They claim to be of noble ancestry. a person of unknown ancestry. She claims to be able to trace her ancestry all the way back to the earliest settlers.
By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN. Joe Gilliam, who was one of the first blacks to be a starting pro quarterback when he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers' 1974 Super Bowl champions but who later slid into drug addiction and homelessness, died Monday in Nashville. He was 49.
Thus he became the first black quarterback to start the first game of an AFL or NFL season. Coincidentally, the only black quarterback to start any previous AFL or NFL game -- Marlin Briscoe for the Broncos in 1968 -- had just been signed by the Bills to catch passes, not throw them.