Somebody asked if KJ was our first black QB

On Quora. Of course the person might not be old enough to remember Greg Thomas or Quinn Grovey.

Omitted Tarvaris Jackson Swine. Short career on the Hill, but he was there.

How many remember the name of the first black QB to play a down at Arkansas?

It was before Quinn

Thomas and Quinn came first and TJack never started here anyway.

Scott, I don’t remember any before Greg Thomas.

Don’t forget DMac. When he moved to the position, he was the best QB we had in those days.

All true, but point being KJ missed being our first black starter by about 36 years.

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Robert Johnson started and then was unfortunately booed out of a starting job.

Didn’t realize you were only talking about starters. I read your subject line. ā€œTJackā€, as you say today, had a decent NFL career.

The first black QB to take a snap was Martin Lemond

I remember being at WMS and the PA making the announcement: ā€œMartin Lemond is your Razorback quarterbackā€. They used to do that any time there was a change. This would have been about 1974?

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I remember a guy in the Lou Holtz time who played a few downs. Can’t remember his name.

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I barely remember Martin and wasn’t sure he ever took a snap in a real game. Interesting. Of course we went through quite a few quarterbacks in 73 and 74.
Looked up Martin’s stats. It was 76, another year we went though a few QBs. He threw 37 passes that year, which was eminently forgettable except for JFB’s retirement.

Peanut Adams became a state trooper and lived near my parents briefly.

Peanut Adam’s anyone?

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It’s just one of those random memories that has lasted for some reason. I just remember it because I was there and the significance of it.

The more I think now, it might have been later than ā€˜74…

Yes I see it was ā€˜76

You beat me to it. Poor Peanut. Just inept.

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I need to check with some colleagues to find out if he is still a special agent with the Secret Service. Most of them retire at 50 and glob onto corporate jobs.

Since this thread has evolved into a roster of Black QB’s to play for the Hogs, don’t forget Jimmy Williams, who may have been the best passer of the lot. He backed up Grovey for 2 years.

IIRC, he threw what was then (may still be) the longest TD pass in Arkansas history to Derek Russell during the TCU game in 1988. Watched it in the stands during my next-to-last game at Razorback Stadium with my Dad (last game with him there was Ole Miss in 2007).

I saw Martin Lemond play for the Shoats in 74 at War Memorial vs. Texas Tech. We’ve had others. Petey Burks. Robert Johnson. Some guy named Grovey. Robert Reed. I’m sure there have been others.

Who could forget our biggest black QB? Sebastian Tretola!

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Don’t forget Pete Burks

I am an adjunct at a local college. I had a young man a couple of years ago ask me in front of class why Arkansas had never had a black quarterback. I just looked at him there with his OU hat on and set him straight. The thing I wonder about and I should have asked him but didn’t, is where in the world did you hear that? Who is out there telling that lie about our program?

JCS