When 2023-24 Vrbo Fiesta Bowl Offensive MVP Bo Nix tossed his 15th NFL touchdown last November, he set a new Denver Broncos rookie record for passing touchdowns in a single season. If asked whose record did Nix break, many would likely guess Broncos legend John Elway.
 
Few would say the correct answer, Marlin Briscoe.
 
In fact, Elway threw only seven touchdowns his rookie season in 1983 across 11 games (10 starts) in his start of a Hall of Fame career. Fifteen years prior, Briscoe doubled that total in only five starts, holding the Broncos franchise record with 14 passing touchdowns as a rookie for nearly six decades until Nix's impressive recently-completed debut season.
 
That anecdote is only a part in Briscoe's story – a story that will be on full display at the National Quarterback Club (NQBC) Awards Dinner and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony presented by the Fiesta Bowl on Friday, February 28, in Scottsdale. Briscoe, along with Carson Palmer and Steve Spurrier, will be inducted as part of this year's NQBC Hall of Fame class.
 
Just as Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, Briscoe did the same for Black quarterbacks in 1968 when he became the first Black starting quarterback in modern pro football history.  It was an uphill battle for the quarterback known as the "The Magician." But it was a battle that did not go unnoticed.
 
"You've got to give him some pioneer status," said Doug Williams, the first Black quarterback to start (and win) a Super Bowl. "Even though he doesn't get that type of recognition, for what he did in 1968, he deserves way more recognition than he gets."
 
Briscoe blazed the path for Black quarterbacks for decades to come, a list that includes, and certainly not limited to, former Fiesta Bowl MVPs like Tony Rice, Kordell Stewart, Tommie Frazier and Troy Smith, Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Moon and this season's two Super Bowl starting quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts.
 
Briscoe was a homegrown star at Omaha University – now the University of Nebraska Omaha – where his dreams of playing quarterback materialized. Growing up in South Omaha, Briscoe became an NAIA All-American after scholarship offers were scarce due to schools wanting him to play running back.
 

At Omaha, Briscoe was a three-time all-conference selection and set 22 school records. As a senior, Briscoe quarterbacked the Mavericks to the Central Intercollegiate Conference title, while throwing for 2,283 yards and a single-season school record 25 touchdowns.
 
Scouts from both the AFL and the NFL, prior to the merger, traveled to Omaha to get their eyes on Briscoe, who was equally impressive with his legs as he was with his arm.
 
"Marlin has the greatest quickness of any college quarterback we've ever seen," said Gil Brandt, a Pro Football Hall of Famer for his talent evaluation career with the Dallas Cowboys, prior to the 1968 AFL-NFL Draft. "He's as good as any big-time quarterback in college right now and just one heck of a football player."
 
However, his stature (5-10, 175 pounds) and race attracted more doubters than believers. Briscoe was ultimately selected in the 14th round as a defensive back by the Broncos.
 
Briscoe vouched for himself and only agreed to play defensive back after a three-day tryout at quarterback. Despite the tryout, Briscoe opened his rookie season on the defensive side of the ball and it took a series of injuries and poor performances from Denver's other quarterbacks for Briscoe to get his opportunity.
 
"There were a few things that society didn't think a Black man could do, and (three were) think, throw and lead," Briscoe said. "They didn't know how the fan reaction, manager reaction, player and teammate reaction – they didn't know how that was going to be."
 
It did not take long for Briscoe to capture the attention of fans and teammates, although his coaches were slower to trust him. Briscoe nearly led the Broncos to a come-from-behind win in his first action, in relief, in the third week of the 1968 season. His play earned him his first start the following week, only to be pulled.
 
In week 8, Briscoe was named the AFL Offensive Player of the Week after coming off the bench to rally Denver back from a 14-0 deficit to beat Miami in front of the Broncos' largest home crowd in franchise history to that point. Still, Broncos Head Coach Lou Saban insisted on starting Steve Tensi. Three weeks later, Tensi suffered a season-ending injury, which opened the door for Briscoe to make his mark.
 
Briscoe started Denver's final four games of the season. He finished his rookie season with 1,589 passing yards and 14 touchdown passes. He added 308 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Briscoe was the 1968 AFL Rookie of the Year runner-up with a bright future. His talent was evident, especially considering he spent the summer leading into his rookie season as a defensive back.
 
Unfortunately, Briscoe never started another game at quarterback. After not being given a fair shot to win the starting quarterback job in 1969, Briscoe asked the Broncos for his release.
 
"I don't know whether or not the league, the owners, the coaches, the general managers or the world was ready for a Marlin Briscoe," said Williams, himself a National Quarterback Club Hall of Famer. "I think Marlin played in Denver because he had to. It was an emergency, and I think he did too well and they didn't want to live with the fact of what they'd have to go through if they kept Marlin around."
 
Although Briscoe still viewed himself as a quarterback, he signed with Buffalo as a wide receiver out of his passion for the sport. Turns out, Briscoe enjoyed a productive career as a wideout. Briscoe was named All-Pro Second Team in 1970 after pacing the Bills with 57 receptions, 1,036 receiving yards and eight touchdowns.
 
Briscoe won two Super Bowls with Miami, including as a member of the Dolphins' undefeated team in 1972. Over the course of a nine-year career that also included stops with the San Diego Chargers and Detroit Lions, Briscoe totaled more than 3,500 receiving yards and scored 30 touchdowns.

 
"I tell these young kids, I never quit," Briscoe said. "They thought they had me out of the league, and within two years I made All-Pro. Not bragging or anything, but most people would have quit."
 
Briscoe was talented with running abilities like Barry Sanders and a better arm than Michael Vick, according to former Broncos teammate and Hall of Famer Floyd Little. Briscoe also happened to play quarterback during a time of racial unrest with Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination mere months prior to Briscoe's rookie season.
 
"You know, '68 was a volatile year on every front," Briscoe said. "On every front, Black people, we had to undergo a lot of stuff. Having the first Black quarterback in 1968 when '68 was the most pivotal year in our country's history, to break the barrier at that position was unique."
 
Almost 60 years later, Briscoe – a 2016 College Football Hall of Fame inductee – will finally have his rightful spot amongst the best players at his position. A football pioneer, Briscoe will be a National Quarterback Club Hall of Famer.
 
NOTE: Quotes from Marlin Briscoe, Doug Williams and Gil Brandt taken from "The Making of the Magician: Marlin Briscoe's pioneering path in pro football" from DenverBroncos.com (February 8, 2023)