All through the years, right to his death of pneumonia, Marlin Briscoe was called, “The Quarterback,” by quarterback legend Joe Namath. They’d see each other at some NFL reunion or social get-together and Namath would greet him with something like, “Hey, how’s The Quarterback doing?”
“He remembers,’’ Briscoe would say in relating the story. “He was there.”
Namath understood, too. He cared. So many didn’t. Briscoe always worried his history would be downsized into that of just a talented receiver, a champion on the 1972 Miami Dolphins. When I first talked to him 20 years ago, he said when he told people he was the first Black quarterback in pro football, people often looked at him blankly.
