Latest / NFL explained. / Hall of Famer Doug Williams talks Coach Prime and HBCUs, His Legacy, His Top 4 Current QBs

Transcript

Hall of Famer Doug Williams talks Coach Prime and HBCUs, His Legacy, His Top 4 Current QBs · NFL explained.

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: From that white thing that's behind your microphone? What is it?
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: From your strap on? Your your strap on? Right there?
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Where did that white thing right in front of you?
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Your right strap on? Right behind the mic the wind
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the windscreen. That's not behind you. It's on the door.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Oh oh yeah, sorry, it's it's my daughter's. Uh now,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know what that. That's the chair. Oh that
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  Speaker 1: the microphone sits on home. Let me get this. Sorry
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  Speaker 1: behind you. I was like, it was like right there,
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  Speaker 1: I don't see it. Oh h there goes the vein
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  Speaker 1: in the forehead. There it goes. What's going on? Everybody?
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I'm one of the hosts with the most peanuts on,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: and I got my guy who's always with me, my
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: trusty sidekick, Roman Deacon Hopper. Going on wrong? What's up? Peanut?
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: And you are the host with the most out of me?
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: And you, um, you do have more. You're older than me,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: you have more kids, I have a longer career. Your
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: house is bigger. My house is only bigger because I
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: have a basement. You live in Carolina, So y'all in Charlie,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: you don't Yeah, we don't do basis here. But thank
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: you man for the introduction. Is always man and uh,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: you want to let the people know who we got
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: on our guests? Who's our guest to Yeah, well, unfortunately
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I wasn't able to do this interview, but we have
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: the chance and honor and privilege to uh have Doug
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Williams on the show. And he was, Um, he was phenomenal.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: I know, he did an awesome job. You know, Um,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: this is what you do. You know, you're the Martha Stewart,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: You're the Barbara Walters of these interviews. Man and uh,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: just hey, how what do you think? Warrian Pressus of
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: uh Doug Mr Williams first and foremost, it was a
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: pleasure to have Doug on. Um. You gotta understand growing
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: up in a family that both parents attended HBCUs. He
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: is part of the Mount Rushmore. I know we like
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: to always ask our guests who's on their Mount Rushmore.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: He was one of those. Uh he Eddie Robinson, Jerry Rice,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Walter Payton. The list can go on and on. But
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Doug Williams being the first African American quarterback to lead
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: a Super Bowl team, Uh, he kind of talked to
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: some of his experience with that. The things that he
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: still holds onto this day and actually him working on
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: a day to day basis with the President of the
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Washington Commanders, Jason Wright, who formerly of a football player
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: NFL player himself now as the president. It's just amazing
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: to see those things and share some of those stories,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: his aspirations, how he ended up at Grambling one of
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: the best stories I've ever heard. Um So, peanut, man,
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  Speaker 1: it was. It was an honor and it really meant
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: a lot to have him on. Yeah, all right, Well,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: without further ado, man, I'm I'm ready to listen to us.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: So let's uh, what's gonna listen to this thing? All right?
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: We got Mr Doug Williams here, and I just let's
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: just jump right into it. Doug, I'm seeing you with
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: your Washington Commander shirt on, seeing you in your office
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: right now, filling the blank. My life right now is
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: my life right now. I'm gonna say it's good, you know,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: you know with I got two girls now that in
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: high school playing basketball and come to work every day
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: for the Washington Commanders. Man, you can't be in a
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: better situation than that I am in the day. So
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: I feel pretty good. Okay, we're good, man. Well I'm
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: glad you're feeling good. I gotta be honest with you.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: I was a little nervous doing this. So, Doug, you
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: were growing up My parents both went to and graduated
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: from Alabama State University, so I grew up going to
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: all the games, attending everything. And it's like, you know,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: the goat level of of where you're at. And according
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: to HBCU, like Lord is real, you're up there with
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: you know, it's you, Steve McNair and like Jerry Rice,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: like you are d Man. So so thank you for
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: joining us today. Man, it really means the world to me.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: And uh, I know you've had a lot of second acts.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: You know, you're high school coach, you coach at your
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: old alma mater, your college alma Marty Grandmar State, and
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: now with the NFL executive, with the Bucks and Commanders.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Why is it been important for you to stay connected
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: to the game for all these years? Well, you know
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: football has been good to me Roman and um, it's
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  Speaker 1: hard not to want to still be a part of
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  Speaker 1: it and get back if you've got an opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: do that, and that's what I've been able to do.
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  Speaker 1: And thankful to football from a college level. Of high
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: school and the professional rank, you know, just to still
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  Speaker 1: be in it in itself. To me, it's a it's
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  Speaker 1: it's something that a lot of people, uh didn't have
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  Speaker 1: a chance to do. And I'm just glad and thankful
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  Speaker 1: that I got a chance to do that. But not
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  Speaker 1: only just be here, but to be able to get back,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: you know, being and working for the National Football League
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: and working for the Washington Commanders still give me an
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to give back to HBCU. You from a time
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: standpoint and what I do and what we've been doing,
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  Speaker 1: Me and James Harris, Jack Harris that he is, you know,
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  Speaker 1: it's it's it's a blessing. It's like your main stay,
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  Speaker 1: your main focuser sometimes and you know when you're always
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: trying to develop these programs in your thought processes, is
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: it always trying to help to give back to the
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: h b c U. It's like a trickle down fact.
