Evolution of the Black Quarterback (2024) s01e02 Episode Script

1
[Vick] Football should be simple.
The best players play.
That's what I see today.
Yeah, baby.
[Vick] Quarterbacks of all races
competing together.
Same rhythm,
just take a little something off though.
I guarantee you complete half of them.
Coaches of all races
helping everyone get better.
I want you actually up,
because you're comfortable.
[Vick] It may sound simple,
but the path to get here wasn't.
-Hard work on three. One, two, three.
-[players] Hard work.
[reporter 1] The Negro is proud of
the advancement his race is making.
[commentator 1] That colored boy
is sure getting under their skin.
[commentator 2] Kenny Washington's
getting the ball, fakes the pass.
-He's going to run with it.
-[commentator 3] That's still a long run!
[reporter 2] Government was
intended to be for the White man.
[Malcolm X]
We didn't land on Plymouth Rock.
The rock was landed on us.
[reporter 3] Coaches seem to believe
that Blacks are inferior thinkers.
[George Wallace] and segregation forever.
I am a revolutionary.
[commentator 4] Briscoe for the touchdown.
[Jimmy Snyder]
The Black is a better athlete
because he's been bred to be that way.
[reporter 4]
I hope Doug Williams puts to bed
about the Black athlete once and for all
in professional football.
[Al Campanis] How many quarterbacks
do you have that are Black?
They may not have the necessities
[commentator 5]
Falcons select Michael Vick.
[Obama] There is not
a Black America and a White America.
-There's the United States of America.
-[reporter 5] An unarmed African American
[reporter 6] There is an awakening
[reporter 7] The emergence of
the Black quarterback is not a myth.
[commentator 6] And Patrick Mahomes's
revolution continues.
[Vick] This journey
to trace the evolution
of the Black quarterback
is personal.
From the early greats
to Doug breaking through,
these pioneers opened the doors for me.
But just because the doors were open,
doesn't mean
there weren't still challenges.
In the 1980s, there was
a Washington Post-ABC News poll done
where, for the first time,
the majority of White folks
saying that they had a Black friend.
But they still didn't want to live
in neighborhoods with Black people.
And so there was a mindset that existed
that still continued to perpetuate racism.
A lot of that was just reflective
of what was going on
in so many different communities
where we checked the box already.
Racism is over.
And as we know,
racism certainly wasn't over.
The 1980s are a time when we began to see
a lot of African Americans
rise in star power
all across the social landscape.
From Oprah Winfrey
to Michael Jordan to Eddie Murphy.
African Americans coming into society
and being the star figures
in their industry.
And this is a key moment
because prior to this,
many people thought the country would
struggle with African Americans being
the most high-profile people
throughout areas of entertainment.
It was like the ceiling got higher
but the floor got a lot lower.
And when it comes to
the Black quarterback,
they found themselves more
on the floor than on the ceiling.
In the 1980s there were some.
The name Randall Cunningham comes to mind.
You're talking about somebody
with such outrageous talent
that unless you came down
from Planet Awesome
to play the position
like nobody had ever seen before,
you were not going to get a shot.
The racism,
as it affected Black quarterbacks,
was subtle and it was overt.
You look at a player like a Warren Moon
who doesn't even get a chance
after excelling at one of the major
college conferences on a major stage.
You can't tell me that Warren Moon
not getting a chance in the NFL
was not driven by race.
[crowd cheers]
["Do It" playing]
Ooh ♪
Go on and do it
Do it ♪
Do it till you're satisfied ♪
Whatever it is ♪
The man, the myth, the legend.
-Warren.
-Michael, how are you, brother?
-Thanks for taking the time.
-Welcome to the West Coast.
Yes, absolutely.
And welcome to the Rose Bowl.
[Moon] I love this place.
As a young kid growing up,
we would come out here
to Pasadena and watch the parade
[Vick] Wow.
but then go home
and then I'd watch the game
and picturing one day maybe.
[commentator 1] Moon with time.
Throwing. Touchdown!
[commentator 2] For the Oilers,
everything is falling into place.
[Vick] Warren, you recently introduced me
at the Quarterback Hall of Fame,
and that was a special moment for me
because I idolized you growing up.
I cried when we lost to the Buffalo Bills.
[laughs]
-I cheered when you threw
-[chuckles] "We lost."
passes to Ernest Givins
and-and all those receivers that you had.
Yeah, when they called me
about doing it, I said, "Sure.
Where you want me, when you want me?"
Because, um, I have so much
respect for you. I was proud to be there.
[music ends]
What inspired you to play quarterback?
Well, as a young kid, I had good speed
but I also had a really good arm.
And then I had
natural leadership qualities because,
as a young kid,
my dad died when I was seven.
I had six sisters and my mom,
so I kinda took over
that leadership role in my house.
So, I was the guy that,
in the neighborhood,
I I organized everything.
I got everybody together to play.
We played against different streets
and stuff like that.
-Yeah.
-I was the one doing all that.
[Vick] When you think about your
recruiting process, what was that like?
[Moon] I wanted to go
to a school that threw the ball.
But most of the schools
that were recruiting me were wishbone.
I ended up committing to Arizona State.
And then, all of a sudden,
they signed the two top quarterbacks
in the country at that time.
A guy by the name of Dennis Sproul,
I'll never forget their names,
-and Bruce Hardy
-[Vick] Okay.
who ended up playing tight end
in the NFL. [chuckles]
I was about to say,
those guys never made it.
Yeah. They didn't make it.
And they told me
they were gonna switch my position.
So I de-committed,
and I couldn't get any schools that
threw the football to, uh, recruit me.
So junior college gave me the chance,
so I went there.
I had a job in the, uh,
athletic department.
-I had the keys to the film library.
-Yeah.
I sent my film out to different schools
-I wanted to go to
-You were being proactive.
they sent it back to my house,
I got it back in the library,
nobody ever knew it was gone.
And that's how I got recruited.
So, you decide to go
to the University of Washington?
-[Moon] Yeah.
-[Vick] Coming from California,
I know it was a difference in the culture.
[Moon] They had never had
an African American quarterback there.
-[Vick] Yeah.
-[Moon] And I ended up
starting up there as a sophomore.
We didn't have a lot of talent,
we got off to a slow start,
so the crowd of course
was really starting to get on me.
