Matthew Reed (born November 30, 1951) is an American former

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

player. He played professionally as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

in the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest t ...

(WFL) and the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). A graduate of Grambling State University, Reed was a tenth-round selection (240th overall pick) of the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

in the 1973 NFL Draft but did not play in the league. Reed began his pro career with the Birmingham Americans of the WFL. In 1974, he backed up

George Mira George Ignacio Mira (born January 11, 1942) is a Cuban-American former professional American football player, a quarterback in eight National Football League (NFL) seasons for four teams. He then played five seasons in the Canadian Football Leag ...

, completing 77 of 188 passes (41%) for 1345 yards and 11

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s and 12

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

s. He was part of their championship team. In 1975, he became starter of the newly renamed Birmingham Vulcans, but had a poor year, completing only 38.9% of his 208 passes, for 1252 yards and only 4 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He did rush for 347 yards and 6 touchdowns. In the WFL's short history, Reed manage to be the league's 10th leading passer (in yards). Reed later played three years in the CFL, all as a back-up quarterback. He played 18 games for the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

in 1976 and 1977 and finished his pro career with the Calgary Stampeders in 1977 and 1978. While with the Argonauts, Reed backed up CFL star Chuck Ealey. As noted in the Toronto sports press, this was the first time in professional football that a team had a tandem of black quarterbacks running a team.

References

* * Living people 1951 births American football quarterbacks Canadian football quarterbacks Birmingham Americans players Birmingham Vulcans players Calgary Stampeders players Grambling State Tigers football players Toronto Argonauts players African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football People from Winnfield, Louisiana Players of American football from Louisiana 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{quarterback-1950s-stub