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;;he gun had sounded. The storybook perfotmance was history. And many fascinated I eyes were glued to its author, Doug Williams, as he proudly walked off the field amid the glitter of the magical moment holding his helmet high in triumph. Williams had just orchestrated one of the greatest individual feats in NFL championship game history. He threw for a -record 340 yards and four touchdowns to earn the unanimous choice as MVP in the Redskins'42-10 demolition of Denver in Super Bowl XXII on Jan. 31, 1988. Nearly all of his production keyed a 35- point, 356-yard second-quarler explosion that is unparalleled in NFL post-season play, a quafier that represents the most spectacular l5 minutes in Redskins lore. Statistics, though, failed to tell the whole story of Williams'elation. For years, he had

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az perceived quarlerback or his v heard he was not able, whether because of his lack of skills a race, to lead a team to an NFL championship. Moreover, many pro football insiders had o tI,IJ written him offnot long before, p"ggitrg the tested veteran as a backup for the rest ofhis z o career. Toss in his personal hardships, including an assofiment of injuries and the death F of his frst wife to a brain tumor, and you get a bevy of roadblocks for one to cross. z I So Doug Williams, what were you thhking having reached the pinnacle of your a profession? =a) oO "I had a lot on my mind," he said. 'All the obstacles I had to overcome and a lot of N the personal comments that had been made during my career about my ability to play @

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS GRL{T MOMENTS IN REDSKINS HISTORY AN,A.M\ISFSTISI:\G SLJPF3LHMrruT

the game, all the doubters. And now, just getting to the top of the game. Tomonow didn't matter to me, yesterday was all history. In pro football, the ultimate is wirming the Super Bowl. You can't go any higher than that." The win was also monumental for the NFL. In one quafter, Williams shattered the ill-conceived notion that a black could not lead a team to a Super Bowl win. Afterward, the fabled Eddie Robinson, his college coach at Grambling in Louisiana, called him the Jackie Robinson of his sport. But Williams, now the coach at Grambling, is not convinced he should be solely credited with making NFL executives more receptive to signing black , saying those who dot the pro football landscape today are not all his doing. "That's not something for me to say," he remarked when asked about Eddie Robinson characterizing him as a pro football pioneer. "When Jackie Robinson came into baseball, I don't think he came in with the idea there would be more blacks; I think he knew it was going to happen. He did what he needed to do because he had an opportunity to get it done. What I accomplished that day is because I was put in position to get it done. It was all about opportunity." With further introspection, he added: "Now, I made a believer out of a lot of folks who probably never believed that it would happen." For a time, Williams' so-called "opportunity" appeared to be slipping away. After playing his first five seasons in Tiampa Bay, where he led the once-anemic Buccaneers to two playoff appearances, including the NFC championship game in the 1979 season, he spent two years in the new United States Football League and posted big numbers. But when the league folded, only Redskins coach . Williams'offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay, expressed a serious interest in the 6-4, 2lS-pounder with a rocket arm but a relatively low career completion percentage. Williams signed with the Redskins before the 1986 season strictly as a backup to third-year man , who the Redskins were grooming as their quarlerback of the future. Williams watched Schroeder toss for a team-record 4,109 yards in 1986. And no role reversal was anticipated before the 1987 campaign, when Williams was the subject of trade talks. But no deal was consummated, leaving Williams, 32 atthe time, relegated to the bench indefinitely. Schroeder, however, was injury-plagued and inconsistent in the strike-shofiened 1987 season, and Williams proved he still had what it takes. He started two games and came on in relief to direct three victories, including a21-24 comeback win over Minnesota in the season finale that left the NFC East champions 11-4 heading into the playoffs with Doug Williams as the team's indisputable leader. "It eventually became obvious that Doug was the guy a who should be startrng," Gibbs said. z of the ingenious coach were right. [n the first round of the playoffs, U) The instincts o= ul Williams threw two scoring passes to rally the Redskins from a two-touchdown deficit E z to a2l-ll victory over the Bears. He also tossed two touchdowns in the NFC o F game, one being the game-winner in a 17-10 victory over Minnesota that (t championship z catapulted the Redskins to Super Bowl XXII in San Diego, their third of four visits to U)- the NFL's annual spectacle in the glorious Gibbs era. quarterback to play in the =o The drama was set: Williams would be the first black a Super Bowl. A media contingent in the thousands fed off the story line, as the Redskins N o