-[Vick] Right.
-I'm wondering,
"Did I make the right choice
to go up there to play to play football?"
Because that was the first place
I got called the N-word, you know?
That was hard to deal with
at 19 years old.
You know, you-you got 65,000 people
every time you run out on the field
-Yeah. It's a different story.
-you getting booed.
Being a 19-year-old young man,
I can only imagine
what that made you feel like.
Just the fact that people, uh, weren't
happy with me in general really hurt.
But then to be, you know,
called names like that,
uh, that took it to another level.
That wasn't the last time
that I heard it either
either in college or, uh, in pro football,
but you almost
got used to it after a while,
because that's just kind of the way
There was a certain segment of our society
that's very bigoted
and, uh, very prejudice.
-A lot of history. I wanna hear about it.
-[Moon] A lot of history here.
-The guy with the great Afro right there.
-[Vick] You got this guy. Looking good.
[Moon] He had more hair in those days.
[both laughing]
You know,
this game was a big game for you guys.
[commentator 1] From the Rose Bowl
in Pasadena, the 1978 Rose Bowl Game.
[Moon] It was one of
the biggest games of my career.
We were playing
the Mighty Michigan Wolverines.
We felt like if we could win this game,
not only would it put our program
on the map, but it would be big for me.
We were up 17-0 at halftime.
[commentator 2] Roll. He is in!
Moon goes deep. There's Gaines.
Got it! Touchdown!
Warren Moon. And he's over.
[commentator 3] He's got it all, Kurt!
[Moon] They made, uh, a valiant comeback,
but the last drive we picked off
their quarterback, Rick Leach,
and sealed the game.
So you had this big day, and now,
you know, you-you entering the NFL draft.
I know that-that process
was a little difficult for you.
You know,
I'm the Pac-8 player of the year.
I go to the Rose Bowl,
we-we beat a really good team.
[Vick] Right.
[Moon] And I'm MVP of the game.
And what teams were telling me,
I wasn't gonna be drafted
as a quarterback.
Wow.
Because I didn't come out
of a pro-style offense.
But I could throw from the pocket.
I threw from the pocket in that game.
They said I was too small,
my arm wasn't strong enough.
That was probably one
of my greatest attributes.
It was probably stronger in college
than it was when I was in the NFL.
-Yeah.
-So, just the things they came up with,
they-they just they didn't jive.
-Yeah.
-They all just kinda spoke of racism.
All you ask for in life,
at least that's all I ask for,
-is-is opportunity.
-Yeah.
If you can give me an opportunity
to show what I can do
and I'm not good enough,
then I'll do something else.
But to not even get an opportunity,
it-it really did hurt.
We're gonna have a lot
of conversations today.
Ultimately, when it comes down to it,
why do you think it wasn't a lot
of Black quarterbacks as opposed to now.
There was a, uh
a stereotype that we couldn't think,
that we weren't smart enough
to play the position.
But I think even more important,
it was a position of leadership,
it was a position of power.
It was something that not only in playing
quarterback they didn't want us to do,
they didn't want us to be that way
in any form of life,
whether it was government, business,
they just didn't want African Americans
having that type of power and clout.
[Vick] As I grew older
and learned your story,
I found out you had to take the CFL route.
Again, you know,
we talked about opportunity,
and-and I wanted an opportunity
and I didn't care where it was.
I didn't care if they had
a league in Siberia or somewhere.
If they was gonna let me play quarterback,
I was gonna go there.
It's a decision
that I'll never second guess.
[commentator 1] Moon drops deep.
There's outside pressure.
He steps up and fires.
Touchdown!
We won, uh, championships in our
first five years that I was up there.
They had a lot of success.
But I'm watching television,
and I'm seeing guys in the NFL playing
that I think
I'm good enough or better than
that are playing on Sundays.
So that-that was a bitter pill to swallow
that you feel like you should be
at least getting a chance
to play out there with those guys.
They say winning cures everything.
So winning made it a lot easier
to stay up there.
But there were a lot
of cold days up there. It was
-[Vick] It's Canada. Yeah.
-[Moon] It gets cold in Canada.
I played in a game one time,
minus 42 Celsius.
How many yards you pass for?
-Uh, three something. [chuckles]
-Damn.
Skills was there.
[Moon] I loved playing up there
because I could just play
and not have to think about anything else.
And then finally, the NFL
now wanted to come at me.
And I had seven teams bidding for my
services when I came back to the league.
[Vick] So the whole time,
everything had changed.
[Moon] Whole thing had changed.
Now you get to the NFL, you look around
and you see other Black quarterbacks,
and do y'all choose to stick together
and-and root for one another?
When I first came in the league,
believe it or not, I was the only one.
Doug was in the USFL at that time.
Randall hadn't came into the league.
So I had a lot of eyes on me.
Talk about some of
the high points in-in Houston.
I think the biggest high
was when we finally made it
to the play-offs after that third year.
They hadn't been to the play-offs since
when Earl Campbell was-was still there.
So to finally get back to the play-offs,
win that first play-off game at home
against Seattle, that was huge.
[commentator 2] The Houston Oilers
in their first play-off appearance
in seven years.
Winning it in overtime.
And Moon taking MVP honors.
And then there was a lot of things
I dealt with throughout my career
that I held inside of me
and compartmentalized
just so I could move on to the next game
or the next day or whatever it might be.
But two that really stick out is,
I remember when my son,
he was seven years old,
after a game we lost at the Astrodome,
he comes to my locker
after the game and he's crying.
I'm like, "It's all right, Josh.
We lost a game,
but we'll win next week."
He's like, "No, Dad, I wanna know why
all these people were calling you
all these bad names and"
Right there I had to take off my
football hat and put on my-my dad hat,
you know, and explain to him
why people might have been, you know,
calling me these names
and talk to him a little bit about, uh,
ignorance and-and things like that
that I shouldn't have to try and explain
to a seven-year-old.
-Exactly.
-But that's what
he was dealing with at the time.
So I had to try
and make it make sense to him.
And then another time I remember when I
On my 35th birthday,
we were playing in Cleveland.
I threw five touchdown passes that day,
so they brought me out of the game.
And I'm standing on the sideline,
and then all of a sudden our
director of security comes over and says,
"Warren, when the game is over,
you stand right here."
