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Joe Gilliam (1950-2000) was an American football player.

Joe Gilliam
Date of birth	December 29, 1950
Place of birth	Nashville, Tennessee
Position(s)	Quarterback
College	Tennessee State University
NFL Draft	1972 / Round 11
Statistics	Pro Football Reference
Team(s)
1972-1975	Pittsburgh Steelers

Contents 1 Biography 2 Career 3 Trivia 4 External Links

Joseph Gilliam, Jr. (born December 29, 1950 in Charleston, West Virginia) was the third of four children for Ruth and Joe Gilliam Sr.

He grew up on the campus of Tennessee A&I State University (as the college was known prior to 1968). His father was a defensive coordinator at TSU. The younger Gilliam displayed his own athletic abilities at a young age, beginning at Nashville’s Washington Junior high School, where he participated in tumbling, track, and basketball. In 1966, he became the starting quarterback at Pearl High School and led the squad when they played in the city’s first season of integrated football. Gilliam kept close to the Tiger football team by serving as a ball boy ^[1].

His daughter Is R&B Singer Joi. His ex son-in-law is rapper Big Gipp of the Goodie Mob. On 1 July 96 his granddaughter Keypsiia Blue Daydreamer was born.

Gilliam was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1972 in the 11th round after a college football career at Tennessee State University where he was a two-time All-American. He became the Steelers' starting Quarterback in 1974 but lost the job when Terry Bradshaw was chosen to lead the team after the first six games of the season, fueling speculation years later that Gilliam was removed because he was black. Bradshaw himself admits that Gilliam was more talented and deserving of the job that year than he was. Gilliam spiraled into a trap of severe alcoholism and substance abuse and was out of the National Football League at the end of 1975 and back on the streets in Nashville, Tennessee, where he battled his cocaine addiction on and off over the years.

In 1983, Gilliam attempted a comeback to pro football in the United States Football League with the Washington Federals. He did not have much success and retired from the sport for good after that season.

For the rest of his life, he battled his cocaine addiction; but did manage to run a football camp in Nashville at times. He was often homeless and on the streets in search of his next high. He earned the nickname "Jefferson Street Joe" for the boulevard that runs by Tennessee State University in Nashville. [1]

Gilliam died of a heart attack on December 25, 2000. He had been sober for four years prior to his death and was able to attend the final Steelers game at Three Rivers Stadium.

On the field Gilliam was known to smile and raise his hands in the air after a good play, this being a rare and ostentatious show of enthusiasm and emotion for a professional quarterback or athlete.

Joe Gilliam Jr at African American Registry