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Willlar** answ*rq}* fit! th# qLx)$t!*ns \irith #r'il*{} and *ignitY. with prepa.red to face the AFC champion Broncos. Joumalists peppered him qu"rtion. about how it felt to play in the Super Bowl' One reporter even asked said whether he'd always been a biack quafierback, though, thinking back, Williams to how long that reporter,,got caught up in the moment" and was probably refening Williams had been enmeshed in the black quarlerback syndrome' the williams handled the questions with grace and dignity, sffessing his role as the game was Redskins,quarterback, not a black quarterback. "Everything before your helmet black," he recalled. "But when the game came, it was time to stlap on made it." and do what we came to do. I was there for the game, and I had finally Elway, The more celebrated of the two stafting quarterbacks, Denver's John 73,300 grabbed the spotlight early on. The future Hall of Famer stunned the crowd of by throwing a 56- it Jack trturphy Stadium and the worldwide television audience yardtouchdownpasstoRickyNattielonDenver,sfirstplayfromscrimmage.The in the first bron.o, later went up by 10 points over a squad staring at big trouble late setting penod. William,, *1.ithing in pain, suffered a..hyper-flexed'' left knee while uneventful up in tire pocket. He limped off the fleld, and Schroeder came in for two Broncos' 20. piays. Atter a quick Denver possession, the Redskins took over on the given his would No. 17 retum to the game? To him, the decision was a no-brainer, perhaps stemmed fierce competitiveness and chilly relationship with Schroeder that game like it from the liFC championship game the year before. "I remember that "schroeder got hit, he was woozy' and Joe Gibbs was was yesterday," Williams said. u) but we still had z senalng me on the field. Schroeder waved me off. We got beat 17-0, a was no telling what could have happened'" o a quarler to go. There u again grabbed the reins' and the E in the vanguard this time, Williams once z Denver's defense, he aimed the ball o fireworks began. On a play-action pass that froze F midfield and (, down the rigtt sideline to receiver Ric$r Sanders' who caught it around z zone. williams I outraced comerback Mark Haynes and safety Tony Lilly into the end a Gary Clark struck again four minutes later with a21-yardscoring pass to receiver wlliams found =o and, after haltback ran 58 yards lbr a touchdown, O quarler with N Sanders for another score, this time on a 50-yard bomb. He closed the o

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an S-yard touchdown pass to tight end . ln less than six minutes of possession, Williams had led a breathtaking display that transformed the Broncos and their sea of orange-clad fans into one despondent group. He set a single-quafier Super Bowl record with221 passing yards and tied Super Bowl marks with his four touchdown passes and S0-yard TD pass to Sanders. His surgical accuracy left many in awe, including Redskins Hall of Fame quarterback , who provided radio color analysis on the game. "Nobody goes into a game realizing you're going to be that hot with the ball," Jurgensen said recently, in reflecting on the quarter. "He was just in one of those grooves where everything he threw was on the button and everybody was playing well around him. He got into a zone where he couldn't miss anything." Lilly would agree. He remembers Williams' precision on his 50-yard scoring pass to U a play preceded by the quarterback's =r Sanders, o C gorgeous fake to Smith on the Redskins' u 0 legendary "counter-trey" run that befuddled the 2 C all game. F Broncos ! "I bit on it hard," said Lilly, who now =l teaches broadcasting at West Potomac High O School in Alexandria, Va. "I was five yards _ reaiized, SIGN-'z'eiod UP NO}Tf GET TIIE REDSKINS from the line of scrimmage when I venireoox oNLlNE FREEI 'Man, (Smith) doesn't have the ball.' I just

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\l.Jliii;:rn* r**q:ivt:* #x**11*nt pfi$* tilr{)l$ftiqln fr*rn ffi*!*igi: M*K*:n;i* {S3}, .j*e* Ja*r:hY {6*}, *liilt *i*i*r knew Doug hadn't {*fi) an* J*ff B*sli* {S3} " remember running down the field in pursuit of Sanders, and I throwntheballyet.,tltlrememberthinkingis,.overlhrowhim,overthrowhim. the dime"" overlhrow him.'Then I was like, 'unbelievable... he put it right on him with encouraging words like Meanwhile, the Redskins rallied around their catalyst. They showered famed "Hogs" offensive line that toyed those from , the 6-6, 310-pound pillar on the Redskins' pass protection and enabled Smith with the Broncos much smaller defensive fiont, gave Williams airtight to rush for a Super Bowl-record 204 yards' play-by-play man Frank Herzog' All along, Wittiams was unflappable, said long-time Redskins radio all those repolters with no stories .,you go through a Super gowl week in that type of pressure-cooker, and players, especially for him," Herzog said last month' "But t ying"to rnake stutr up, it's a difftcult week for on the field, and it was just him and the during the game, repofiers couldn't talk to him. He was out there that says' 'This is my element' this guys. There was almost a solitude to that, almost a retreat atmosphere is what I do, and God, it's great to be doing it'"' Lombardi In the euphoric Redskini'locker room, Williams clutched the Vince trophy,giventotheSuperBowlwinner,andsaid,..Ifeelblessed.,'Redskinsowner lu.t k*t Cooke extended congratulations "to a great quatterback'" WlliamsplayedtwomoreseasonsinWashingtonbeforeinjuriesforcedhimto continues to retire. He wai named last year to the Redskins'70 Greatest team and coach the highly-successful Grambling program' ..oougwounaupbeingtherightmanintherightplace,''Gibbssaid.*Y'ouhave went into the USFL' u guy *ho played great when he filst came out of college' and is MVP in turned around and became a backup, then comes all the way back the Super Bowl. That's one of the great stories in sports history'"

(Editor's Note: Michqel Richman is aWashington, D'C'-based writer who specializes in witing about Redskins history')

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HAIL TO THE FIEDSKINS GREAT MOMENTS IN REDSKINS HISTORY