And the next thing you know, about eight
policemen come around and surround me
and they walk me off the field,
and they said,
"Been another death threat on your life.
We're gonna walk you off the field.
So you just stay close to us."
So stuff like that were some of
the unpleasant things about the game and
and that I didn't feel comfortable
about all the time.
And I never talked about these, you know.
I never told my wife that I was dealing
with this or any of this type of stuff.
And I just internalized it all.
And there were a lot more
like that throughout my time.
-That people don't even know about.
-No.
Sorry you had to go through that.
It's life.
-You paved the way.
-Yes, sir.
Truly paved the way.
Now, you-you go through
all these trying times, good and bad,
you-you chauffeur through it,
and then you make the Hall of Fame.
I love professional football.
I have a passion
for professional football.
I'm a fan of the game.
And to be included
with these guys back here,
besides my four kids being born,
this is the happiest day of my life.
[Moon] I knew that getting to the stage
was gonna also help other young guys
get a get an opportunity to-to play more
quarterback as African Americans.
Makes me want to stick
my chest out just a little bit
to know I played a small part in that.
[Vick] Switch positions or play in Canada.
Not that long ago, those were the choices.
And because there were so few
Black quarterbacks for so long,
we found inspiration in other places.
["A Little Less Conversation" playing]
[commentator 1] Staubach
looks like he might take off.
Got away from one. Got away twice.
[commentator 2] Touchdown!
[commentator 3] Young runs away,
has some space. He's got lots of room.
[commentator 4] Oh, what a play!
The Bears had a guy named Bobby Douglass
who was a running quarterback.
The Vikings had Fran Tarkenton
who was a scrambler.
The Cowboys had Roger Staubach.
They called him "Roger the Dodger"
because he would take off
and break down a defense with his legs.
[commentator 5] He runs, goes to the 40,
gets away again!
[Wyche] You talk about
the mobile quarterback,
nobody was more mobile,
fast, big arm than Steve Young.
[commentator 6] Play's gonna be a sack.
Gets away.
[Wyche] Look at John Elway.
[commentator 7] Fake to Davis.
Elway's gonna bootleg by himself.
Ten-yard line,
five-yard line, touchdown Elway!
It used to be thought that anybody
who runs from the quarterback position
is going to get hurt.
And they showed that a dual-threat
can take you to the championship game.
[commentator 8] Tucks it in, 35,
30, stays inbounds,
one man to get by, touchdown 49ers!
A little less fight
And a little more spark ♪
Close your mouth and open up your heart
And, baby, satisfy me ♪
[Vick] Mr. Steve Young.
-[laughs] Mike!
-How you doing?
Bro, I am honored to be here, bro.
-Legend. [laughs]
-Don't even try that.
Don't even try that.
-How you doing?
-A lot of love to you.
You must do a lot of yoga. You look great.
I'm, you know, just chasing kids like you.
[no audible dialogue]
You paved the way for myself and a lot
of other guys more than you know.
-We gonna talk about it.
-I'm honored that you say that, Mike.
You've said that before to me,
and it's heartwarming
that you would watch me
and think that my game could be helpful.
Since we both play golf, we gonna have
a little putting competition.
Right away you're gonna compete with me?
We gonna warm up.
We gonna have a putting competition
-to talk a little quarterback play.
-Let's do it.
There it is.
Yeah, I wanted to challenge you
right out the gate.
[groans]
There we go.
-[laughs]
-All right.
I remember
when you came to see me in 2001,
and that was an amazing moment.
I still thank Dan Reeves
for bringing you out
because that was real inspirational.
[Young] I was an oddity. I was a
I was a strange cat.
Because I was running around
all over the place.
And then watching you play, I was like,
"This is my tribe, this is my guy,
you're my guy."
And so I was ecstatic
when they asked me to come out.
Because I knew, Mike, that if you could
harness all of that athleticism
and play quarterback like the guys that
can't move, we could take over the league.
-[commentator 1] Yes!
-[commentator 2] Making the grab,
touchdown Mike Vick!
Growing up for me, there wasn't a lot
of Black quarterbacks for me to idolize.
Did you kind of notice that, you know,
as you was coming up?
-When you asked me to come do this
-Yeah.
I had a lot of emotion about it.
-Yeah.
-African American quarterbacks
weren't getting support.
-I could see that.
-Yeah.
And I can't imagine as an African American
quarterback how that felt as well.
Through the years, you've had examples
of dynamic athletes
that could play the position,
and just continued
to break down the barriers
that were sometimes institutionalized
because no one else knew any better.
And classic discrimination.
Like, it's kind of all jumbled in there.
And I think that, like anything,
the change comes from proving it wrong.
-[Vick] Yeah.
-[Young] By proving that
there's a even better way.
Randall came in
and he gave me a lot of confidence,
because Randall could do things that
no one else could ever think about.
[commentator 3] Look at that agility.
He's got something special right there!
[Young] And so that let me expand.
I would take some more chances.
I would do more
because I watched Randall do it.
And, uh, I remember seeing Randall,
he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated,
and they talked about it,
this is the future.
Isn't that interesting
that it was so prophetic,
because it really is the future?
I can not let you get out of here without
talking about that run against Minnesota.
[commentator 4] Young, back to throw,
in trouble. He's gonna be sacked.
No, gets away. Gets away again!
I don't know whose run was better,
mines or yours.
Mine was, uh, a mess.
[laughs]
[Young] From the very beginning!
That run is out of desperation
to make something happen.
[commentator 5] The 15, the ten, he dives.
Touchdown 49ers!
I was looking at it like,
"What just happened? I wanna be that guy."
But, my run, I just remember Dan Reeves
coming to me and saying,
"They playing a lot of man-to-man,
they turning their backs to you,
just take off with it."
-[commentator 6] Go, Mike Vick. Touchdown.
-[commentator 7] This is over!
-Falcons. Game is over.
-It's over! Yes!
-[Young] It was smooth but also explosive.
-[Vick] I got to the end zone.
[Young] I always thought
that Deion and you
had speed that-that the eye
the human eye would go, "What? Wait."
And that's what happened with you
is they took a
an angle that they thought
that most humans would meet.
And you're like,
"No, no, I'm not human. I
[laughs] I went further than that."
They both collided as they missed you.
When you look at the game today,
how does it make you feel seeing it?
