling State University in the eighth round of the AFL draft and the Los Angeles J Afr Am St (2008) 12:120–141 123 Rams drafted John Walton out of Elizabeth City State University. Walton, a perennial backup who saw little action played ten years in the NFL and the World Football League, the last three for the Philadelphia Eagles. His shining moment came on a Monday night in 1979 when he led the Eagles to a dramatic win against the Dallas Cowboys after starter Ron Jaworski was taken out of the game due to injury.