SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Anticipation is building as we inch closer to Super Bowl Sunday!
Regardless of the outcome, it’s a game for history books. For the first time ever, both teams will have a Black starting quarterback.

22News spoke to a local football coach about the cultural and historical significance of this game, which also falls during black history month. Bill Watson is the head coach for Central High School and tonight he told me this will make a lasting impact on his team and youth across the nation.

Black History is a huge part of Super Bowl 57 this year. Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles and Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, will each write their chapters in history during Sunday’s match, as a starting Black quarterback.

Head Football Coach Bill Watson of Central High School, reflecting on this special moment,
Watson told 22News how important it was for him as a young quarterback to see Washington’s then Doug Williams becoming the first Black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl in 1988.

“Quarterbacks of color playing in the Super Bowl, you know its just something else for our young men, to watch and say listen, that can be me,” said Watson. “If I put in the work, I can go out there and I can lead a team, and just to be put in that position, and there are people that believe in me. I think it’s a positive thing, but I would also like to get to the point that it doesn’t even matter.”

Watson adds that he wants the youth he coaches to know that the sky is the limit, and anything they want to do if they put their mind to it, can happen. Some more history in the making this Sunday, Autumn Lockwood, who is a coaching assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles, is set to become the first Black woman to coach in a Super Bowl.