I feel like the game,
it's finally built for us!
The rules, the innovation,
the cool stuff, the RPOs.
I mean, you gotta be there
saying to yourself,
"Oh, man. I-I wanna play right now."
[Vick] Right.
[Vick] And that's the beauty
of this evolution.
We were influenced by everybody.
And now we influence everybody.
Josh, I'm doing a project
on the evolution of the Black quarterback,
and, for a lot of reasons
that we'll get into,
I had to have you, man. But 20 years ago,
I was on the front cover of Madden.
20 years later,
you gracing the cover, man.
And this me 20 years ago,
which I'm gonna gift you with that.
Thank you.
And I think you look awesome on the cover.
So before we get into this interview, man,
I wanna find out
what type of game you got.
[commentator 1] And we are underway here
[commentator 2] He throws to Pitts,
and he's got it.
Touchdown Atlanta.
Damn it, now where my safety at?
Good play, Josh.
Way to recognize.
I remember turning the PlayStation on
and seeing, you know,
the cover athlete on the screen,
and being like,
"I wanna be that guy. I wanna be Mike.
You know, I wanna put myself in
that position to-to be in the NFL."
Growing up as a kid, you know,
we all idolized somebody.
You're a dual-threat quarterback,
was-was there any Black quarterbacks
that you might have looked at and said,
"I want I wanna do the things
that he doing on the field"?
One comes to mind for me,
Daunte Culpepper.
[commentator 3] Daunte looks nearside.
Touchdown Vikings!
And I'm gonna say to you.
I-I wore your cleats in Pop Warner.
[commentator 4] Wow, what a run! Oh, man!
[Allen] I loved watching Steve McNair
play the game.
I thought he played with a lot of passion.
[commentator 5] McNair.
How is he doing it?
-Donovan McNabb, too, was a baller.
-Donovan was great.
Donovan was
one of my favorites growing up.
[commentator 6] He dodges out!
He's gonna run!
Cuts to the outside, McNabb escaped!
McNabb escaped!
And again maybe I wouldn't have had the
chances and the opportunities that I had
if it wasn't for those guys
in front of me.
Growing up in California, as far as,
like, your racial upbringing,
did you ever experience any racial tension
growing up around Black people
or anything like that.
You know, the only experience
where I really had around Black people
was through football.
Where I'm from, my-my hometown,
is, uh, largely Hispanic.
-[Vick] Okay.
-[Allen] And
So I didn't-I didn't grow up around
many Black people or White people.
You know, I was kinda in that minority,
if you-if you would say, in my school.
That's just all I knew. You know?
And then I got to junior college
and that's when I met some people
that grew up and lived in Florida.
And that kind of opened my eyes
just to different backgrounds of life.
You know, Florida, Florida's a little bit
different than Central California.
So just to be able to sit down
and talk with them and understand
where they come from
and how they were born and raised,
and it was so different than how I was.
[Vick] Couple years ago,
you guys had a tragedy.
It was a mass shooting
at a Top Market out here.
Ten people were killed, three wounded
in what officials are calling
a racially motivated attack.
It happened at this supermarket
right behind me.
You galvanized the guys.
It speaks to your leadership, Josh.
Tell me, like, where did that maturity
come from as a young man?
I-I think it's a mixture
of how I was raised.
Uh, my parents, I think that they
raised me with the right values.
But I also think
the guys in this locker room,
we were able to-to lean on each other.
You talk about guys like
Stefon Diggs and Dion Dawkins,
Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer who
it was very easy to have these
very hard conversations with them.
And to-to be open-minded
and hear, you know,
everything that was going on and
I think it's using past experiences
and understanding where guys come from.
Sometimes it's saying something,
sometimes it's not saying anything,
just being there and showing support and
and embracing a man.
Actually giving
another grown man a legit hug.
And making sure that they feel like
they're getting love from one another.
But as long as we can, again,
keep learning from our past
and moving forward and making sure
that we're seeing each other
for who we actually are,
I think that's, uh
that's what's important.
[Vick] Today's quarterbacks are different.
Like the game itself.
But the road was uneven to get here.
And it didn't lead back to Sunday
or Monday or Thursday.
It leads back
to college football on Saturday.
Ah, man.
You know, the '90s is when
I really started to notice it.
And when I say "it," I mean that
there were Black quarterbacks everywhere.
[commentator 1] Rodney Peete
turns it inside, touchdown!
[commentator 2] Charlie Ward!
Remarkable run.
The 1990s you begin to see
the flowering of Black quarterbacks
in the college football landscape.
And the best way to know
there was progress in the 1990s,
at the collegiate level compared
to the NFL, was that it stopped being
really a subject of mass discussion
at the collegiate level.
[Menefee] Tommie Frazier started
things off at the University of Nebraska.
It was a run-heavy offense,
but he-he took them to three straight
national championship games,
winning two of them.
If you had ever watched
Steve McNair play at Alcorn,
it was a revelation.
He was smarter, bigger,
stronger, faster and tougher
than everyone.
I was watching
Kordell Stewart at Colorado,
Heisman Trophy winner
Charlie Ward at Florida State.
[Nichols] We really started to see
more and more
Black quarterbacks in college,
and you knew that it-it was going
to eventually come to the NFL.
[Vick] Right now
we in Tallahassee, Florida,
home of the Florida State Seminoles.
Legendary place.
Got a chance today to spend some time
with one of FSU's all-time greats.
Ecstatic to be here.
Can't wait to talk about the legacy
of this man who,
in a lot of ways,
changed the game of football
and changed the way I looked at the game.
-Charlie Ward. What's up?
-[Ward] What's happening?
-Doing all right? I'm good, brother.
-How you doing?
[Vick] Charlie, you played in the NBA.
That's an amazing career.
But the people here in Tallahassee know
who's the greatest quarterback
at FSU of all time.
[commentator 1] Charlie looks,
Charlie will run.
Charlie to the 45!
Charlie to the 40!
Charlie Ward, remarkable run!
[commentator 2] Ward with a man open!
[commentator 3] Charlie flushed
out of the pocket. Goes to his right.
Throws the ball down to Matt Pryor.
Touchdown! Florida [speaks indistinctly]
Before we take it out to the gridiron,
though, I still wanna see
what type of basketball player you are.
[Ward] There we go!
