Billy Joe

Who is Billy Joe?

William "Billy" Joe is a former collegiate and professional American football player and former college football head coach. He was the American Football League Rookie of the Year in 1963 with the AFL's Denver Broncos. In 1965, he was traded to the Buffalo Bills for their legendary fullback, Cookie Gilchrist, and made the AFL All-Star Team, starting for the Bills in their 1965 AFL Championship victory over the San Diego Chargers.

Joe later was a successful college head coach for 33 seasons. He coached at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania from 1972 to 1978, Central State University from 1981 to 1993, Florida A&M University from 1994 to 2004, and Miles College from 2007 to 2010. Joe achieved his greatest success at Central State, where his teams won 2 NAIA National Football Championships in 1990 and 1992 and made many appearances in the NAIA football playoffs during the 1980s and 1990s. He teams at Florida A&M have made various appearances in the Division I-AA playoffs during the 1990s and early 2000s.

In addition, Joe has won five straight Black college football national championships with Central State University and one Black college football national championship with Florida A&M. In 2007 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.