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  Speaker 1: Or think I was fortunate um number one going to
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  Speaker 1: Gramlin and and being coached by a guy by name
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: of Eddie Robinson, you know, blessed. So I think I
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: was fortunate enough to be able to be around a
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  Speaker 1: man for five years with a red shirt year and
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  Speaker 1: saw what he did for for h b c U
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  Speaker 1: and Grahamling and giving back and what he always talked
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: about what it meant to him, Um, you know, watching
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: young guys grow up and and being able to go
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  Speaker 1: out in America and support themselves, support the family and
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: things like that. So I always felt it was always
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: my my duty to give back, no matter where I
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: am to to UH institute and the other institution that
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: allowed me an opportunity to do what I did, And
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: it's it's such a great feeling when we can do
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: that and then get back and you can see these
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: young guys getting the opportunity. Um, you know, some of
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: them might like a legacy boat, some of them might
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: play the last football game, but the fact of the matters,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: we gave him that opportunity. That's a good feeling that dance,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: and that's why I do what I do. And Shock
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: and Harrison now we talked every day about the things
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: that we've been able to do from the h b
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: c U standpoint, Like do they actually come up and
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: thank you personally for that because or they don't even
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: realize that and you probably don't even want the kudos.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: You know that it's not something we look for, but
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: it's always good to hear. But we was fortuning last
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: last year. Um a bunch of guys after it was
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: old with man they were so thankful for being able
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: to play in the Legacy Boat, which they wouldn't have
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: never got a chance to do. We all know it's
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: gonna be two or three guys, maybe four guys from
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: hbc U. They get a chance playing other All Star
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Games and maybe go to comeback. But for the masses
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: of you know, we had a hundred guys with both teams.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: For the masses, they would never get that opportunity. So
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  Speaker 1: a lot of them are so thankful to do that.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: And you know, we got we got some help from
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: some guys like Jamie Western, you know, and and and
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Um Umstead Um Patrick Mahome. He came down to the game,
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  Speaker 1: you know, and itself says a lot about who he
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  Speaker 1: is as a person and what what he I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to do is help people, and you know, it was
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: it was a great thing. Nice. So so let's talk
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: about kind of what are your second acts like right now?
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  Speaker 1: What you're doing. So you're working with Jason right as
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  Speaker 1: a senior advisor, and so I want to know, give
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: me a little bit of info. Was just insight on
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  Speaker 1: how's that relationship and what do you provide for Jason
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  Speaker 1: in that role. I think for Jason, you know, being
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  Speaker 1: the first you know now that they're there three, but
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  Speaker 1: being the first African American as a president of National
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Football League, I think says a lot. And Uh, what
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Jason did was come in and diversified this whole auganization
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  Speaker 1: from from that side of the ball. And I thought
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: that in itself was great. You know, men, women, black, Latino,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: lb G, t Q, you name it. There wasn't no
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  Speaker 1: holdback on who he had. He was looking for the
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: best people to do the job. And he came in
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  Speaker 1: and did that. And and every every week or so,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: you know, myself and and three other people we sat
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: down and meeting with Jason, and we talked about things
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  Speaker 1: that is happening in the city, around the city and
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: and things that we do like for Sweet Owners and
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: and all other people. You know, we show up and
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: kind of like I'm kind of like a sounding board
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: for Jason. You know, you always asking me something and
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  Speaker 1: I tell him, you know, the field and the things
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: that are going on and what the people are saying
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: and the things that you might have to defend and
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: things like that. So that's that's basically what I do.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: And it's not a bad situation because I never knew,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: you know, being a player and being on the personnel side,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: these kind of things I didn't even know existed. You know,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: I knew you had people doing certain jobs, but there's
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: so much, man, so many fans and the people involved.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: You know, it's it's it's amazing some of the things
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: you hear. And you know what else is amazing is
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: that for as long as you playball, you never knew
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: how many other people it takes to make something really work.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: That's that's that's the thing that give me. We got
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: so many people work on his side, and you know,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: being in in in the building on the personnel side,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: you didn't get a chance to see that. On this side. Man,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: it is truly a lot of people who work in
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: football that you had no idea working football, which which
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: I think is great because you give other people who
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: are not players, who are not coaches, trainers, whatever, and
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: the opportunity to work for the NFL team. You know,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: that is what I try, and I aside so many
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: of our young people in today's uh society with that,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: you know, they have these goals and aspirations, but their
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: only goals too. You gotta play in the NFL, you
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: gotta play in the NBA, you gotta play in the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: w n b A. Instead of saying like you know,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: it's a lot of job, it's way more jobs working
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: with those or those companies and with those shields than
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: it is actually on the field in front of the camera.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: So it's you can still be parts and achieve your
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: goal and be a part of something great like the NFL,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: and that's just as much fun and get the same
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: ring without the same bad kneeds, you know, and what
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: and and that is true. You know, I'm fortunate of
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: my you know, my son actually as assistant coach with
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: the Saints, and I got a daughter who works for
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: I hate to say, it's the people in Dallas. You know,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: she works for the Cowboy And you know what, they
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: love it. You know, he loved coaching, she loved working
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: on the other side and in the in the community
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: and stuff like that. Man, it's a blessing for me
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: to see them work because I know what the NFL
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: has done for me and what to do for a
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: whole lot of people is give them an opportunity to
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: to to work and something that they love being around. Now, Doug,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: given the fact that you are a trailblazer yourself for
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: playing quarterback, when of the first African American quarterback, I
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: think you're the first one to win the Super Bowl
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: if I believe right. And then from there, like I
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: know it has to be you're a little bit proud
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: and you gotta take some kind of pride in working
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: with Jason is he was the first African American president
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: And like, like you said, you I'm a sound board,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: but inside personally, how does that really make you feel?