Oh, there we go!
-[Vick] Oh, we going to end on that one.
-Yes.
[Vick] Thomasville, Georgia,
your hometown,
was there a point growing up
you felt like,
"This might not be the position for me"?
You know,
you a Black quarterback in Thomasville,
was that ever a thing for you?
There were some issues that I didn't
really fully understand at times.
Having a White quarterback before me
and me being the guy
that everyone wanted on the field
because of the athletic ability and
God saw fit that I get my opportunity.
And it was just the position
that I became known for.
[Vick] Your recruiting process
coming out of high school,
what was that like
and what schools was recruiting you?
My last two schools it came down to
was Florida State
and University of Georgia.
One of the main reasons why
I-I chose Florida State
was because they had never had
a Black quarterback before.
I wanted to be the first Black quarterback
at Florida State,
and-and so I waited my time.
And that's how God works,
because if you don't make that decision,
I might've altered my decision.
You being cognizant of being
the first Black quarterback
at Florida State made history.
1993, that season.
When I mention that season,
what pops in your head?
Domination.
[commentator 1]
Charlie out of the shotgun.
[commentator 2] Ward
gets out of the grass.
[commentator 3] Cocks the arm,
fires it toward the corner.
Caught by McCorvey. Touchdown FSU!
[commentator 4]
He'll run with the football.
Five, four Touchdown, Florida State!
[Vick] You won all types of awards:
the O'Brien award,
the Maxwell Award, the Heisman.
An incredible season.
We got over the hump beating Miami,
which was our nemesis
for all the years that I had been there.
And then the game happened.
[commentator 5] Happy New Year,
everyone, from the Orange Bowl in Miami.
Number one, Florida State the Seminoles,
against the Cornhuskers of Nebraska.
[commentator 6] Throws across field
where it is intercepted.
[horn blows]
[commentator 7] He's got it!
Florida State wins.
To be the first championship
at Florida State was a great blessing.
Enjoy the moment where you are,
because you never know
what kind of history you may be making.
1993, that-that season, your senior year
gave guys like myself hope.
And then it's the whole draft process.
[commentator 8] Charlie Ward, where is
his stock as far as the draft going on?
[commentator 9] Look at
the predominant teams in the NFL,
most of the clubs
are conventional pro-offense.
[commentator 10] At 5'11" and a half, 184,
he's just not big enough
for the NFL clubs.
[Vick] You go through this draft process,
what was some of the things
that you was hearing,
and what was some of your concerns?
Normally right after the football season,
you go and start preparing
for the Combine.
-That's where I was different.
-Okay.
'Cause I wanted to leave
my options open for the NFL or the NBA.
So I played basketball my senior year,
but I did go through the process.
I didn't go to the Combine,
because I wasn't prepared to do anything
because I was playing basketball.
And actually had a basketball game
on the Combine day.
-They had a Pro Day.
-Yeah.
And so I was like 182 pounds
when they showed up,
-like 5'11" and a quarter.
-Yeah, I know.
And so, I just didn't meet
the measurables of a first round pick.
And then I made this big statement
that if I didn't get chosen
in the first round,
then I would be considering
my other options.
Which was fair.
You did all these amazing things.
Charlie Ward still hasn't' decided
which sport's gonna be his moneymaker.
If you would've got drafted
in the first round,
you would've played football.
Correct.
There were teams, like the Minnesota
Vikings and Denny Green,
who had their eye on you.
[Ward] After talking to Coach Dungy,
years after that he did mention that
they were interested in drafting me
later in the first round,
but they weren't sure
-if I was committed to coming to play.
-[Vick] Right.
[Ward] I did get a call from the
Kansas City Chiefs in the fifth round,
and they called and asked me
if I wanted to back up Joe Montana.
Which was another hero of mine,
-because I saw a lot of me in him.
-[Vick] Yeah.
I told them that I couldn't guarantee
that I would come to camp
-Yeah.
-if I got drafted in the fifth round,
so they chose not to do it.
[Vick] When you look back at
what you did for the game of football,
what you want your legacy to be?
I just want to be remembered as, you know,
a person that went out,
competed at a high level
and prepared himself to
win in all areas of my life,
and I'm grateful that I had opportunities.
And so, hopefully, I can be someone
that people can look at and say,
"He did things with excellence."
Watching you in that '93 season,
I said to myself,
"That's-That's me."
What you did on the football field,
I just wanted to duplicate that.
[Ward clicks tongue]
Well I appreciate that.
Because I was sitting there
watching you tear up my Seminoles in '99.
Almost got 'em.
[commentator 11] Rolling to his
right, sprinting towards that end zone.
-Touchdown Tech!
-[crowd cheering]
I'm still trying to figure out
how we won that game.
[Vick] I was just trying to be you,
Charlie, I can tell you that.
[Vick] Growing up, Charlie was my guy.
When I saw him, I saw myself.
When he didn't make it,
part of me wondered if I could.
But then, another player,
and a coach, showed me another way.
[McNabb] I don't know why
we're playing today.
But just 'cause we have to,
let's beat the hell out of them.
[commentator 1] McNabb looks,
fires and it is caught for a touchdown!
[commentator 2] Here comes the rush.
He steps off, he pumps, he runs,
he is firing,
and he has gone for a touchdown!
[commentator 3] Once again,
Houdini makes the play.
-[Vick] People don't know we go way back.
-[McNabb] Mm-hmm.
[Vick] Y'all tried to recruit me
to come to Syracuse and
You remember that visit?
I do. Um, I'm still mad at your mom.
-[chuckles]
-Uh. First time meeting
-Yeah.
-spending time together up at Syracuse,
-taking you out, being around the guys
-[Vick] Right.
felt like it would be a great fit,
obviously with me moving on.
And although we lost you
to one of our rivals,
uh, in the Big East
at that particular time,
I think we got a chance to get to know
much more of each other besides football.
Your journey to becoming
a quarterback, like, when did it start?
It was late, you know, because my mom
wasn't allowing us to play football.
I started running back. Play-offs,
our starting quarterback gets hurt,
so the coach calls and says,
"Hey, do you want to play quarterback?"
-Right.
-I'm about winning.
Whatever it takes.
And so I took the running back skill
level to the quarterback skill level.
Now, how did you end up at Syracuse?
[McNabb] My mentality
was I wanted to play two sports.
