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The game itself was decided late into the third quarter as the Indianapolis Colts slowly, inexorably pulled away in victory over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.

But the bigger storyline played itself out during the course of the game and as the final seconds ticked off the clock, as Tony Dungy became the first black head coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory.

Much had been made in the weeks leading up to the game that both Dungy and Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith already had made history, becoming the first black head coaches to reach their sport's ultimate stage. Dungy took a moment to recognize the historic significance of the moment. As he accepted the Vince Lombardi trophy, Dungy thanked the black assistant head coaches before him that paved the way such as Jimmy Ray, Sherman Lewis and Lionel Taylor.

"Great coaches," Dungy said later, "that I know could have done this if they'd been given the opportunity. I feel good I was the first one to do it and represent the guys who came before me. I dedicate the game to them," Dungy told ESPN.

"There's a lot of African-American men that can do the job," Dungy added after the game.

The victory was a particularly significant moment of redemption for Dungy, who was fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002 after leading that team to the playoffs in successive years, only to see his replacement lead the team to a Super Bowl victory with the team he created just a year later.

"I'm proud to be the first African-American coach to win this," Dungy said during the trophy ceremony. "But again, more than anything, Lovie Smith and I are not only African-American but also Christian coaches, showing you can do it the Lord's way. We're more proud of that."

Super Bowl Hit a Diverse Note

As most Super Bowl fans know, the game itself is only part of the night's festivities. The other main event of the evening is commerical gawking, as companies spend huge amounts of their advertising budget to capture the attention of the millions of fans gathered around the tube.

But did the ads reflect the diversity of the audience watching the game? Yes ... and no.

Of the 48 ads that ran at a cost of $2.6 million for a 30-second slot, a smattering included people of color in ensemble spots (for the sake of this discussion, we're not including the Oprah Winfrey-David Letterman "Super Bowl of Love" cuddle spot). But easily, there were two standouts among the evening's commercials.

The first was The Coca-Cola Co.'s simple yet effective tribute to accomplishments of black trailblazers throughout history in recognition of Black History Month. Against a simple white backdrop adorned only with an evolving Coca-Cola bottle, the text read:

North Pole, 1909 - A black man is on top of the world

Tuskegee, 1942 - Pilots prove heroism has no color

Brooklyn, 1947 - Baseball shows us courage, it's #42

Montgomery, 1955 - Woman remains seated. And stands for justice

D.C., 1963 - A man inspires a nation to dream together

Coca Cola celebrates Black History.

For more on Coca-Cola, No. 3 on The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity^® list, see Coca-Cola: From Discrimination Suit to Diversity Leader in the Jan./Feb. 2007 issue of DiversityInc magazine.

The other spot of note was Frito-Lay's, as the company, part of PepsiCo, No. 18 on the Top 50, took special note of the cultural significance of Dungy and Smith becoming the first two black head coaches to reach the Super Bowl. The spot featured black football fans, young and old, huddled up to the television across the country as the game played out. The closing line is spoken by an unseen football announcer while a grandfather looks down with hope at his grandson. "We've got more than a game here. We've got history. Not just getting here. But what getting here represents."

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