All by way of the years, proper to his loss of life of pneumonia, Marlin Briscoe was referred to as, “The Quarterback,” by quarterback legend Joe Namath. They’d see one another at some NFL reunion or social get-together and Namath would greet him with one thing like, “Hey, how’s The Quarterback doing?”
“He remembers,’ Briscoe would say in relating the story. “He was there.”
Namath understood, too. He cared. So many didn’t. Briscoe at all times apprehensive his historical past can be downsized into that of only a gifted receiver, a champion on the 1972 Miami Dolphins. When I first talked to him 20 years in the past, he mentioned when he instructed folks he was the primary Black quarterback in professional soccer, folks usually checked out him blankly.
“I believed you have been a receiver,’ they’d say.
That’s a part of his uncooked and actual story that ended together with his latest loss of life at 76 in Norwalk, California. Fortunately, the Dolphins are on the appropriate aspect of historical past right here, as a result of when Briscoe arrived at coaching camp in 1972 after being traded from Buffalo he studied his new workforce and had one phrase.
“Finally,’ he mentioned, like an awesome search was over.
Finally, he discovered a professional workforce the place Black and white gamers, the place coaches and workforce administration — the place everybody was pointed towards successful. And solely successful. He wasn’t positive one did till that time.
His professional profession began in 1968 with the AFL’s Denver Broncos transferring him to cornerback. He mentioned he’d play the place if coach Lou Saban gave him a three-day tryout at quarterback. Briscoe was a quarterback all his life. Youth soccer. High faculty.
At his hometown University of Omaha-Nebraska, Briscoe’s play earned the nickname, “The Magician.” He figured to win the professionals over together with his expertise and dedication, too. He obtained the promised three practices at quarterback and instantly was moved to cornerback.
“I got no chance,’ he said. “They didn’t want a Black quarterback. No team did at that time.”
Denver’s offense didn’t rating a landing its first three video games that 12 months. It was down two touchdowns within the fourth quarter of the subsequent recreation when its two quarterbacks have been damage. Briscoe was all of the sudden inserted at instructed quarterback. He threw a landing and led a field-goal drive that ultimate quarter.
He began the remainder of the 12 months. His 14 touchdowns (towards 13 interceptions) stay a Denver rookie document. Considering he had no coaching camp and a nasty workforce, he thought-about it a good begin. He then obtained a name from a buddy that offseason. Saban was assembly with the workforce’s different quarterbacks to develop them.
“I used to be blindsided,’ he mentioned.
He drove to Denver, confronted Saban and was instructed he wasn’t a quarterback anymore. Was it expertise? Race? Need? Briscoe helps you to resolve. He demanded his launch and wrote each workforce to present him an opportunity a quarterback.
Buffalo needed him as a receiver. With no different choices, he studied Paul Warfield and Lance Alworth that first season in 1969. He led AFC receivers in 1970 in receptions and yards. The subsequent jolt of his profession got here after main Buffalo receivers in touchdowns for a second straight season in 1971.
Saban was named Buffalo’s coach.
“That was the top of the street for me there,’ he mentioned.
Don Shula obtained him for a first-round decide. Briscoe performed together with his receiving mentor in Warfield. He slot in on a workforce that gained two titles. He had a number of productive years with the Dolphins and moved on to different groups earlier than his profession resulted in 1977.
As he tells it, a chunk of him was damaged by soccer, although. He by no means obtained over not taking part in quarterback. He developed a drug downside and hawked his Super Bowl rings. His mocking nickname on the Los Angeles streets he lived these years was, “17-0″ for the undefeated season.
Briscoe rediscovered his manner and recommended on the Boys & Girls Club in Los Angeles. Something good occurred as he aged, too. More folks remembered. Omaha honored him.
He grew to become a part of a non-profit group of black quarterbacks referred to as Field Generals Inc. Nike put him in a tv industrial at a fictitious Marlin Briscoe High School (Shula wore a faculty shirt studying, “Briscoe Night Hawks.”)
It was an extended arc from being the primary Black quarterback in professional soccer to truly being remembered as that. But Briscoe’s story wasn’t erased as he as soon as feared. By the time of his loss of life, it wasn’t simply Namath calling him a quarterback. It was headlines throughout the nation.
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com