The Legacy of the Steelers “Jefferson Street” Joe Gilliam

Why Gilliam was benched

Looking back, it seems two issues played a factor in Joe Gilliam’s demotion. Certainly, one can point to Gilliam’s substance abuse. Drugs have destroyed the careers of many players. Joe Gilliam has never denied this played a role. However, the uglier side to the situation is the racial undertones.  Despite the fact, the NFL had largely desegregated by the late 1940s,  the position of quarterback still, by and large, remained an exclusive whites-only club. Joe Gilliam finally changed that. Unfortunately, Gilliam never understood or contemplated the ramifications of his accomplishment over those six games.

While some believed he could have been the Jackie Robinson of pro football, it never worked out that way. As Gilliam recollects, the loss to the Raiders changed everything for the worse. The Raiders, aside from blowing out the Steelers in that game, did rough up Gilliam pretty bad. In interviews, Gilliam has said the beating he took in this game turned him to trying cocaine.  He later expanded to heroin as well. Gilliam has also admitted the usage became much worse after Noll benched him. So there is some question as to how his on-field performance was affected by his drug use. Had the Steelers not benched him, could he still have led the Steelers and won the Superbowl?

Drugs aside, there was no doubt fans did not want an African American quarterback running the offense. Gilliam did receive lots of hate mail and even death threats. Myron Cope recalled in an interview through the New York Times in 1999 he received many calls on his talk show at the time by angry fans who did not like a black quarterback. So the racial element was there. Even Bradshaw feels the city and the media preferred him at the helm, not Gilliam. However, other teammates have said Joe’s drug use led to his replacement that the decision was never racial.