Sport: Beyond The Game, a Champion

• Share

(2 of 2)

Suddenly Williams was on the Wheaties box. His first flash commercial took place right on the sidelines ("Where are you going now, Doug?" "I'm going to Disney World"). Really, the initial stop was the White House, followed shortly by Washington's Howard University. He went there as a way of reaching back to Grambling, to Alcorn State, to South Carolina State, to Texas Southern. He said, "I am a product of all black universities and colleges."

Williams' coach at Grambling, Legendary Eddie Robinson, 68, was present in San Diego. He is the winningest college football coach in history, probably the best of all the black coaches the N.F.L. has never hired. Beginning with the great Green Bay Defensive End Willie Davis, "Coach Rob" has been supplying Super Bowl stars since Game I. But James Harris, a decade ago, and Williams were the first quarterbacks he constructed in such a way that no one could convert them to defensive backs. So painstaking were their preparations back in Louisiana, they had even practiced a few times with a microphone.

Now that Williams is permanently fixed in dreams to come, the practice will help. Being a role model requires more than just good instincts; it takes balance and thoughtfulness. Williams seems to have the goods. He understands the score, but bitterness is not his style. As a boy, his favorite baseball player was Dodger Pitcher Don Drysdale. "Why?" he repeated a question, ignoring the questioner's point. "Because he could really throw. ((Drysdale is white.)) I can remember going to see the Dodgers play for the first time and being so disappointed that Sandy Koufax was pitching. Why? He's left- handed."

Graceful throwers and speakers are already following Williams, among them Syracuse Quarterback Don McPherson, who told the Los Angeles Times, "He's not helping an issue, he's helping people. And the people he is helping are not black, but white." That was the best line of the Super Bowl.