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Working with him? Like, man, every time we do something right,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: this is another step in the right direction for for people.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: You know, what's the most important thing? In fact? Number one,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Jason played football. Yeah, that's that's the other point. I
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: don't even know that didn't even some years in in
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: the in the NFL was to me. You know, he
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: kind of understand the language that you don't have to
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: speak as a player on that fraternity that comes together
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: as a player. So it's a lot easier for me
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: because you know, Jason give me respect just like I
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: give him respect. I think at the end of the day,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: it's about two guys who played in the league that
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: can communicate and they understand what what what what is
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: being said and what you're talking about. And the respect
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: is that because we were both was players. That's really
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: cool though, and you know what, it is an unspeaking
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: language and respect has always earned, never given. So uh,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: it really means a lot to hear that he was
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: also a former player, you know, and continues to divvy
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: out power. How is that? Does he just all right,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: you're good at this, you go do it. You're good
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: at this, you go do that, and then we all
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: come back and report to each other. No, no, you
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: know what sitting back number one And like I said,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't understand this side of the corn
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: of the ball who president standpoint, Jason has done an
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: excellent job of finding out what it takes to to
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: run organization on this side, you know, Ron Handle's football,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Jason handing all the business side. And for a guy
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: to transition out of being a player to what Jason doing,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: you know, to me, you know, it opens my eyesight
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: as it takes all this and Jason has done that,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: and you know all the fashion and you know around
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: here in Washington that there's a lot of fires that
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: has to be put out. And Jason for some reason,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: team like the fire department a lot of time because
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: he's putting out a lot of fires. But he also
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: bringing in a lot of things that make this organization
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: a good organization with a lot of people don't see
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: at this time, but I think if they look at
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: what is transpired in the last two or three years, Uh,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: you got to attribute that to to what Jason Wright
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: has done. I would agree with you on that. I'm
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: not gonna even ask you about all those fires he's
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: putting out personally, I'm not gonna ask that, but we'll
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: keep it moving. Just know they could google that for
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: all the listeners. You can google that. Okay. Earlier earlier
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: this year, the team created, Uh, Doug Williams Diversity Coaching Fellowship.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: What is that program? And uh, what do you want
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: to see come out of it? Well, you know, the
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: NFL UM had a director that every team in the
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: National Football League has to bring in a young minority
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: intern to to work with the quarterbacks and on that
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: side of the ball. Because you know, one of the
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: things that we found out from from coaches and offensive
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: coordinators and quarterback coaches there's not a many of them
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: in the National Football League and they're not gonna get
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: there if you know, if you just depend on the
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: coaches who get jobs hiding people, that's the worst thing
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: that has happened. And what the NFL is doing now,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: they're making it possible for that to happen. You bring
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: in a minority um guy to work in the quarterback
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: and what Ron did here was created Doug Williams minority internship.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: And what what I did personally compared to what other
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: people did, they brought in a minority. I brought in
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: a minority from h b c U. The guy that
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: comes with with my internship gonna always be from my
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: h b c U. And making sure that they get
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: somebody from HBC to come in and and work with
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: with the coaches, the quarterback, the offensive coordinator, the head
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: coach on a professional level, so they may want to
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: be able to learn as much as they could then
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: get an opportunity to coach in the nash Football League,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: to be the quarterback coach, uh to be an offensive coordinator,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: and eventually hopefully to be a head coach. Okay, So,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: like I said earlier, any chance you get, you're gonna
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: take it all the way back down to to where
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: it really started at for you. And now I love
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: that personal touch that you put on everything that you do. Doug, Um,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: just a little bit about Robert Vera. He was my
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: coach at the Carolina Panthers. I love that man. He's
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: a great person, a great heart. Um. I saw that
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: he lost his mom more recently, so shout out to him.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Prayers up for him and his family everything he's going through.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: But Ron is another guy who literally tries to go
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: out of the way to make sure diversity is included
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: in everything that he does. Him growing up the way
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: that he did, being a Mexican American football player that
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: he is, he wears that on his chest and he
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: doesn't shy away from it because you may be talking
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: about that and maybe his experiences and what he's shared
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: with you, and and and he and he doesn't shy
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: away from it. And he's the one who came to me,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: and you know he's send his his administrative system. He said, coach,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: want to see you. So I went down and you know,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: I had no idea I knew they had to do it,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: but they haven't no idea what he had in mind.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: And I think it's also you're talking about a coach
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: who's played the game, you know, played against Ron and
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: all that, and there was a respect that he had
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: for me. And he said, Hey, this is what we're
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: gonna do. We're gonna we're gonna have any time. We're
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: gonna name the Doug Williams Interimpship Fellowship. You know, I said, okay.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: He said, it's gonna be a quarterback whatever, and we're
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: gonna give you a chance to get all of the
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: amazing and and you read them. You you go over
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: and then we picked three guys, we bring them in,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: we interview them, and we go from there and lo
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: and behold, man, that was That was a great experience
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: being in that position. And now you've got a fellowship
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: name after Doug william which I think, to me, I
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: say a lot about Ron and his organization to respect
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: that Doug william It's not that I'm in Zachary, Louisiana
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: anywhere I await from it. I'm here for them to
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: do that while I'm here. I think it's one of
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: those situations when they say, give you your roses? Why
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: they Yeah, I think that's what's happening. Man. That's beautiful though.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: And and so Doug, you never had a I mean
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: probably outside of Eddie Robinson back in your days at
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Grandma State, you never had a black quarterbacks coach. How
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: important or what do you think that feels like when
