Wake marks anniversary of Freddie Summers QB debut

Saturday, September 23 marks the 50th anniversary of a major milestone in college football.

On September 23, 1967, Wake Forest’s Freddie Summers became the first African-American to start at quarterback for a major college team in the South.

Visiting Clemson that day, Summers made his first start in the second week of the 1967 season.

A week earlier, in the season-opener vs. Duke, Ken Erickson had piloted the Deacons before being replaced by Summers on the fourth drive of the game. Summers would go on to start the final nine games of the season and would earn first team All-ACC honors. He started all 10 games for Wake Forest in 1968.

Summers paved the way for other African-American quarterbacks of that era. Eddie McAshan started for Georgia Tech in 1970 and Condredge Holloway became Tennessee’s starter in 1972.

Summers was chosen in the fourth round of the 1969 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns and made the club as a defensive back. Another of Summers’ claims to fame was making the first tackle on the first Monday Night Football game on ABC between the Browns and New York Jets on September 21, 1970.

Summers died in 1994. Following his pro football career, which included a stint in the Canadian Football League, he had returned to his native Boston and had been a teacher and educator.