By the time the NFL's second black head coach was appointed in 1989, Pollard, who died in 1986, had long been written out of the history books. During high school Pollard was actually a better baseball player, but he knew he wouldn't be able to progress. Pollard had died just three years before, at the age of 92, but so many people were only hearing his name for the first time. Fritz Pollard, byname of Frederick Douglass Pollard, Sr., (born January 27, 1894, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.died May 11, 1986, Silver Spring, Maryland), pioneering African American player and coach in American collegiate and professional gridiron football. American gridiron football player and coach Fritz Pollard helped pave the way for African Americans in the sport by becoming the first African American selected to a backfield position on Walter Camp's All-America team (1916) and, five years later, by becoming the first African American head coach of a National Football League . "He always let his skills on the field, and his actions off it, define who he was. From the SI Vault: They had reservations at a hotel in Pasadena, but upon their arrival, the desk clerk announced that the hotel had space for everyone except Pollard. Since that letter, Dungy says"not a lot has changed. Speaking of food, the running back's family owns a restaurant called "Pollard's BBQ" located in Memphis. He played and coached when, despite being the highest paid player in the league $1,500 a game he wasn't allowed to dresswith his team. In 1919, as more than 25 race riots erupted in major U.S. cities, Fritz Pollard, a former Brown University All-American running back, joined the Akron Pros, a pro football team that would later become a charter member of the NFL. Pollard became the second African-American in the College Hall of Fame in 1954. Three years after Pollard's death,Art Shell was hired as head coach of the Raiders, the first Black head NFL coach of the modern era. In fact, he helped it change. He was the school's first black athlete a triple threat when it came to sports in football, track and boxing. Fritz Pollard, the Brown University halfback, in 1916. and 30 carries for 230 yards (7.7-yard avg.) Pollard played halfback on the Brown football team, which went to the 1916 Rose Bowl. He was the first African American selected to a backfield position on Walter Camps All-America team (1916) and the first African American head coach in the National Football League (NFL), with the Akron Pros in 1921. and six touchdowns. His brother Terrion now carries on the family tradition, working with his dad at Pollard's. "I kind of love it. He made up for it at Memphis' pro day by clocking in at a 4.37. The Depression ended the Brown Bombers' run in 1938, and Pollard went on to other ventures, including a talent agency, tax consulting, and film and music production. The US summer of 1919 was known as the Red Summer. He founded a newspaper, and set up an investment fund and a company trading coal. With his last words, spoken to his family in 2003, he said:. In 1921, Pollard became the league's first black coach and in 1923 its first black quarterback. Two days after he suffered a broken left fibula and high ankle sprain in Dallas' 19-12 loss against the San . If they think they can't do something or belittle themselves. There was one Black head coach in the NFL in 1921 when a tiny, incrediblyfast running back named Fritz Pollard was hired to coach theAkron Pros at the same time he played for the team. But in the 1916 season, Brown beat Yale and Harvard on consecutive weekends. The restaurant comes highly rated, too. Kansas CIty Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes' touchdowns from his biggest games this season ahead of Sunday night's NFL Super Bowl against the. [23], In Week 5, against the Los Angeles Rams, Pollard had a 57-yard rushing touchdown. Pollard was posthumously inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in . AKA: Sharon K Fritz, Sharon Fritz-Pollard, Sharon K Pollard. When he showed up for football practice that September, none of the players wanted him on the team. He can pad his totals with long runs that Elliott really hasnt been able to accumulate since he burst on the scene as the 2016 rushing champion. They knew he'd be targeted because of his size and skin colour. [7] By the fall of 1920, he had begun to play for Akron, missing key Lincoln losses to Hampton (014) and Howard (042), much to the consternation of the alumni and administration. Yet, Pollard's humble, quiet ways never changed. The manager appeared, and Pollard got a room. [13] Pollard also published the New York Independent News from 1935 to 1942, purportedly the first African American-owned tabloid in New York City.[14]. Halas and Pollard had both grown up in Chicago and knew each other from high school. Early years [ edit] Gibbons went on to describe an incident that happened atan Akron restaurant as Pollard sat with a group of teammates. That's where he got the nickname Fritz. "He was at a game and they thought he was a mascot because he was so tiny," she said. "It was a literal fight," she says. He spent years defending his accomplishments, believing that the racism of the early years of the league was played down to lessen the impact of his role and to raise the legend of men like Halas, whom he believed was a racist. He also saw how it changed between then. Despite his accomplishments in football, he was hardly immune to the discrimination African-Americans facedincluding before that 1916 Rose Bowl. ", Glittering drama based on the audacious Brinks-Mat security depot heist, A corrupt copper and a Leeds gangster are bound together by decades of dishonesty. He founded the first African-American investment firm: F.D. "(I) didnt get mad and want tofight them. Pollard tied an NCAA record with seven kickoff returns for touchdowns. Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard (January 27, 1894 May 11, 1986) was an American football player and coach. It's kind of weird to say, but I. Fritz III gave his permission to name it the Fritz Pollard Alliance (FPA). When Pollard died in 1986, after careers with a talent agency, tax consultingand film and music production,his obituary noted he was still the league's only head Black coach. NFL to consider rule change after RB injury. He left Memphis as one of the most accomplish kick returners in NCAA history. "We thought that meant the NFL was out tohire more Black head coaches. "The narrative we are dealing with here is very close to the narrative FritzPollard dealtwith 100 years ago.". It would be almost half a century until the NFL next had a black starting quarterback. He is one of the great football stars of all time.". [8], Pollard was considered one of the best kickoff return specialists in college football, tying a FBS record with seven career kick-return touchdowns, 87 kickoff returns (second in school history), 2,616 kickoff return yards (second in school history), 30.1 kick-return average (school record) and 4,680 all-purpose yards (second in school history). He coached and managed all-black teams in exhibition games, giving them a chance to showcase their talent. In 40 college games, Pollard recorded 941 rushing yards and 1,292 receiving yards. He averaged 30.1 yards per return. Pollard. It wasan incredible display of solidarity. Your email address will not be published. "If somebody were to ask Fritz Pollard, 'What do you think 100 years from now it's going to be like in the National Football League?'" Pollard, along with all nine of the African American players in the NFL at the time, were removed from the league at the end of the 1926 season, never to return again. The final was 13-0 with Robeson scoring both touchdowns in his finest pro football performance. follow. Latest on Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard including news, stats, videos, highlights and more on ESPN As we head into the Super Bowl, here are 10 amazing facts on the incredible journey of Fritz Pollard, one of the first African-American players to play professional football and also the first to become a head coach. Their move north had paid off. During 19181919, he led the team to a victorious season defeating Howard University's Bisons 130[5] in the annual Thanksgiving classic as well as Hampton University (70) on November 9, 1918, and teams of military recruits at Camp Dix (190) on November 2, 1918,[6] and Camp Upton (410). In the 1930s, Pollard founded his own professional football team, the Brown Bombers. "I, myself, bought and paid $200 out of my pocket for football shoes for the team." Fritz Pollard was born in Chicago in 1894, the seventh of eight children. [4], As a sophomore, he posted 36 receptions for 536 yards (14.9-yard avg.) "The first was Fritz Pollard. He touched the ball on 16 of his 21 snaps Sunday. Some sources indicate that Pollard also served as co-coach of the Milwaukee Badgers with Budge Garrett for part of the 1922 season. He later worked as a tax and public relations consultant. He was born Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com. When Pollard was a rookie in 2019 (and when it wasnt necessarily true), the difference between his 5.3 yards per carry and Zekes 4.5 that season was explained away along these lines and by quite a few different people: When Zeke is in the game, the defense puts eight men in the box. When the team went to sign in at the hotel, the front desk refused Pollard. He managed the Suntan Movie Studio in Harlem. Are we to believe that youre really doing exhaustive searches, trying to uncover the best coaches, but only two out of the last 20 have been African Americans?". Its also possibly his way of talking around what seems to be a delicate situation. In a 2011 interview with VladTV, Pollard revealed that a third season of her VH1 dating competition series, I Love New York, was scheduled to go into production but got yanked due to . That achievement speaks volumes, because like Dallas, Memphis is known for some good BBQ. . I never saw him angry.". Are you an NFL rookie? Todd Brock. But the fleet-footed running back quickly became the team's star player, dubbed 'the human torpedo' because he ran so low to the turf. His brother Terrion now carries on the family tradition, working with his dad at Pollard's. For this reason the FPA has in recent years been vocal in flagging potential violations of the rule while seeking to enhance it. Both he and Halas were at that meeting of team owners in 1933, when Marshall pitched the idea of banning black players. Ultimately, the Pros prevailed on the strength of their won-loss percentage and the quality of their opponents, but the controversy sharpened a simmering feud between Halas and Pollard over competing narratives of the formative years of the NFL. As he walked on, he wouldheartaunts shouted from the stands. Fritz Pollard, the NFL's first African-American head coach, was a true pioneer of the sport. 100 years ago, the NFL took its first baby steps in Indiana, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. "The league was challenged with a report showing that, essentially, African-Americans were the last hired and first fired," says Duru, who worked with the FPA from its inception. "Opposing players make it a point of pride to rough him as much as possible. He's also caught 39 passes for 337 yards. When the Los Angeles Raiders hired Art Shell as head coach in 1989, he was asked in a live broadcast how it felt to be the NFL's first black coach. For the game at Yale, Pollard had been smuggled into the stadium via a separate gate. [17] Overall, in his rookie season, he finished with 86 carries for 455 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns to go along with 15 receptions for 107 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown. Your essential guide to Super Bowl 57 as the Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles in Arizona for the NFL championship. BBC Sport looks at some of the stories that make Super Bowl LVII one of the most exciting yet as the Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles. "After I told them about the historically black newspapers, a guy in Mississippi called back and said 'did you know your grandfather averaged hundreds of yards a game?' So that played a big part too. The Dallas Cowboys selected Tony Pollard in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. The former Memphis Tiger first stepped on a football field when he was four years old.
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