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: you maybe as a young African American coach or or
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: or minority player, for you to have a coach or
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: somebody that maybe looks like you know, maybe has done
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: some things that have some life experiences or do you
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: not think that it's important at all? But let me
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: say that I think I think, to be honest with you,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: I think the National Football League, Uh, it's really missing it.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: You know what what a man of color does for
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: a lot of the players that are in the locker room.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: I was just reading the article. I forgot I hadn't
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: finished reading it. How many teams in this league has
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: never had a minority coach? And some situations, you know,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: you see them rehash and bring guys back to this
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: team and that team or what happened. But in some
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: organization it's meant for African American coach to be the coach,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: then they don't the owners don't don't feel it, and
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: most of the owners, a lot of owners don't hid
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: to coach. They got head hunters or whatever who picked
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: the coach. And you know, I'm not gonna get into
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: how that that happens or whatever, but there's so many
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: teams out there. I feel that I'm missing the boat.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: And then when you got a young African American quarter back,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: YE say, it isn't and I don't care who hears it.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: If you got a young African Mariican quarterback and then
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: you got a black quarterback coach somewhere, it's more than
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: exces and over from it's it's it's it's not just
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: exce and old. It's being able to communicate and comfortable
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: communicating with that individual because that's gonna be some things
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: that come up during the season. Uh that's personally in
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: the nature that might be affecting his play, is that
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: he can talk to somebody else who looked like him,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: who understand him a little more than the guy who's
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: really coaching him. I think they're missing it, missing that opportunity.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: And well said, I don't even wanna try and diminish
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: your words. By that because you've been in that seat,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: you've played that position, you know exactly what it's like.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: And I'm just glad that you yourself along with Ron,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: are trying to push that, push that narrative to a
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: different place now that you know, we want to see
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: more African American quarterback coaches, not just offensive because people
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: don't understand that. They think, oh, man, you just get
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: a coach? Is this But I'm like, no, Actually, the
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: hiring process, the way they do it, it starts right
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: there in that quarterback room all the time, all the time.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: So those are the little back channels that we don't know,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: and more fans should hear about and really get to
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: know and experience a little bit more when you really
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: do it a deep dive into the NFL locker room
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: and upstairs activities. All right. Another one of your second
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: acts is your support for HPU h P c U S,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: which we've talked about three or four different times today already.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: When you think of your legacy, how much do you
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: want that to be a part of it or is
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: it all of it? Well? I think you know, whatever,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: you know, they always say that, um, between the time
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: you're born the time you died as a dash that
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: should speak for you, what what what you've done? And
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: I can't sit here and say what what that dash says.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: I think it's the people that you dealt with in life,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: and the people who know what you've done is the
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: person the people who's feeling that dash. And I can't
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: say here what I want my legacy to be. I'm
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: fortunate up. You know, I got eight kids and they
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: all know what I do, and they all proud of
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: me what I've done and keep doing so I think
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, they would be the
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: one to feel in that dash, along with a lot
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: of other people. You know what, Doug, I'm gonna saying, yes,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: it would all right. I knew about this man from
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: from his playing days, and not only that, but he
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: was the first to go out there and do it
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: and to win at the highest level where a lot
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: of African Americans could not play quarterback at the time.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: They would move you to dB or play tre at
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: wide receivers somewhere else. So I would go out there
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: and said it was you, It was Eddie Robinson and
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: for me, Stephen Nearro, Jay Rice. Those are my top
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: guys that came from HBCU is watching it, growing up
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: in it. And so Mr Doug, I will tell you that.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: I know you don't want to call you Mr. But Doug,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you it's gonna be on there. All right,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: there we go, alright, there we go, no doubt. So
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: when you created the Black House Football Hall of Fame
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: back in two thousand on which first of all, I
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: want you to tell me that process. How did that
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: come about? Did you envision like it would be such
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: a monumental success, like like, how could you imagine it
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: from going to nothing toil all of a sudden boom
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: where we are well, you know, couldn't. I couldn't see
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: back in two thousand nine where we are today. Let
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: me see. Let me tell exactly how it all started.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: James Harrison. No, we we had a foundation, Williams and
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Harris Foundation. And when Hurricane could trine a king, a
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: lot of kids were moved from New Orleans and all
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: different kinds of places and Shreeport, Louisiana. They moved a
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: bunch of kids. And what me and and James did
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: we we gave a hundred kids. Were a hundred kids
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: that have been moved on New or up at street Port,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: and we gave him all a during the Christmas time
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: a hundred dollars gifts certificate that could only be spent
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: on either kids clothes or tours, which that eliminate the
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: older people using that to get his thing they want,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: so when they went to the casher and that's the
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: only only thing you can get with kids closed. And
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: we we kept the foundation going. We we did UH tournaments.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: We raised money for for single women who was like
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: in their senior year college they was gonna graduate. We
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: made sure their last semester tuitione was paid. We gave
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: them all UH laptops and things like that. We did
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: that a lot. But it was this report and then
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, as as I traveled and James
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: traveled to certain tournaments and UM chair of Events and
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: raising money to do other things. So we decided to
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: do that and I went to Hawaii to June Jones,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: who who was doing the benefit over there to play
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: this golf tom and I came back and I said,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna stop in l A because James Harris was
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: in l A for a few days. And the guy
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: that ran June Jones Found Nation was over there, and
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: I asked him when he stopped in l A with
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: me and we sat down with James Harris, so he
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: came over. We went to breakfast that morning, and we
