Joe Gilliam
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No. 17
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| Quarterback | |||||||||
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Personal information
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| Date of birth: December 29, 1950 | |||||||||
| Place of birth: Charleston, West Virginia, U.S. | |||||||||
| Date of death: December 25, 1999 (aged 48) | |||||||||
| Place of death: Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. | |||||||||
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Career information
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| College: Tennessee State | |||||||||
| NFL Draft: 1972 / Round: 11 / Pick: 273 | |||||||||
| Debuted in 1972 | |||||||||
| Last played in 1983 | |||||||||
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Career history
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Career highlights and awards
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Career NFL statistics
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Joseph Gilliam, Jr. (December 29, 1950 – December 25, 2000) was an American football player.
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Biography [edit]
Joe Gilliam was born in Charleston, West Virginia, and was the third of four children of Ruth and Joe Gilliam, Sr.
Gilliam grew up on the campus of Tennessee A&I State University (renamed Tennessee State University in 1968). His father was a defensive coordinator at TSU.
The younger Gilliam displayed his own athletic abilities at a young age, beginning at Nashville’s Washington Junior high School, where he participated in tumbling, track, and basketball. In 1966, he became the starting quarterback at Pearl High School and led the squad when they played in the city’s first season of integrated football. Gilliam kept close to the Tiger football team by serving as a ball boy.[1]
Gilliam Jr.'s daughter Is R&B Singer Joi. His ex son-in-law is rapper Big Gipp of the Goodie Mob.
Career [edit]
Gilliam was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1972 in the 11th round after a college football career at Tennessee State University where he was a two-time All-American. He became the Steelers' starting quarterback in 1974. Prior to that season, Steelers head coach Chuck Noll stated that the starting quarterback position was "wide open" between Terry Bradshaw, Gilliam, and Terry Hanratty. Gilliam outperformed the other two in the 1974 pre-season and coach Noll named Gilliam the starting quarterback. He thus became the first African American quarterback to start a season opener after the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. After Pittsburgh head coach Noll suspected that the pioneering signal caller was involved in drug activity, Gilliam lost the job when Bradshaw was chosen to lead the team after the first six games of the season. The Steelers, who were 4-1-1 at the time, went on to win the first of four Super Bowl championships with Bradshaw at the helm of the offense. "He gave me my job back," Bradshaw told sportscaster James Brown on a February 2000 edition of HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. "It's not like I beat him out." Gilliam was out of the National Football League at the culmination of the 1975 season, as the team repeated as champions in Super Bowl X. He battled cocaine and alcohol addiction on and off over the next several years, and even ended up living in a cardboard box under a bridge for two years. Gilliam was also arrested in New Orleans in 1976 for possession of a gun and cocaine.[2]
In 1979 Gilliam returned to football, playing quarterback for the semi-pro Baltimore Eagles in the Atlantic Football Conference. His season was disrupted when he was the victim of an attack by four men, who dragged him out of his parked car and repeatedly hit him on the head.[3] Gilliam returned to football in 1981, playing quarterback for the semi-pro New Orleans Blue Knights of the Dixie Football League. In 1983, Gilliam attempted a comeback to pro football in the United States Football League with the Washington Federals. He did not have much success and retired from the sport for good after that season. In 1986, Joe Gilliam was inducted into the American Football Association's Semi Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Gilliam ran a football camp in Nashville at times. He earned the nickname "Jefferson Street Joe" for the boulevard that runs by Tennessee State University in Nashville.[2]
On December 25, 2000, Gilliam died of a heart attack shortly after watching an NFL game between the Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Titans. He had been sober for four years prior to his death and was able to attend the final Steelers game at Three Rivers Stadium.
References [edit]
- ^ [1] , Joe Gilliam Jr. Had athletic leadership skills, The African American Registry. Last Accessed September 27, 2007
- ^ "Gilliam to USFL". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. March 22 1983. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
- ^ "Joe Gilliam beaten". Pittsburgh Press. August 21 1979. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
External links [edit]
- Joe Gilliam Jr at African American Registry
- Gilliam paved the way for black quarterbacks in the NFL
- American Football Association
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