Former Steelers QB Dies
Joe Gilliam Jr., one of the first black quarterbacks to start an NFL game but who later fell into drug addiction and a life on the streets, has died of an apparent heart attack. He was 49.
Gilliam was dead on arrival at Baptist Hospital shortly before midnight Monday, hospital spokeswoman Jessica Etz said.
No cause of death was determined but Etz said family members believed Gilliam had suffered a heart attack.
Gilliam's career was marked by a series of highs and lows, including a starting role for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1974, six years after Marlin Briscoe of the Denver Broncos became the NFL's first black QB starter.
Troubles with drugs led to his benching and eventually ended his NFL career.
He suffered financial ruin that led him to pawn two Super Bowl Rings and left him homeless for a while on the streets of Nashville.
He fought his addiction to cocaine and heroin several times with stays in drug-rehab centers. He even worked as a counselor trying to help others with their addictions.
Earlier this year, he opened a youth football camp in Nashville, using the field of his alma mater, Tennessee State. His father, Joe Gilliam Sr., spent 40 years coaching football, ending his career at TSU.
The younger Gilliam and family members spoke openly of his struggle against drugs, and Gilliam said earlier this year that he had not used drugs in more than three years.
He was using the camp to warn children and teen-agers about how drugs can ruin their lives. The rules, posted all around the field, included Nos. 6 and 7: no alcohol and no drugs.
Nearly 80 teen-agers attended his first camp, which he launched after the Tennessee Titans went to the Super Bowl in January, and the success he saw there had him making plans for another.
Among his survivors are his father and his wife, Barbara. Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
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