We knew it was going to happen, one way or the other – a Black coach would make cultural history by winning the NFL’s biggest game.
And after a few hours of battling it out in the rain-soaked Dolphin’s stadium in Miami, the historic XLI Sunday belonged to Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy.
When the game ended, the 51-year-old Dungy celebrated his place in history as the first Black coach winning 29-17 over his longtime friend and protégé Lovie Smith, who is also Black and coaches the Chicago Bears.
“I’m proud to be representing African-American coaches, to be the first African-American coach to win this,” Dungy said, wearing an Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl champion cap and T- shirt on a special stage at midfield. “That means an awful lot to our country.”
As Dungy’s team continued to celebrate, he took off his Colts ball cap to put on that read “NFL champions” and walked to midfield, where he and Smith exchanged words and hugged for a while.
“I just told Lovie how proud I was of this whole moment,” Dungy said. “I really appreciate what he has done in Chicago –
the way he does it, the type of person he is. They’re going to get their championship soon.”
Dungy and Smith’s relationship goes back to 1996 when Dungy hired Smith to coach linebackers for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They are the first Black head coaches in the 41-history of the Bowl.
Six of the NFL’s 32 teams, or 19 percent, are coached by Black men, compared with 70 percent of the league’s players who share their race
