Super Bowl Hero Williams Says Racism Is Alive And Well In NFL

NEW ORLEANS - Super Bowl hero Doug Williams, the first black quarterback ever selected in the first round of an NFL draft, says racism is alive and well in the league.

In his soon-to-be-released autobiography ``Quarterblack,'' Williams says that he learned quickly about discrimination in the NFL when he had to hold out to get a $50,000 salary for his rookie season at Tampa Bay and a five-year package worth $565,000 after establishing himself.

Two years later, the losingest franchise in NFL history won the division championship, a playoff game and then lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship game.

``I mean, we were on the verge of going from the worst team in pro sports to the Super Bowl in a matter of two years,'' he said.

In 1982, he says he was paid $120,000.

``That was the 54th-highest salary for NFL quarterbacks,'' said Williams, who five seasons later led the Washington Redskins to a Super Bowl victory. ``Everybody's backup was making more than me.''

He says when his contract came up for negotiation, he asked for five years at $600,000 a year, but was offered $400,000 a year. Bucs owner Hugh Culverhouse, he said, tried to get him to sign a $250,000 note and go into a real estate deal with him.

``He paid me like a slave, but I wasn't enough of a slave to go along with that deal,'' Williams says.

Williams said he is perplexed that no NFL team expressed interest in him after the Redskins left him unprotected in Plan B last season. When no team claimed him, he said the Redskins should have signed him and let him compete for a job.

``I can't say the Redskins didn't deserve better than Doug Williams, but I can say that Doug Williams deserved a better farewell from the Redskins,'' he said.

``The fact is, NFL teams are not going to pay a black quarterback unless he is definitely going to play,'' Williams says. ``I really thought the Redskins were above that. But even they weren't willing to pay a black quarterback to go be a backup. That's not an opinion, it's a sad fact.''

And few are willing to put a black at quarterback even as a starter, he says.

``It boils down to the fact that most NFL coaches, general managers and owners are scared of black quarterbacks or they just don't want a black man running their team, period,'' he says. ``They're afraid if they play a black quarterback and he doesn't pan out, they're going to be ridiculed by their peers.''

Williams has cautioned Philadelphia quarterback Randall Cunningham to be patient, be careful of what he says and to just let some things that irritate him slide.

``And Randall is going to learn,'' Williams says. ``If he ever falls out of grace, if he can't do the things he's capable of doing, he's going to be a black quarterback.

``Now, he's Randall Cunningham. He can do some great things. But a lot of people in the league would like to see him be a black quarterback again.''

Williams said in the book that he was ready to walk away from football when his wife died after surgery for a brain tumor. When Bill Tatham called offering him $3 million to play for the Oklahoma Outlaws in the USFL, it was a not only a good experience, Tatham was fair to him, Williams says.

Then, he said, the USFL folded, and bidding wars started for Bobby Hebert, Jim Kelly and Steve Young, none of whom had any NFL experience.

Williams had thrown for 3,396 yards and 20 touchdowns in 1980, the best statistics of his five seasons in the NFL, and had the Bucs in the playoffs three of those years.

``Twenty-eight NFL teams went to training camp in 1986. Not one offered to give me a tryout, much less a contract,'' Williams says. ``Was Doug Williams blackballed by the NFL?''

He says that when Washington finally called, Bucs general manager Phil Krueger tried to persuade Coach Joe Gibbs not to sign him.

After winning the Super Bowl with the Redskins, Williams said he was ignored by companies seeking national spokesmen - no big endorsement contracts, no advertising revenue.

``It didn't really surprise me,'' he says. ``After going through the things I've been through in my life, I understand how things work.

``I know that Doug Williams, the black quarterback, wasn't what corporate America wanted. They weren't ready for that.

``Everybody was geared up for John Elway to win the Super Bowl and shoot all the commercials. When we won the Super Bowl and I was the MVP, it kind of drove a stake through their hearts.''