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: pitched the Black College Football Hall of Fame to him.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Now you're talking about the white guy that lives in
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: in the in Las Vegas. You don't know nothing about
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: hbc You have no idea. But we tried to tell
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: him how many guys that have gone on to to
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: HBCU that was great players and that had never gotten recognized.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: How many Black College Football Hall of Famers in the
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: NFL that was already there that still had not gotten
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: all the flowers. And he he said, well, look, let's
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: let's talk about this again in the morning. And that
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: morning he woke up, he came me, so I got it.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: So we sat down and from that they owned. The
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Black College Football Hall of Fame was was born and
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Arthur Blank, Arthur Blank and and and John P. R
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: a payment system in Atlanta. You know, I got always
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: get those guy's credit because what the Blank was was
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: one of our biggest monster along with John pr. And.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: It says a lot about the author Blak because he
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: saw vision and the first three times we had the
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: event in the in Atlanta. We had a different hotels
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: at that time because we was were trying to extand
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: it ourselves. A blank came to all three and he
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: sat there after one of them the first one was over.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: You know, he sat there and I went to thank
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: him for for his support, and he told me, he said,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: I could say here all night and look at the video.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: He said, I had no idea these guys went to
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: h b c U and and and that is true
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: because a lot of people don't know a lot of
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: guys that are playing the National Football League that the
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: NFL Hall of Famers and things like that had gone
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: to h b c U. And now we gotten to
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: the point nine where we still have the dealer, but
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: we have it at the College Football Hall of Fame
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: in Atlanta, but we're gonna be housed in can't Ohire,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: which to me, that was the thing that that the
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: straw that broke the camera back was to be able
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: to be in can know how you as the Football League,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: UH Dave Baker, who was who was the exacting director
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: of the Hall of Fame at one time, UH called
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: me and shack On. We was on the three way
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: and he didn't want to. Asked us, had we thought
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: about moving in the housing part of the Black College
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Football Hall of Fame to Canton and that was no way.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: That was a no brainer. I said, oh yeah, before
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: he even got it out of his mouth, gonna be
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: in Canadon. As you know, they're doing a whole lot
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: of um working. Canon re refromised the whole thing, and
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: we're gonna be housed there. And the reason he decided
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: to do that because the history, the history of HBCU.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: He said, it's so important to the National Football League
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: and football as a whole that he felt like it
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: was only great to be housed in. Can't know how
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: you I didn't know that it got housed in Canada, Ohio,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: and that just has to be. It's really cool to say,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: like I had this one vision to take us through
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: that whole story, and now this is what we got
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: and to be able to recognize all these great players.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: I was just on earlier one of our producers, Thomas Warren,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: talking about how many of the NFL greats all went
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: to hbc USED in the sixties and early seventies, like
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: that was the only place you could get recognized. Walter
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Payton came out I think in in in the seventy
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: five draft. I think m hm. In that draft, Jackson
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: State had nine players that were drafted had eight. So
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: kind of tell you where where all of the black
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: guys went to school was? Was that in the squat comforts?
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: You know, when you think about Jackson State Roberts, Walter Payton,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: and Jackie Slayter, that's not talking about all other players.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: All those guys was on that same team in nineteen
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: seventy four. Well, I got an opportunity to play against
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: as as a freshman at Grammar. You know, so just
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: think about what they did for the National Football League
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: playing days coming from h b c U. So that
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: was a lot of history that has never still hadn't
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: been recognized, you know, for for what they've done h
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: in the National Football League and what they did as
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: a college player at the h b c U. So
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: how much pride do you take now that it's in
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: Kent Man. You know, it's kind of take your breath
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: away because what it does, what I'm here or not,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: I may be going on, it's gonna always be the
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: h b c U Black College Football Hall of fame,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: and it's gonna be able to recognize the guys that
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: a lot of us didn't know, but they family and
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: all other people around knew that they went to those
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: colleges and they getting recognized. Now, that's what you call
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: giving guys flowers. Some mother still here, some of them
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: are going on, but they get flowers before they leave.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: That's that's so critical though, you know, and for them,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: not only for them, but then also their their families.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: That's the most important thing. Their family man get a
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: chance to recognize as that whoever my uncle, my dad
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: and my cousin or whatever what he did at that institution. Yeah,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: I love that. Thanks stuff for sharing all that with us,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: all right, So how do we maintain this wave of
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: recognition and support for that HBCUs, especially how much they've
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: gotten over the last three or four years, So it's
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: not just a flash in the pan, but something that
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: really sticks and stays for a long time. That's that's
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: an interesting um dynamic, you know. And and let me
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: say it is and go back to the d ndon
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: going to Jackson State brough so much buildibility to HBCUs.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: And the most important thing here that I've I've said
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: this that what if Dion get a job at a
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Power five scouse. Hopefully he does because he deserved. Do
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: we still keep that buildability it doesn't leave and go
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: with Dion. That's that's a that's a great course. And
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: hopefully the people who support HBCU doing the last a
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: couple of years with Dion would continue to do that.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: And we have to graduate of HBCU. We got to
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: do the same thing. Yeah, And I think that's the
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: most important part of his whole situation is the one
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: that's the alumni. The alumni has to continue to keep
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: up with it. And my mom and dad talked about
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: that all the time, trying to continue to support Alabama
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: State the way that they do, whether it's behind the suite,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: always showing up for different alumni events. You gotta show
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: up and you gotta show up in your wallet too, man.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: That's so important. Yeah. And the visibility part, I want
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: to see how do we keep that going because it's
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: not just Dion. Dion is his own thing. Dion has
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: a brand. He has a brand. I mean he's prime time.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: That he is prime time and he's been that way
