Marlin Briscoe, Pioneering Black Quarterback, Dies at 76

Marlin Briscoe, a pioneering scrambling quarterback who needed to overcome prejudice towards Black athletes taking part in that place in the course of the Nineteen Sixties, and who later gained two Tremendous Bowl rings as a large receiver with the Miami Dolphins, died on Monday in Norwalk, Calif., exterior Los Angeles. He was 76.

His daughter Angela Marriott stated the reason for his demise, in a hospital, was pneumonia. She stated he had been having circulation issues in his legs.

Briscoe made professional soccer historical past in 1968, throughout his rookie yr with the Denver Broncos, when he turned the primary Black participant to start out at quarterback within the Tremendous Bowl period. Although he had starred at quarterback in school, many coaches on the time believed that Black gamers had been incapable of dealing with the complexity of that place.

Briscoe went on to set a group rookie file by tossing 14 touchdowns for the Broncos (one fewer that yr than Joe Namath of the New York Jets), when Denver was a part of the American Soccer League. He performed in 11 video games that season, beginning 5, and ran for 308 yards and three scores.

Briscoe was referred to as the Magician, and his versatility as a passer and runner was a harbinger of the Black quarterbacks to come back.

“He was born too quickly,” Doug Williams, the primary Black quarterback to start out and win a Tremendous Bowl, stated in a cellphone interview. Williams, who led the Washington Redskins (now Commanders) to a 42-10 rout over Denver in Tremendous Bowl XXII, capping the 1987 season, and was voted the sport’s most beneficial participant, stated that Briscoe was a forerunner of the fashionable Black quarterback.

“He was Michael Vick earlier than there was Michael Vick,” Williams stated. “He was Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson all tied up in a single.”

Regardless of Briscoe’s achievements, the biases of the time stored him from taking part in quarterback previous his rookie season. He stated that Lou Saban, the Broncos’ head coach, compelled him out as quarterback with out an evidence earlier than the 1969 season. After asking to be launched, Briscoe joined the Buffalo Payments, the place he switched to large receiver and rapidly discovered the brand new place.

“All I needed was an opportunity to showcase my expertise,” he informed The New York Occasions in 2014. “It was a mirror of what the ’60s had been about, significantly within the African American neighborhood. We stated, ‘No, that is what we would like,’ so it was simpler for me. If it had been within the ’50s, no manner on the planet would I’ve achieved that. However I grew up in the appropriate time to precise myself.”

Briscoe performed three seasons in Buffalo and had his greatest yr in 1970, when he caught 57 passes for 1,036 yards and eight touchdowns and was chosen for the Professional Bowl.

In 1972 he joined the Miami Dolphins, who had misplaced in Tremendous Bowl VI the earlier season. The Dolphins had been a run-first group and already had two established receivers in Paul Warfield and Howard Twilley, so Briscoe’s statistics declined.

However the Dolphins accomplished the N.F.L.’s solely excellent season after they gained Tremendous Bowl VII, they usually repeated as champions for the 1973 season. Briscoe later performed for the Detroit Lions, the San Diego Chargers and the New England Patriots.

Marlin Oliver Briscoe Jr. was born on Sept. 10, 1945, in Oakland, Calif. His mother and father, Marlin and Geneva Briscoe, moved to Omaha when he was younger. Raised by his mom, who labored in a college cafeteria, he grew up in a multiethnic housing venture that sat within the shadow of a meat packing plant and that produced different sports activities stars, amongst them Bob Gibson and Gale Sayers.

Briscoe performed soccer on the Municipal College of Omaha (now the College of Nebraska Omaha), and although he was comparatively small at 5-foot-10 and 175 kilos, he was a wonderful passer and runner and a pure chief. As a quarterback he set 22 college information, together with for passing yards (5,114) and touchdowns (53).

He was chosen by the Broncos within the 14th spherical of the professional soccer draft in 1968, however the group meant to make use of him as a defensive again.

Briscoe understood how troublesome it will be to alter his coach’s thoughts. He informed Saban that he would signal as a defensive again if Saban gave him a tryout as a quarterback throughout coaching camp, in entrance of followers and reporters. He needed to reveal his expertise.

“I feel they only did it to pacify me,” he informed The Los Angeles Occasions in 2000. “I knew that the powers that be in 1968 could be afraid of a Black quarterback.”

Saban performed down Briscoe’s throwing and working expertise, Briscoe stated, and dispatched him to work with the defensive backs.

Nonetheless, Briscoe stated, he had let individuals know that “a Black man may suppose and throw.”

A hamstring damage stored him from taking part in early within the season, however on Sept. 29, with Saban immediately discovering himself in want of a quarterback, Briscoe was referred to as to fill in for the struggling starter, Jim Leclair, and Briscoe practically led the group to a comeback victory over the Boston (now New England) Patriots.

Saban supplied solely a lukewarm evaluation of the efficiency, however the subsequent week Briscoe however turned the primary Black beginning quarterback in A.F.L. historical past, towards the Cincinnati Bengals; he was changed within the second half by Steve Tensi in a 10-7 victory.

In considered one of his greatest video games, towards the Dolphins on Oct. 27, Briscoe took over for Tensi, after Tensi had thrown three interceptions, and rallied the Broncos to a 21-14 win. He had two dashing touchdowns, together with one which put the Broncos in entrance for good.

For the 5-9 Broncos, Briscoe handed for 1,589 yards, threw 13 interceptions and had a 2-3 file as a starter.

After his taking part in profession, he turned a monetary dealer, however within the late Seventies he turned hooked on cocaine. Within the subsequent decade he lived on the streets for some time; was kidnapped by drug sellers, who tossed him out of a automotive in a dispute over a drug debt; and gave his Tremendous Bowl rings to a banker for collateral on a mortgage. (The banker bought them.)

On Jan. 31, 1988, Briscoe was serving a jail sentence for drug possession when he watched Williams lead Washington to victory in Tremendous Bowl XXII.

“I used to be in a darkish place,” Briscoe informed the web site The Undefeated (now Andscape) in 2016. “What occurred — it value me lots. However I felt I used to be part of what Doug did. I felt like what I did all these years in the past helped Doug.”

After he stopped utilizing medication, Briscoe had a storage enterprise and labored for a Boys & Women Membership within the Los Angeles space as a fund-raiser and assistant venture supervisor.

Along with his daughter Angela, he’s survived by one other daughter, Rebecca Briscoe. He was married and divorced 3 times.