[DT58HOF]

The history of the NFL is filled with stories of black quarterbacks in college being converted into defensive backs or receivers upon turning pro, largely because of myths that they lacked the leadership skills, the smarts, or some combination thereof.
Time and achievement have whittled away at those thoughts, but how many persist in 2005? Is being a black quarterback no longer a big deal?
"This is history being made," McNabb said here this week, speaking of having faced Atlanta's Michael Vick in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 23, the first time two African American quarterbacks had met for a conference title. "I'm surprised more people didn't want to talk about it."
McNabb then alluded to the small number of African American starting quarterbacks in the NFL (five of 32 teams started black quarterbacks at the end of the season). "People don't want to touch that, and I don't know why," he said.
At times in his career, McNabb has appeared to want to highlight race, but other times he has not. Discussing the topic means pointing to the growth of black quarterbacks (McNabb, Vick and Minnesota's Daunte Culpepper all made the Pro Bowl this season) but also possibly opening up wounds in a delicate subject.
Some Eagles see McNabb walking the fine line of a diplomat.
"He does everything with class," Blake said. "He answers his questions very carefully, very politically correct and he doesn't really put himself in a bad situation where he has to try to dig himself out. A lot of people don't realize it until it's brought up or they don't really see it because they're not black. A lot of things that happen in this country and in this world, they don't see it until they put themselves in our shoes."
Limbaugh, who resigned from a short-lived ESPN television career in the fallout from his comments about McNabb, jumped back into the fray last week. On his nationally syndicated radio show, he said, "There's no question McNabb has improved, and I'm happy to see it." McNabb, who majored in speech communications at Syracuse and minored in African American studies, has confided in his mother, Wilma, about the difficulties of playing quarterback in Philadelphia.
"We've had challenges in every season, if not injuries, then outside in the environment," Wilma McNabb said. "But there is no sense blowing it up in the press. I'm proud of him. We'll do what we have to do in the privacy of our own home."

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McNabb makes three

Previous black quarterbacks to start a Super Bowl:
-- Doug Williams and the Redskins beat the Broncos in 1988. -- Steve McNair and the Titans lost to the Rams in 2000.