So, while I'm talking to football coaches,
"Coach,
I want to play basketball as well."
And so, going to Syracuse, it was
more of the Dome,
-the students, everything about Syracuse.
-[Vick] Yeah.
It was a great fit, but it was more of,
"I can go here and have a good time."
[commentator 1] Blitz coming.
McNabb somehow spins away.
How'd he do that?
[commentator 2] Going deep for Daniel
Here's a sneak. And a first down
for McNabb and then some!
[Vick] Now you're starting to look at
the things surrounding you
being a Black quarterback,
and being conscious of,
"Look, if I play well,
I can be a potential first rounder.
But I have to deal with all this
controversy that surrounds
a Black quarterback."
I started to understand about
being an African American
in a position which they are not wanted
and they're not respected
because of our color.
-Not of our ability, but about our color.
-[Vick] Yeah.
Charlie was a guy
that I watched at Florida State.
You had quarterbacks
at Notre Dame and Tony Rice.
And so, now you're talking about
African American quarterbacks,
but not getting the same attention
and love as the rest of 'em.
But I understood that
I could knock the wall down.
And that was my confidence.
[commentator 3] McNabb throwing
the other way for the tight end Brominski
[crowd cheering]
[whistle blows]
[Vick] So moving forward
-The number two pick.
-You try to be number one.
[news anchor] NFL news,
from the league meetings in Orlando,
expansion to 31 teams has
been approved overwhelmingly.
The storied Browns
franchise is coming back.
-I tried to be the number one pick. Yeah.
-[Vick] They chose Tim Couch.
That I mean, how did it make you feel?
Leading up into the draft, I remember
talking to the Cleveland Browns.
We sat in a room,
we went over the board work.
Then I talked to, uh, some people
that's inside there, and told me,
"They had you on the board
number one up until the draft,"
but someone, I won't mention no names,
but somebody was like,
"We can't start the franchise off here
in Cleveland with a Black quarterback."
Wow.
For me, a guy who attended Virginia Tech
told me that he looked at me
and instantly told me that I
was going to be a DB. Crushed me.
But that 1999 draft when you got drafted:
Daunte Culpepper, Akili Smith, Shaun King.
I'll never forget the jubilation,
just the feeling I had knowing that,
"Okay, I don't have
to change my position."
Let's see what we got here, Five.
Let's see what you can do
with this offense right here.
[Vick] How supportive
was Coach Reid in your development?
[McNabb] When I was younger,
I watched Brett.
So Andy was responsible
for what Brett was able
Now my first year and a half,
he kept bringing Brett up
-which I started disliking Brett. [laughs]
-[laughs]
-The comparisons with me and Brett
-[Vick] This is a little overkill, Coach.
-went a little bit too far.
-Yeah.
And so, you know,
Andy stopped talking about Brett
but I started watching more film.
So I started learning more.
That later part of the year,
I think my very first start
was against the Washington Redskins,
at that time, which are the Commanders.
That's when you shook
the buddy on the sidelines.
[McNabb] No, that was late
That was later.
I don't remember if we won or not,
but that was when it all started.
By the third year we were ready to roll.
[commentator 4] He is going deep.
And it is caught
[stammers]
Yes, it is caught for a touchdown!
You go and have amazing success,
Pro Bowls, get to a Super Bowl.
-Right.
-Even still in that run, it's still people
kinda talking crazy
about you at the position.
Donovan McNabb has is regressing.
He is going backwards, and my
I'm sorry to say this, I don't think
he's been that good from the get-go.
I think what we've had here is
a little social concern in the NFL.
I think the media has been very
desirous that a Black quarterback do well.
[Vick] Rush Limbaugh made a comment.
I see you defending us on so many levels
and I'm like,
"Man, Donovan is courageous
'cause he's speaking out
and saying the things that
we probably should be saying."
The whole thing for me
was it wasn't about me.
Yeah, you can talk about me,
'cause you're not going to break me.
I've already established who I am.
But what are you saying for
the kids in middle school?
What are you saying for
the kids that are in high school?
What are you saying for these
young kids that are getting drafted?
Or the ones that are under me?
And that message in which he sent
was not only him talking,
that was what everybody else was saying
-Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
-or wanted to say.
And I remember that whole deal,
but it never broke me.
Don, I-I got a lot of
advice over the years from you,
and I'm certainly thankful for it.
And I tried to emulate my game after you.
You had an amazing
career as a quarterback.
I'm just wondering, after six Pro Bowls,
NFC Championship games,
a Super Bowl appearance,
for all you've done for the game, when
they going to put the gold jacket on you?
If it happens it's a blessing.
-My life continues on.
-Yeah. Right.
I want to continue to be
a mentor to those that are aspiring
and those who dream of being
in the position that we were in.
And while doing that
opening up a path for those behind you.
Because it's never just about us,
it's about "How can you carry the torch
and pass the torch when the game
has ended for you?"
[crowd cheering] E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles!
-What's up, Coach? What's going on?
-How are you?
Thanks for joining. I know you had
a long day of practice.
[Andy] Yeah, man.
[Vick] I wanna just
go back down memory lane.
First head coaching job
in 1999 with the Philadelphia Eagles.
You take Donovan, number two overall.
With the, uh, second pick, the
Philadelphia Eagles select Donovan McNabb.
Quarterback, Syracuse University.
How did you choose Donovan?
He was the best, right?
I-I proved out that he was the best.
I knew he could handle
the city of Philadelphia,
which you and I know that takes
a little bit extra to be able to do that.
But he had the right personality
to handle it and-and do well.
[Vick] NFC Championship games,
a Super Bowl appearance,
but Donovan took a lot of heat.
You always was in his corner.
[Andy] I felt that that was important.
Our coaching staff did a great job,
and then Donovan hung tough
through it all and persevered.
Coach, Black or White, you always
had success with quarterbacks.
[Andy] I grew up in Los Angeles,
right below Dodger Stadium,
and there, color really didn't matter.
So, I wasn't hung up on all that stuff
-and didn't listen to it.
-Mmm.
It was just a matter of who could play,
who was a good person,
who would come in and handle
the locker room the right way,
-and the team the right way.
-Yeah.
[Andy] We were at a high school
where you had a mix, an influx of people.
