Black College Football HOF finds home in Canton
Jarrett Bell
Decades since earning Super Bowl MVP honors as the first African-American quarterback to start in the NFL’s signature title game, Doug Williams is playing a key role in a new partnership that will establish a permanent home for the Black College Football Hall of Fame on the grounds of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
It’s fitting. Williams and James Harris, a fellow Grambling alum with a distinct historical footprint of his own, founded the Black College Football Hall in 2009. In an alliance announced last week, they achieved a major goal in finding a facility to showcase honorees who made their mark at historically black colleges and universities (HBCU).
“This is so important,” Williams told USA TODAY Sports. “If our history isn’t preserved, it won’t be there. James and I have talked about that, and how so many guys have been unrecognized.”
The Hall-within-a-Hall will be another component of a significant expansion and revitalization of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in the midst of a $500 million development that includes a refurbished Tom Benson Stadium and ambitious Hall of Fame Village to be anchored by a hotel and conference center.
The Black College Hall is expected to be unveiled by 2019. Beyond that, the partnership will include educational programs, traveling exhibits, internships for graduates from HBCU institutions and ultimately a showcase Hall of Fame game for black college teams.
“With the makeover of the Hall (in Canton), it became a no-brainer to add our history to that,” said Williams, now a personnel executive for Washington, the franchise he led to Super Bowl XXII glory.
Harris, by the way, was the first African-American quarterback enlisted as a full-time starter in pro football (1969, Buffalo Bills) and first to earn a Pro Bowl nod (1975, Los Angeles Rams).