Joe Gilliam

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joseph Gilliam, Jr. (December 29, 1950 - December 25, 2000) was an American football player.

[edit] Biography

Joe Gilliam was born in Charleston, West Virginia and was the third of four children of Ruth and Joe Gilliam Sr.

Gilliam grew up on the campus of Tennessee A&I State University (renamed Tennessee State University in 1968). His father was a defensive coordinator at TSU.

The younger Gilliam displayed his own athletic abilities at a young age, beginning at Nashville’s Washington Junior high School, where he participated in tumbling, track, and basketball. In 1966, he became the starting quarterback at Pearl High School and led the squad when they played in the city’s first season of integrated football. Gilliam kept close to the Tiger football team by serving as a ball boy ^[1].

Gilliam Jr.'s daughter Is R&B Singer Joi. His ex son-in-law is rapper Big Gipp of the Goodie Mob. On July 1, 1996 his granddaughter Keypsiia Blue Daydreamer was born.

[edit] Career

Gilliam was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1972 in the 11th round after a college football career at Tennessee State University where he was a two-time All-American. He became the Steelers' starting Quarterback in 1974 but lost the job when Terry Bradshaw was chosen to lead the team after the first six games of the season, due to the fact that Gilliam just stopped playing at the level he was playing at during week one and two. Gilliam spiraled into a trap of severe alcoholism and substance abuse and was out of the National Football League at the end of 1975 and back on the streets in Nashville, Tennessee, where he battled his cocaine addiction on and off over the years.

In 1983, Gilliam attempted a comeback to pro football in the United States Football League with the Washington Federals. He did not have much success and retired from the sport for good after that season.

For the rest of his life, he battled his cocaine addiction; but did manage to run a football camp in Nashville at times. He was often homeless and on the streets in search of his next high. He earned the nickname "Jefferson Street Joe" for the boulevard that runs by Tennessee State University in Nashville. [2]

Gilliam died of a heart attack on December 25, 2000. He had been sober for four years prior to his death and was able to attend the final Steelers game at Three Rivers Stadium.

[edit] Trivia

On the field Gilliam was known to smile and raise his hands in the air after a good play, this being a rare and ostentatious show of enthusiasm and emotion for a professional quarterback or athlete.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Joe Gilliam Jr at African American Registry
• Gilliam paved the way for black quarterbacks in the NFL