And so, you learned at a young age
-everybody's got good
-[Vick] Yeah.
and everybody's got bad.
What it did was it eliminated color.
In 2009, you-you took the chance on me.
Risky chance.
Made a horrible mistake.
And now, I want to be part of
the solution and not the problem.
How did you influence
the front office to make that decision?
First, I thought it was the right thing to
do. You have a big heart, and I knew that.
-And sometimes things happen
-Yeah.
and we've all done stuff
that we wish we wouldn't have, right?
-Yeah.
-I thought you getting in there
with Donovan, I thought was big,
because you had a relationship there.
-Donovan was behind it 100%.
-[Vick] Yeah.
-Jeff Lurie was behind it.
-Mmm.
[Andy] And then you came
in and took care of business.
[announcer] gentlemen, introducing
Michael Vick may be the most
important Black quarterback
that the National Football League
has ever seen.
His success
revolutionized the modern game.
[Taylor] Vick was
the ultimate dual-threat weapon.
There still hasn't really been
a guy with Michael Vick's skill set.
A guy who could run and throw the ball
the way he could throw the ball.
Michael Vick's arm
was probably underrated.
He put so much pressure on
the defense because of his speed,
his incredible rocket arm,
and because of his talent.
Michael Vick, for me,
was sort of a turning point
when it comes to Black people
playing the position.
Of course, he becomes the
face of the league and cover of Madden.
He ruined Madden.
He ruined the game. The Madden game
was a fun game to play until 2004.
The quarterback with a 94 speed,
four verts, and let Vick do his work.
He gave the opportunity
for the Black quarterback
to be the cultural phenomenon that
everyone builds their franchise around.
That comes with the Nike deal,
that comes with the video games.
All the girls loved him,
Madison Avenue loved him.
That showed people
the Black quarterback is something
that can take your franchise
to the next level.
[Vick] It's always good to be back home.
Coming back home always keeps me grounded.
It always reminds me of the dream.
It started here.
Regardless if it was poverty-stricken,
regardless if it was violence,
it was just a part of me.
The toughest memories,
I would say, was times of the month,
like later in the month,
where we really didn't have no food.
Average income a month, $600.
And everybody need clothes, everybody
got to eat, everybody got an appetite.
I might need a couple
extra things for football.
But the toughest part of it
was knowing that you was in the struggle,
and watching my mom sacrifice.
But, that right there just always
fueled my fire to make it out.
As a kid growing up in areas
where there's a lot of violence,
you know, it's easy to get distracted.
But I had a dream.
I wanted to be something.
I knew that was the only way
the circumstances was going to change.
I started playing quarterback
I want to say 1992.
I was 12 years old.
One of my good friends
who was the quarterback,
he didn't show up for the first
couple days of camp, which was unusual.
And then after the third day, yeah,
my coach kinda got fed up with it.
He never showed up. Season went by.
We kinda knew what was going on.
He started selling drugs.
[sniffs] That's why he didn't show up.
Lost my quarterback, Pete, here.
Right here on this corner.
He got killed, got shot.
13 years old.
I transferred here from
Ferguson High School my junior year.
And this is where, I would say,
my game changed.
This place is so special to me
because it was this very spot,
this very area where I looked
at my friend, Andrae Harrison,
who was my receiver. I asked him
if he wanted to swap jerseys.
I just felt like I needed a change.
I needed something different.
I made the change, became super confident.
My abilities just went
from zero to a hundred.
We was winning games,
and I just had the confidence to play.
And I don't know where that came from.
Be uplifted just from
the change of a jersey number,
I felt like a star was born.
Bro, bro.
-[Marcus] What's up? How you doing?
-What's up, baby?
-Good to see you. Always love, big bro.
-Had to get Warwick's finest together.
Most definitely.
[Vick] Got my little brother,
little big brother.
He probably bigger than me.
We about to hang out and walk
through the halls of Warwick.
[Marcus] Did you think it was possible
for your dream to come true
walking these hallways
as a 16, 17, 18-year-old kid?
[Vick] Yeah, I-I knew it
was possible, but I knew
it was just a lot of obstacles and hurdles
that I was going to have to overcome.
Just playing quarterback, I was like,
"Man, this might not happen.
It might happen in another position."
Well, I felt like, and was very confident,
that you was going to go pro.
Because we used to always
sit down and watch your highlight tapes.
-We used to play it back and count
-[Vick] The shakes.
how many guys you could make
miss in a single play.
[Marcus] And sometimes,
you would make 12, 13 people miss.
And we like, "Hold on,
it's only 11 people on the field."
And it just translated to college.
And once you got there, and you made your
first run against James Madison, like
-I-I knew, bro.
-[Vick] You knew.
[commentator] Vick turning on the jets.
Look at that speed!
He's racing all the way into the end zone.
They couldn't catch him.
[Vick] The places
you come from pave the way.
The people who come before you,
they show you the way.
There was a guy who I idolized growing up.
Not just me and my friends,
but a generation of people,
a whole culture he impacted.
Brought swag to the game,
everybody wanted to be him.
He meant so much to me
in terms of how I approached the game.
-Coach P, thanks for inviting me in.
-Legend.
Legend.
-In terms of Deion Sanders
-Yeah.
swag, confidence, charismatic,
everything that you embody.
You influenced the whole culture.
I wanted to be you, my brother
wanted to everybody in the neighborhood.
And I recently found out
that you played quarterback.
The way I act with that ball,
you didn't know that?
Tell me a little bit about that.
Because obviously,
the greatest cornerback of all time
played quarterback in high school,
I think people need to hear that.
I loved quarterback, man.
Um, me and my high school coach
was so tight, I called my own plays.
-I was astute.
-He gave you the liberty.
-Yes, I was that astute
-Calling your own plays.
with the offense to call my own plays,
and I loved it. And that's why,
when I got out of the game,
I was coaching my sons
and they played quarterback.
If you had to describe your style of play
-Of quarterback?
-Yeah.
[Sanders] I wasn't Mike Vick.
-[Vick] What was it?
-I was like a microwaveable Mike Vick.
Like, you just had to warm me up.
Like, I could throw,
recovers is like crazy.
Definitely could run.
There wasn't nothing in the gun then.
-Nothing in the gun.
-Was you wearing that deuce?
I was wearing ten,
-the lowest number we had.
-[Vick] You that ten.
