Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon used to enter a football stadium and hear boos. But after entering the NFL and earning nine Pro Bowl selections, the days of resistance to an African-American quarterback were long gone.
I never saw Warren Moon as a black quarterback. To me, he was a quarterback and a damn great one. It's almost a crime that he never got to a Super Bowl.
Warren doesn't mind that he never won a Super Bowl. He has said in interviews that even if he did win a Super Bowl, it would not have felt as special to him as when he won his first Grey Cup. The real crime is that because he's black, the NFL wanted him to play WR or DB. Canada doesn't have such stupid ideas and he played for five years in the CFL, just lighting it up. He played for the aptly-named Eskimos in the CFL's coldest city, Edmonton, Alberta. Funny how the coldest cities in both leagues have football teams that look almost identical to each other. So, five seasons of his career played NOT in the NFL because no team at the time would draft a black QB. Is it any wonder that the mural at Warren Moon's Cookies has Canadian flags on it? He was making a political statement.
@@mcdonoghrahloh459 And he was in Washington and Seattle had a chance to take him but took Jim Zorn instead then replaced him with Dave Krieg and neither of them are in Canton.
@@AvroBellow Moon had the idea of position switch thrown at him while in high school.He was recruited by ARIZONA ST then they recruited a WHITE QB and asked Moon to switch to DB but he steadfastly refused to play defensive back.
***** Well, technically he got one as a member of the seahawks organization last year. That's right, Russell Wilson won Warren Moon a championship ring.
One of the great what-ifs of NFL history is "What if Warren Moon had spent his whole career in the NFL?" He's in both the NFL and CFL Halls of Fame, and if you put his numbers from the two leagues together, he would own many or most of the major QB records. One of the greatest of all time, even without a SB ring.
Most beautiful Spiral: Warren Moon. Ugliest Spiral: Joe Kapp..... Warren Moon was the Anti Joe Willie Namath... Stupid ass Vikings for NOT taking him early in his career because he's black. Al Davis said it best: "I don't give a fuck if you're from the planet Neptune, if you can play Football, & win for me, welcome aboard mate." EVERYBODY in Oakland was EQUAL. That's why I grew to love Al Davis.
the most underrated quarterback in NFL history he has numbers with the best of them and should have even better numbers if he was allowed to play in the NFL from day one ....nobody talks about moon and it's sad just imagine if he got to play in the NFL from day one .... his numbers would be even better and he would be up there with all of them even though he's still already is despite missing years because he was black and wasn't allowed to play in the league
You don't go to nine Pro Bowls, and get inducted into the Hall of Fame, by being "underrated." If any quarterback is underrated, it's Jim Plunkett. He led his team to, not one, but two Super Bowl victories (and was named MVP in one of those games), yet three decades after retiring he's still not in the HoF.
If Gary Anderson had not missed the kick of his life in the 1998 NFC championship game, the Vikings would have gone to -- and very likely won -- the Super Bowl. But he did miss it, and I'm convinced that that fact alone is what has kept Cunningham out of the HoF, thus far.
Warren Moon was one best Quarter backs of all time. top 10. one of the reasons why he never won a superbowl is Houston ran the run and shoot. good offense to run up points, but it's biggest flaw was clock management.
Eric Bowers you don't know what you're talking about.If the Oilers play ANY defense in the playoff games 91-93 they win.Don't blame it on an offensive scheme you're unfamiliar with.
It's amazing that this guy wasn't even drafted. All the scouts who looked at him and dismissed him ought to be lined up and pelted with rotten tomatoes.
+ZhangtheGreat In '90 Randall Cunningham&Moon made history as the first black QBs to finish 1st and 2nd in the NFL in td passes something that we should all remember!!!!!!!!!! That game in which Moon threw for 527 yds ex- Kansas City Chief HC Marty Schottenheimer made that possible being physical in a pre game meeting.
Dwight Love I'm aware of the "blacks can't play QB" stigma that hung around for a long time, and I'm sure it played a significant part in why no one drafted him...which is even more reason those scouts should be doused in slime.
ZhangtheGreat Moon also said that ppl doubted him because they felt he was not big enough to play QB as well.Yes those scouts were probably somewhere contemplaiting suicide after seeing that 527 yd performance he laid on the Chiefs!!!!!!!!!
It's no wonder he was so successful in the NFL. He started in the CFL - quarterback heaven! Longer, wider field and bigger pass windows. Only three downs so you have to throw! He played on a power-house team that dominated the league for 5 seasons. Moon was a thrilling player during his time in Edmonton! He learned how to throw a slightly more complicated ball - the J5V - so when he went to Houston people were astounded at his power. If you start in the CFL then move south, you do better as a quarterback. Jeff Garcia and Doug Flutie both did well there after being successful in the CFL. There has never been any colour barrier there - the CFL has always had black quarterbacks. If they could think, scramble and throw, then they played.
