Tampa Bay Bucs to honor Doug Williams

Former Grambling State quarterback and head coach Doug Williams will be placed in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Ring of Honor. Williams, 59, currently works as a personnel executive with Washington. As a player, he led Washington to a 42-10 victory over Denver in Super Bowl XXII, becoming the first African-American starting quarterback to win an NFL title, and was named the game’s most valuable player.

 Williams was drafted by Tampa Bay with the 17th overall pick in the 1978 NFL Draft and took over a Bucs team that was 2-26 before his arrival and led it to the playoffs three times, including an appearance in the NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams in 1979. He completed 895 of 1,890 passes (47.4 percent) for 12,648 yards, 73 touchdowns and 73 interceptions during his five seasons with Tampa Bay, but the statistics belied his value to the franchise in terms of leadership.

Williams became the head football coach at Grambling in 1998, succeeding the legendary Eddie Robinson. He led the Tigers to three consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference titles from 2000–2002, before leaving to rejoin Tampa Bay as a personnel executive. Williams joins former Bucs’ tight end Jimmie Giles out of Alcorn State in the Ring. His name will adorn Raymond James Stadium after a ceremony during a regular-season game in 2015.