-Okay, all right.
-Yeah, I was-I was a dime.
First of all, do you-do you know
what you mean to me, man?
You had so much influence on people.
It's no way you could
understand at that age
how you affected all of Georgia,
in the NFL, in college kids.
Everybody, man.
When you came into the league,
what impact were you looking to make?
I was just trying to figure out,
what type of game should I play?
Should I try to be Chris Chandler?
-'Cause he was in front of me.
-[Sanders] That's right.
[Vick] I was learning from him.
Or should I just be myself?
Be you, be you.
And I went to talk to Dan Reeves
one day, and I was like,
"Coach, I'm reading all this stuff
in the paper and they saying,
'Stay in the pocket, don't get hurt.'"
He said, "I drafted you to be you."
["Can't Deny It" playing]
I became the human highlight.
Y'all can't deny it
I'ma a rider ♪
[commentator 1] Now you know
what all the excitement was about.
This guy could make
something out of nothing.
-Got skills in the trunk with me ♪
-Okay ♪
-We was on that turf.
-Yeah.
We could put on whatever pair of shoes
on you wanted to play in.
I think I played in your shoes.
[commentator 2] Touchdown,
Mike Vick! Oh, man!
I'ma be the best Mike Vick that I can be.
I made the Pro Bowl and everything.
[commentator 3]
The incomparable Mike Vick!
[Vick] Put the team on my back.
Y'all can't deny it
I'ma rider ♪
Everything is about attitude.
[commentator 4] A lot faster in real life.
[commentator 5] Uh-huh!
[commentator 4] Lot harder
than it looks on TV.
[Vick] Your belief in yourself,
your belief in you coaches,
when you hear that play call,
look, I-I got this.
And then preparation.
Because when you prepare,
you know you can play fast.
-Yeah.
-The game come easy.
[commentator 6] You have just seen
Michael Jordan of the NFL.
Yeah
Ooh ♪
What was it like for you in Atlanta?
Man, I chose Atlanta.
You got to understand that.
I chose Atlanta because I went to Atlanta
on an all-American function
when I was a senior.
That's the first time
I saw Black doctors, man.
-[Vick] Really?
-[Sanders] I saw Black policemen,
-the-the chief of police was Black.
-[Vick] Yeah.
I saw very affluent people
that were Black,
driving Benz's
and they weren't selling dope.
-Right.
-Blew my mind.
-I made up my mind right then.
-So you was thinking culture back then.
Dawg, I made up my mind right then.
This is where I need to be,
'cause I know me.
I chose Atlanta way back then,
and when they said with the fifth pick,
I was like, "Lord, thank you."
For me, I got traded the night before.
-I was going to San Diego.
-[chuckles]
The phone ring, it's my agent. He's like,
"Mike, we might be going to Atlanta."
I instantly thought this is a Black city.
-[Sanders] Yes, lord.
-[Vick] I'm a Black quarterback,
and this just might be the place to be.
-Yeah.
-[Vick] And when I got there,
I came in. I had my do-rag on.
I got my braids. Everybody embraced it.
Then I felt all the pressure.
I don't want to let this community down.
-[Sanders] Mm-hmm.
-[Vick] I'ma be myself.
I'ma work as hard as I can,
and hopefully we get some wins.
[news anchor] The Vick indictment
comes down yesterday, the aftermath today.
[Sanders] You know, oftentimes
in life we don't get second chances.
But God granted you one.
-[Vick] Thank God.
-You had to come back in Philly.
That was unbelievable.
-Yeah.
-So, what did it mean to you
to get that second chance?
First off, man, thank God. 'Cause this
is something that I prayed about.
Give me a chance to come back.
I'ma be different.
I'm not going to let anybody down.
I now know that playing in
the NFL is a privilege and not a right,
and I want to do whatever's necessary and
be the best ambassador in the community.
Ended up in Philly.
Couldn't have picked a better place.
[commentator 7] What a play by Vick.
Absolutely amazing.
Oh, is he something. Oh, is he something.
[commentator 8] Looks like Michael Vick
from the Atlanta Falcons
[Vick] Man, just having that
second chance was about
letting the next generation know
you can fall but you can get back up.
[Sanders] Man, the best moment I'd seen
didn't even happen on the field.
It was after the game.
I saw you with the family, dawg.
-Oh, yeah.
-I saw you with your wife.
I saw you with the babies.
I walked probably ten steps by you after
I greeted you and all that after the game,
and I said, "Lord, thank you."
-That was the best moment for me.
-You'll always be my biggest supporter.
Because you got I said, "He got it."
[Vick] Right now, we're at
my grandmother's grave site.
Once or twice a year,
I try to come over here.
I got a-a lot of great memories.
My dream of playing in the
National Football League started with her.
She was a Washington Redskins fan.
We watched them every week.
One day I told her,
"This is what I want to do."
And she green lit the vision.
Um, she could've easily said,
"No way, it's too farfetched."
She was a beautiful soul.
She kept our family together.
Unfortunately, my last conversation
with my grandmother,
I was telling her I was going off
to training camp
when I was going off to prison.
She was struggling
a little bit with Alzheimer's,
but she knew training camp
didn't start in November.
She put two and two together,
and it broke her heart.
And, uh, you know,
she passed away four months later.
My family means everything to me.
My life has been so beautiful
because of what God blessed me with.
People who genuinely love me, and not
afraid to tell me what I need to hear.
As opposed to what I want to hear.
Unfortunately for me, I had to go away
and spend time in prison.
Wasn't the easiest thing
in life to go through.
Fortunately for me, I had people
waiting for me on the other side.
First and foremost, my wife,
my mom, Coach Dungy, Andy Reid.
All these people who poured
into me and believed in me.
From 2007 to 2010,
when I doubted in myself,
my wife was always telling me I could do
it when I couldn't even see it in my life.
Every time I came home and I looked at
my baby girls and I looked at my son,
I knew I had a lot to live for,
and it just wasn't about football.
My grandmother always said
that she knew that I was going to make it.
She believed in my dreams.
She believed in me as a six-year-old kid.
And without her,
I don't follow that dream.
[Vick] As we rolled into a new century,
it was easy to see the future was bright.
But even in my wildest dreams I never
could've imagined where the game would go,
or how the evolution of the Black
quarterback would change the game forever.