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: as a coach. He's coach prime and you know, he's
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: on commercials with Nick Saban, so he's there. And how
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: do we continue to carry this thing? We don't lose it.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: We don't want to go backwards. I know we've got
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Eddie George and and um what was the former coordinator
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: for the Bengals and we got you got edit At
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Robinson in Alabama State right now, Eddie Robinson in Alabama State.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: He was really good too, you know, and that was great.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: I know he kind here in deon cats a little words,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean. He ain't swack, but um,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: trust me, my family was highly involved in all this day.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: They have their own emotions about it. I think any
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: sometimes any drama is good for TV, so it's good.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: But um, how do we continue to not lose this
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: and go backwards? Well, number one, I think we got
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: to be real with ourselves and I am um. And
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: like you said about d Dion, from the day Dion
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: stepped in the NFL, he's been prime time and that's
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: not gonna change. And I mind for who he is
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: and what he's done. But we all know the disibility
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: in Jackson, Mississippi. It's because of DNA. You know, Jackson
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: has benefitting from it. Don't get me wrong, jack Stated
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: been benefiting from it. But and that's why I actually
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: if he leaves there, where would it go? So we
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: got to be true to ourselves and understand that we
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: as guys of the latest, whoever who graduated from hbc
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: you got to be the one that help HBCU carry
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: on without a prime time because as long as prime there,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: they're gonna get the busibility. You know, think about it,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: how many how many ex athletes that he brought into
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Jackson State that don't happen an eery every other school.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: You know, Michael Strahan, you got Troy Aikman, you You've
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: got everybody who stopped in the Jackson but nobody stopped
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: in the Houston, Texas Southern, nobody stopped in Huntsville, Alabama,
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: nobody up in Mississippi Valley. You know. But but how
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: we get that to spread around to HBCU. It's the
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: most important thing. Yeah, And I don't have that answer,
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: but it's so true. I mean, he got Mike Zimber
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: working for him as like, and I'm like, zim is
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: a what it's almost unfair you said it, but it's true. Um,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: It's it's such a weird thing, but it's so not
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: weird because of who we're talking about, and that's Dion
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Sanders and and coach prom has done an amazing job.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: I hope this continues, this wave of love and visibility
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: continues to spread amongst the HBCUs and so um, I
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: gotta tell you this. So for a kid from Zachary, Louisiana,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: which I don't even know what that is exactly, is
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: it closer to street for it you played in New Orleans?
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: Let me tell you where it's. That is, right, I
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: do know what bad ruge ruge. That's not far at
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: all you talking about Zachary Baker Baton Rouge. We right there.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: I didn't even know that. That's how some it must be.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: That small. It's one of those pounds that at one
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: point it's grown a lot since the Hurricane Katrina. That's
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: got his own school system. Now zach got it. It
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: broke away from East Batman's parents, but it was so
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: small they had welcome to zachar and and come again
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: on the same side. That's how small. When I was young,
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: we had one caution like that's sounds like my dad's
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: hoped own. Oh man, that's hilarious. Okay from zach Louisiana.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: You come a long way when you say just give
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: me an overall synopsis is like that's you know, when
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: we won the Super Bowl here in eighty seventh season,
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: I went to the White House and I was standing
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: up there with President Reagan, and the one word I
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: said to myself, I said, it's a long ways from
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: Zachary Louisiana to be on stage with the President of
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: the United States. Man. And the good part about it,
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: it's um. We talked about it all the time, me
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: and Shock. We always talked about the road that was
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: less traveled, how how we both got a chance to
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: get to a point where we were being successful in
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: National Football League, and all the things that you had
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: to endure and how you get there and no matter
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: how many times you got knocked down. Coach Robber used
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: to always tell us, it ain't nobody getting knocked down.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: It's about getting up every time. It's getting up off
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: the turk. And and I think about that and and
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: and all the things that we had to go through
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: during the Civil rights time and all that that never
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: bothered me. I didn't. I didn't realize until I got
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: older what what that really was and you look back
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: on it. But as an athlete, you know, you involved
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: in athletics and playing baseball, football, all that in high
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: school alway to college, a lot of things didn't even
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: didn't even hit you, didn't even resonate. And then you
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: realize what so many other people was dealing with and
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: you there with and didn't know what was happening, you know,
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: and and always come back to with. My dad used
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: to always say, it's water up under the bridge, so
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: I never looked at it and took into hard when
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: somebody say something about me. And like when I was
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: playing National Football League, that was so many commentators man
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: made derogatory statements and things like that because they never
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: seen a black quarterback and and they couldn't get used
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: to it. I know what I was in Tample. Every
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: article you know that was written was either Doug Williams,
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Tampa's black quarterback, Tampa Bay's black quarterback. You know, so
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: because they never got used to it, which todaytime does
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: a look different. Nobody to talk about the color of
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: the quarterback. Now it's it's about the quarterback. And like
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: I told him, in the next five, six or ten years,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: half of this league gonna be black quarterbacks, you know
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: when you look at it realistically, So nobody worried about that.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: That adgect that right now don't even resonate. It's the
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: person who's in those positions. And I'm glad to be
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: able to come through all that to get to this
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: point that that's what it's all about. Nine. It's not
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: about the color of your skin. It's the character and
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: what not. You can play the position. And so when
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: you look back on all that, like, do you appreciate
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: it now? Because when you're going through it, you don't
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: never appreciate the good old days like you never do,
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: you know what, I appreciate it more than ever at
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: this stage, At this stage, I do because I remember
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: playing little league baseball. I was looking at the picture
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: of the day of me playing little league baseball and
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: all the things I had to come through I played.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: I was me and the guy named Sherman Floyd was