Yes, we were sure lucky football fans in Edmonton as he quarter-backed the Eskimos for 10 yrs. He gave us so many great memories over the years. His arm was magical. Amazing skills...
The big thing that Moon doesn't get recognized enough for is how he was the catalyst towards the realization that African American QBs had the capacity both in terms of intelligence and intangibles than any of the white QBs because there was certainly no doubt about his physical talents. However, that view of an African American being a successful NFL QB was so far-fetched that Moon had to go to CFL to play QB because no NFL GM thought he was worth even drafting despite leading Washington to the Rose Bowl and being Rose Bowl MVP. If it wasn't for guys like Warren Moon, who knows how much longer it would have been until that color barrier was broken at the QB position.
Scott Woods Doug Williams of the Washington Redskins(my team)won the 1987-88 Superbowl throwing 4 out of the 5 tuchdowns beating Denver,he was the first black QB to play in and win the Superbowl,he is one of the best to play the game...HTTR.
Yeah Doug had a great postseason run, but he never had a Pro Bowl season (Moon had 9 of those). I am not saying that Williams wasn't a worthy NFL QB, but it was clear that there's a pretty good gap between him and Moon when it comes to talent and consistent play at the QB position. One does have to wonder, would Moon trade his career for Williams's career just to have that one elusive Super Bowl though?
Holycow 8498 That miserable pos Hugh Culverhouse refused to pay him wgat he was worth. So Doug left and the Bucs went to the cellar....for the next decade!!
Warren Moon suffered from the same problem Dan Marino had. Stuck on and had to carry mediocre teams all of those years with no running game or worthwhile Defense. The Late 80's Oilers were mediocre.
Much respect to Daddy Moon. People dramatize Aaron Rodgers dropping 23 picks to the Packers or Tom Brady picked 199th overall, here is the true man among them, from 5x champion in Canada to all-pro in the 🇺🇸
If Warren Moon had been allowed to play for the oilers in 1978 when he would have originally been drafted, the Oilers would have won the Superbowl. WHY? Because they also had a good defense and Earl Campbell as running back. I think the team in 1978-79 was a good QB away from beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC championship game.
As a Calgary Stampeder fan it says volumes when I state that I could not hate him. He was just too good. Calgary always fielded a championship quality team but we could never get past Moon in the west final. Tom Wilkinson was Edmonton's veteran QB when Warren broke into the league. Tom would get so frustrated with the Canadian media as he was being mentioned as the guy who mentored Warren Moon. His retort was, "Did I teach him to throw a 70 yard beautiful spiral?"
He was outplayed by Elway and Montana who were probably better than Moon. Moon matched up evenly with former Run-N-Shoot gunslinger Kelly, but lost to him. Moon destroyed the Kelly-less Bills, but the Oilers, including Moon, blew that Bills game big time.
One of my favorite all-time QBs and this coming from a lifelong Steeler fan. Prettiest ball I've ever seen and one hell of a QB. I'd go to war with Moon any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
I remember seeing him as a Seahawk in the late nineties, it was my first NFL game. Kinda sad that they skipped over his last years in the league. I love listening to him do the play by play on the radio for the Seahawks, I'm glad we got to keep him.
Most beautiful Spiral: Warren Moon. Ugliest Spiral: Joe Kapp..... Warren Moon was the Anti Joe Willie Namath... Stupid ass Vikings for NOT taking him early in his career because he's black. Al Davis said it best: "I don't give a fuck if you're from the planet Neptune, if you can play Football, & win for me, welcome aboard mate." EVERYBODY in Oakland was EQUAL. That's why I grew to love Al Davis.
Most beautiful Spiral: Warren Moon. Ugliest Spiral: Joe Kapp..... Warren Moon was the Anti Joe Willie Namath... Stupid ass Vikings for NOT taking him early in his career because he's black. Al Davis said it best: "I don't give a fuck if you're from the planet Neptune, if you can play Football, & win for me, welcome aboard mate." EVERYBODY in Oakland was EQUAL. That's why I grew to love Al Davis.
You see how calm and poised he was in the pocket at 4:54. A lot of QB's either dont feel the pressure there and get sacked, due to no internal clock ringing in their head. Or they get antsy and start looking around them, trying to dump off or make a move to an on the run platform through. You can see there, he feels the pressure, subtly moves a step in the pocket, continues his read despite pressure on both sides bearing down. No concern at all, he's going to make the throw count. That's the type of play that can seperate good QB's at any level. The understanding there of his protection, his reads, is huge.
