February 2025 Article

This year’s Super Bowl Game and Autumn Lockwood made history.  Not only that but she also has a connection to the Ohio Valley.  Autumn Lockwood makes history as the 1st Black woman to coach in the Super Bowl, and the 1st one to win.  Super Bowl LVII & Super Bowl LIX are making history in several ways.  One of them is that Autumn Lockwood was on the Philadelphia Eagles coaching team.   She is a part of the Sports Conditioning Coaching team.  She has been with the Eagles since August 2022.  Before her present position, she was the Sports Performance Coach at the University of Houston. She has a Master’s Degree in Sports Management from East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee.  While at the University she mainly worked with the men’s and women’s basketball team.  Earlier in her academic career studies she played soccer while attending the University of Arizona.  There she also worked with the strength and conditioning of the university’s cheerleading team. 
 
It is reported that she worked with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she worked as the football team’s strength and conditioning coaching assistant.  She also worked with the Atlanta Falcons.  It is a special note that her father is the former UNLV Coach, David Lockwood.   Her father at one time was the starting cornerback for West Virginia University.  No wonder Autumn Lockwood spent some time in Morgantown, WV and attended University High School. 
It is said that she is the fourth woman to coach in a Super Bowl; several of the women were minorities.
Another item for the history books with this past Super Bowl is that the Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback, Jalen Hurts, and Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, was the second time two Black quarterbacks played against each other.  There have only been eight black quarterbacks to have played in the NFL Super Bowl in the NFL’s  105-year history.  The 1st was Doug Williams of the Washington Redskins in the 1987 season. He was also the first Black quarterback to win the Super Bowl.  2nd was Steve McNair of the Tennessee Titans who lost in the 1999 season.  3rd was Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles who lost in the 2004 season.  4th was Collin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers who also lost in the 2012 season. 5th was Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks he won in the 2013 season and lost in 2014.  6th was Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers who lost in the 2015 season.  7th was Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles who lost in the 2022 season and this past season won in 2024.  The 8th is the only one that has been in 5 Super Bowls.  That is Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs.  He won in the 2019 season, lost in the 2020 season, won in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, and lost again a few days ago for the 2024 season.
That is amazing when you think that Fritz Pollard is considered by some to be the first Black quarterback and the first Black coach in the NFL in the early 1920’s.   It is reported that there was an official ban on Black players until it was lifted in 1946.  There became diversity in every player position but the quarterback.  Quarterback was the last player position that was desegrated.
There have only been four Black coaches that have made it to the Super Bowl. The first two Black coaches played each other in 2007 for the 2006 season championship, Tony Dungy, Indianapolis Colts won over Louie Smith of the Chicago Bears.  The last two are Mike Tomlin, who has been to the Super Bowl twice winning one in 2009 for the 2008 season, and also the youngest coach to win at the time.  Then losing in the 2011 year for the 2010 season. He is still the only coach in Steelers franchise history never to have a losing season.  The last is Jim Caldwell who coached in 2010 for the 2009 season in the Super Bowl and lost with the Indianapolis Colts. Only 24 men in the 105 years have ever served as a Black Coach in the NFL.  70 % of all players in the NFL are Black, only 7 at the most out of 32 teams have ever had Black coach at one time in the NFL.
At the time of this writing there are only 6 Black coaches in the NFL. Raheem Morris of Atlanta Falcons, Jerod Mayo of New England Patriots, Antonio Pierce of Las Vegas Raiders, DeMeco Ryan’s of the Houston Texans, Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers.   
This year the Super Bowl was hosted in New Orleans, Louisiana.  New Orleans is known for its food.
Have you ever heard of Leah Chase? She was considered one of the most pre-eminent Creole chefs in the United States.  She served customers from the 1940’s to 2019 at her family’s upscale restaurant in New Orleans, Louisiana, called Dookey Chase’s. People like Sarah Vaughn, Nat King Cole, Thurgood Marshall, Count Basie, Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, James Baldwin, Ray Charles, President George W. Bush, President Barack Obama, and many, many more have eaten there. Other customers were Dr. Martin L. King, Jr and a lot of the Freedom Fighters of that day.  People not only went for her gumbo, stuffed crab, crap soup, shrimp Clemenceau but because at one time it was the only place in town, (other than church), that blacks and whites could eat together.  She once said, “In my dining room, we changed the course of America over a bowl of gumbo and some fried chicken.” She lived to be 96 years old, born on Jan. 6, 1923, 2nd oldest of 13 children, believing that feeding people was the greatest calling on a person’s life.  She wrote many cookbooks, was featured in newspapers, social media articles, and TV interviews. There is even a movie that is based on her life, where Princess Tiana, the waitress who wanted to own her own restaurant in the animated Disney feature, “The Princess and the Frog.”  This makes her the first African-American princess in a Disney movie.  It is my hope to go to New Orleans this summer so that I get to go add my name to the list of visitors.
Many have said that Black History should no longer be celebrated because talking about it makes others feel sad.  All history of all races has elements of sadness.  No wonder, Winston Churchill, said it in one speech, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”  Others said it as well.  Maybe we should be open to learn from all history of all races, celebrating the good, and learning from the bad.
 Darrell W. Cummings,
Pastor of Bethlehem Apostolic Temple, Wheeling, 
& Shiloh Apostolic Faith Assembly, Weirton, WV