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: the first two guys to integrate. And this is the shame,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: the shame part about it. My oldest brother was our
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: coach to integrate American Legion Baseball in in nineteen seventy
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: three in Baton Rouge Louisiana. We were the first two
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: blacks they would play American Legion baseball. And we played
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: the game out in Dnn's frame. And and I know
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: you played in New Orleans, but you might not understand
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: what Dyn's frame was. That's where David Duke, the Grand
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: Dragon lived. The frame about thirty miles thirty four miles
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: from my hometown. And we had to play out that
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: one night. And you know, we're only two blacks in
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: the statement, and my dad was probably the only black
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: in the stand and my brothers only black coature. And
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: some of the words and some of the things that
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: were saying back then, and and you know, my brother
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: and the dug Alas always said, don't worry about it, Doug,
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: just just show them what you are who you are,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: you know. And I went up and had a cup
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: of triples and a doubling thing like that. And he
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: always told me to say, they didn't call you whatever
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: you want, but you don't look at it that way.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: You just play your game. And I learned to be
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: able to overcome things like that at an early age man,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: and I think it helped me to where I am today. Well,
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Doug is clearly has been watered under the bridge for you,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: and it's clearly shown that all of that has done
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: is allowed you to continue to grow and be above
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: it all man. And it's a it's a pleasure to
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: have been sent down and listen to all these answers.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: So we gotta pay some bills. That always says, we
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: gotta pay these bills. And we will take a break
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: real quick, and uh, we'll be back with more. Doug Williams,
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: thank you. This last little segment here, we just got
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: like a whole bunch of questions. We just first come like,
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: whatever comes to your mind, throw it out there. That's
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: what we like to do, put you on the hot
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: seat for a second and see how it goes. Are
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: you ready? Yeah, all right? What? All right? I can't
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: wait for this answer. What are you too? Or Three
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: favorite quarterbacks to watching today's game? Quarterback? Yeah, wow, Lamar Jackson,
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: without a doubt, I agree that he is. Lamar Jackson
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: would would be one of my one of my favorite quarterbacks.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Just what he does and the fact that people say
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: he he shouldn't be a quarterback, he should be a
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: wide receiver or whatever. And you know, last I check quarterbacks,
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: I've charged with throwing TV passes and he and he
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: does that. Yeah, you know, the kid was blessed with
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: so much talent that people can't really see because it's
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: talent over takes what they look at. That so Lamar
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: Jackson would be there and the key it up in
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: Buffalo Joles Alan Man, he played the game whe I
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: don't give a damn attitude. Yeah, I think that's the way.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: That's the way it should be played with with I
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: don't give a damn attitude. I played a win, and
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: I think that's that's the most important thing. And you know,
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: I gotta say this. I know is he's always been
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: around a long time. But Tom Brady, you know, to me,
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: I know they hadn't played well all over the last
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: few weeks, but just watching him from a fundamental standpoint,
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: it's very sudden that he does anything wrong when he's
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: throwing the ball, his partial and everything, it's always the
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: same thing. Fundamentally. I like Tom Brady as as as
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: the guy man. So those are three guys that for me,
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: I love looking at. But there's a lot of guys
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: around you know that I like looking at it. Patrick
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: m On what he's saying, I mean the other night.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: I'm still trying to figure out. You know, you give him,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: you get a minute and thirty five second on the clock,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: and he gives you twenty five seconds back to me.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: And he does it all the time. It is not
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: an accident, that's the thing about it. It ain't accidental.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: This is this is a routine. You know, if you're
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: playing Patrick, you got a chance to score to win
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: and he's down by six, you know you let the
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: clock run out. Man, don't school yeah, because it ain't
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: good for you. It's crazy that that's how it's become.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: But it really, he really is become that good, unbelievable.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: A quarterback that you mentioned that I would probably hate
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: playing against is definitely Josh Allen because his ability to
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: be able to throw the ball that way. He does.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: But he's like six two thirty and trying to run
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: over people all the time. That's that's what I'm saying.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: He don't play You don't play the game with no
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: constion as a quarterback. You don't have caution in his head. No,
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: you don't understand. He's the quarterback they can't afford to
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: lose you no care. No, he's trying to run you
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: over and jump over you. They're running quarterback sweets. I'm
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: like this next level of quarterback play. I agree. I
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: think the NFL is in such a good place when
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: it comes to young quarterbacks in this NFL right now.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: It's just it's a lot of star power, lots and
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: lots of lot at that position. Thank you for that,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: al right. Next question, what's the biggest thrill getting into
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame yourself or creating a Black college
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: football Hall of Fame. Well, to be honest with you,
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: creating this this black college football Hall of Fame. You know,
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: getting into getting into the Hall of Fame is out
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: of my hand, out of my control. I can't do
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: anything about that point. But but but what we're doing
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: is that is creating the Black college Football Hall of Fame.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: I can put my hands in that. So for for me,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: that's what it's all about it this particular time, man.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: You know, making sure people that deserve an opportunity to
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: be in here get their flower. That that's and and
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: it's not about me. It's about making sure that they
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: get what they deserve. Yeah, I love that, And I
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: knew you would say that though as soon as you
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: know as We've had this conversation because how much pride
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: you take into that whole thing? And the story was awesome,
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: so uh it was really worth it? All right? How
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: much money with Doug Williams command in today's NFL? All right,
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: we got top five quarterback contracts? Okay, all right? Number
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: one Patrick Mahomes four d fifty million, Josh Allen is
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: at two hundred fifty eight million, Russell Wilson two hundred
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: forty five million, Kyler Murray to thirty and a half,
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: and Deshaun Watson two hundred thirty million with about another
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: forty six million a average. All right, Doug, throw yourself
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: in that hat. Where are you at? Where? How much
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: you think you would need? All let me say that
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: I was born too soon. I tell my son that
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: all the time. Man, it's amazing where where this is gone?