Randall Denison there are plenty of white running backs and receivers in the league and majority or the general managers and owners are white. They are the ones who do the drafting. Mccafery for the Panthers, Thelin for the Vikings are two of the best at their position. Do your research.
+Brandon Bailey It's all subjective because football is not an individual sport. Everybody relies on somebody. That's why I don't put the same emphasis on rings as most people.
@@Dontdoittoyoself exactly, some QB's just get the unlucky end of the stick and have to carry the team, some like Brady get lucky and end up with an organization with stable management that knows how to scout talent
AntiSchiff That's an insane statistic. I can only imagine what would have been if he had been drafted and handed to someone like Bill Walsh as a rookie. They might have renamed the Lombardi trophy after him by now.
Oh wow and yes! The thing is, the black man doesn't suppose to be great and effective at the most high rank, as same as with POTUS, catch my drift! Call me crazy, but I think it was something behind Superbowl 49 & 50, that kept Russell Wilson from getting a second Lombardi trophy being a black QB and then Cam Newton would've made it to be back to back Superbowls with black QB's winning! Just a theory now. Then even with Superbowl 51, it was something fishy about that, how the Falcons high powered offense couldn't score any more in the fourth quarter and wasn't focused on running the damn ball!
Doug Williams, Super Bowl XXII MVP!!! :) Washington Redskins 340 passing yards and 4 touchdowns ............GDCO? Take your racist victimization out of here, please.
It wasn't bigotry. There's was 28 teams in 1978 (the year Moon entered the Draft). Doug Williams was the the only QB drafted in the 1st round in 1978. And get this.. HE'S BLACK! He also lead the Redskins to a Super Bowl and WON against John Elway and was SB MVP. A lot of players played in these smaller leagues. Kurt Warner (AFL), Jim Kelly (USFL), Moon. etc I was an Oilers fan and had a Moon jersey, posters, even got my helmet signed by him. The Comeback is still a bitter memory for me when I was 12 years old. I burned all of my Oilers memorabilia that night.
I ❤ ed all those JOHN ELWAY Vs WARREN MOON Battles in the NFL Playoffs!!! Nothing but Respect for both of these Fine Gentlemen with Rocket Launcher Arms.
He will always be The King of The Houston Oilers. I will say this till the day I die. When Adams released Warren, the Oilers died with him. He should have retired in Houston and the Oilers never leaving town.
I simply admire this man. It is because of him that I learned the game and became passionate about it. He is the greatest quarterback ever, in my eyes, and always will be! Thank you Warren, for teaching me that dedication does pay off!
Expanga He's raw and too early to judge him but he can improvise and Gronk didn't play that game so he wasn't throwing much. hey played it safe knowing he was a 3rd string rookie and I understand that. My problem is a lot of these guys are not allowed to get better at QB. It's almost a damn joke. So many white QB suck but they get to stay until they have enough weapons until they look good.
RGIII, Donovan McNabb, Jameis Winston, Michael Vick, Randall Cunningham, Kordell Stewart (sort of), Antwaan Randle-El (sort of), Tyrod Taylor, Jamarcus Russell (unfortunately), Josh Freeman, Cam Newton, Russell Wilson (blackish), Colin Kaepernick (blackish), Dak Prescott, Teddy Bridgewater, Geno Smith, Vince Young, Charlie Batch, Tavaris Jackson, Seneca Wallace, and probably a lot of others I didn't think of.
Bud Adams, the owner, made the Houston spend a ton of money renovating that Astrodome, then turned around and said that he didn't want that -- just a few years after the money was spent on upgrades -- he wanted a whole new stadium. He bilked taxpayers millions of dollars and then drew a line in the sand less then 10 years later, saying if they didn't build him a brand new everything, he was going to leave. People in Houston hated his ass.
Grateful to grow up with this guy, played on the same peewee Pop Warner team in L.A., we were the Baldwin Hills Trojans, he was always a QB I was a right guard on offense one of the first people to block for him. Played with him again in college for the West L.A. College Oilers, he took us to the Western Stae Conference Champion Title. Booyahhhh
At the time, they should've built the team around Moon. Same goes for the Oilers Defense. If they had a strong Defense, Moon would've probably had 2 Rings.
Attended the same High School as him but several years before he was there. I'm a Titan fan due to Mariota and Mr. Moon also makes me a fan. Great player and person.
