I'd have to throw James (Shack) Harris in that mix - he was something special during his short-lived career with the Rams - he had it all, and had to as the first Afro-American regular season starter in the league. The 1974 roster for the Rams included James Harris at quarterback, Lawrence McCutcheon at running back, Harold Jackson at wide receiver, Bob Klein at tight end and Ken Iman at offensive lineman. His long balls to Harold Jackson were things of beauty.
Here's what others have to say about him (lifted from a CNN article.)
THERE HE IS, standing tall and comfortably in the pocket, unleashing all kinds of throws: touch passes, deep balls, lasers on timing patterns. Sometimes, he'll roll out, or nimbly escape the pressure. He's like a more mobile Ben Roethlisberger, or a more physical Kurt Warner, and, if you didn't know the clips on the DVD provided by NFL Films were from the '70s, you would think you were watching a Rams quarterback from a much more recent vintage. James Harris was the real deal.
"You should have seen Shack in his prime," Ron Jaworski says. "God, he could sling it. He was the prototypical pocket passer, hanging in there, never flinching. What a pretty delivery. He was smart; he could read defenses; and he was a great leader."
Bill Curry, Rams backup center who became two-time SEC Coach of the Year at Alabama:" I had played for [Rosenbloom] in Baltimore, so we were pretty close. He called me to tell me he was thinking of trading Hadl and wanted to know my opinion. I was shocked. But I told him I thought James Harris was ready, and that the team believed in him."
Phil Olsen, then a D-lineman like his brother, Merlin, and now a motivational speaker: "The color of his skin might have been a big deal in Buffalo, but, with the Rams, we truly did not care. Man, he could play. Cam Newton is the closest comparison I can think of. Plus, Shack had a way about him, this quiet charisma that worked really well on a team with a lot of stars."
Warren Moon, then a star QB at LA's Hamilton High, became a nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback and 2006 HOF inductee:" I was a huge Rams fan to begin with, and to suddenly have an African-American quarterback I could look up to was a great thing. We'd go to training camp to watch him, and we used to sneak into the Coliseum through a fence to see him in preseason. He had this tremendous arm strength, but what I really tried to emulate was the way he stood in the pocket, so tall and calm."