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: And I do believe you know if I was in
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: this time? Uh, in the offensive the guys played in
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: Remember I played in Tampa five years and you wouldn't
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: you You might not remember, but we had two backs
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: and tight end and two wideouts and wild I got
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: down with on the three point stand that and we
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: was running the ball right left pitch right, So all
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: these innovative offense today, if I had not had an
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: opportunity to play in those type offense, I would probably
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: be in those numbers. And there is no doubt in
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: about it. You know, Josh, Josh Allen plays a little
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: bit like me. I played a little I was playing
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: a little bit like Josh, you know, because what I
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: did was made sure we was in position to win.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: You know, I didn't believe in taking sacks. I would
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: throw the ball the way I did think that would
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: help the team. And I think at the end of
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: the day, I would have been somewhere in those numbers,
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: you know, Doug, I tell myself that all the time.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: I like to I blame my parents if I was
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: born like like literally eight years later, like I've been
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: a totally different like level, totally different level. It's crazy.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: The contracts. And one of my former teammates when I
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: first got in the league, he told me said, look,
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: hopefully you're blessed and get play. You get to play
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: long enough. When you get your first big deal, you're
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: gonna love your numbers. And you played long enough. When
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: you see somebody sign for that, like their signing bonus
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: is gonna be bigger than your whole contract. That's what
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: happens for me. I mean, the guy at the bottom
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: of the total bold. Oh that's so good and so true.
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: The money y'all were making back the crazy. Okay, all right,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: last question here, and this is something we asked every
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: one of our guests on here, and you gotta understand
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: it's only four. So who is on your personal amount Rushmore?
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: I would I would have to say my my first
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: three are gonna be my mom and dad and Robinson
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: and my oldest brother. There is I love that personal touch,
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: people that have really been with you since day one,
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: and I ain't ain't no doubt about it. You know,
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: It's nothing else I can say when you talk about
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: rush my mom more Rushmore, what people mean to you
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: that that's me, that's those four people at that mean
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: in the world of me. Well, well, thanks for that,
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: Doug Man. I appreciate that. Here's one more personal question.
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: I want to know, um, what was it like to
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: be recruited by Eddie Robinson. Let me tell you how
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: that happened, though, Okay, like anybody, let me tell me.
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: You know, and you know in nineteen seventy three black
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: quarterbacks wouldn't running really playing in the SEC. The only
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: be one and they only been one black quarterback in
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: the SEC, and that was Kendrick Halloween, Tennessee and even
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: the s w C with Texas and all that one
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: no black quarterback. So I was I was only recruited
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: went to a small school up in Zacharidge to be
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: in high school. Recruited by Jackson State, Southern University, Graham
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: and Mrs Valley Tennessee State. In Jackson there was there
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: was my teams that recruited me. And being from being
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: from Zachary, Southern Version on twenty minutes from my house.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: So I really wanted to go to Southern because I
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: felt like it would give my parents an opportunity to
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: come to the game, you know, and Coach Rob at
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: that time you would know him think about this. But
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: we had a party line on our telephone, tweet party
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: on our line. So Coach I called the house late
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: one night about twelve o'clock and so I'm sleep and
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: he talked to my mom, and my mom came in
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: and she woke me up. She said, hey, you going
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: to Grammar. She said, you're going to ground And I said,
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: why do you say that. She said, I just got
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: off the phone with Coach Robinson and he said, you're
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: gonna go to class, you're gonna go to church, and
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: you're gonna graduate. And that's the best decision my mama.
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: So so so Doug Wills his whole career, he had
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: nothing to do with, like your mama can't won't you up?
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: Said you go, you go on to Gramlin and then
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: that's the that's then is going true. Then you respect
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: your parents. She said, you're going what you're gonna do?
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: You going, You're going. That's that's so good because as
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: I was going through my recruit process, my mom told me, look,
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: I need you to stay in the state of Alabama
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: because your brother just went to Troy. So this you
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: can just cut all the other stuff out, Like it's
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: all these other schools here, you just pick one. You're good.
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, do what your mama saying, right,
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: that's save thing. I'm all right, hey, no argument. I mean,
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: that's great that that's how you ended up at gramm
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: the State University. I hope more people here this because
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: that's why you gotta listen to your mama. Right there,
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: Mama knows man Thanks, Doug. Well, I'm gonna let you
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: get up out of here. Man, it's been a pleasure.
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: It's been an honor having you on today on the
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: NFL Players Second Acts Podcast. Thank you so much, Doug
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: Williamson to appreciate you for stopping about. Thanks for having
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: men appreciate you wrong. You did the thing on that one.
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: Thanks Dog. That was that was awesome. That was That
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: might have been one of your best ones right there.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: That was That was Oprah. You've graduated from Barbara to Oprah.
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: That was at Oprah quality right there. You know what
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: I'm saying. That was. That was a good one, you know,
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: opin that. I appreciate that, man, and really meant the
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: world for for Doug to kind of stop by. We
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: did miss you on that one. Just your your charisma,
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: just being right on time as always, but just no, man,
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: it meant the world for him to come out here.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: And also the timing of it, literally talking about Doug
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: going into the aspects of being leading HBCUs into the
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: next era, understanding that the urgency that HBCUs need to
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: work with right now, understanding that Dion was not gonna
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: be there forever and long behold He's hired to Colorado
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: seven days later before we run off. It's crazy, it's
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: awesome too. We should celebrate it. Not everybody should be angry.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: That's what Doug talked about taking upon ourselves to continue
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: to grow this game. We can't depend on one sole
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: person to do it. It was never gonna work that way,
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: So hats off to him and hats off to everybody
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: that will continue to push this thing forward. Now, thank
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: you guys for all those listeners out there to tuning in.
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: Ask you to spread the word and to give us
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: a rating and review and to follow on Apple podcast,
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, or wherever you get your podcast.
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much. We out of here.