This should have surprised no one. He called the team Redskins in 1933, a racial slur that was only. At Brown, Pollard led the Bears to their first and only Rose Bowl appearance. "And it's not even close.". Racial disparity in the league's coaching ranks was brought to the forefront last week whenformer Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the NFL and three of its teams, alleging racial discrimination in hiring practices. If someone can slug him without the referee seeing him, it is done. [1] He helped the team reach the playoffs, while making over 1,200 receiving yards, 20 touchdowns and being named All-District 16-AAA. After he was let go by Akron (which had changed its name to the Indians) in 1926, Pollard continued to promote integration in professional football as a coach of the barnstorming Chicago Black Hawks (192832) and the New York Brown Bombers (193537). The Life And Career Of Steve Sabol (Story), The Fascinating Life Of Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder (Story), What Happened To NFL Referee Mike Carey? this year amid mounting pressure. [6], As a junior, even though he shared the backfield with Darrell Henderson, he totaled 78 carries for 552 yards (7.1-yard avg. Pollard attended Melrose High School, where he played high school football. And believe us, Fritz got some service after that.". It was only the beginning of Pollard breaking down racialbarriers. It was a German-immigrant part of town. Henry had 35 carries in the Titans overtime win and Cook ran 22 times in defeat at Arizona. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, Fritz Pollard Ran Through Barriers to Become the NFLs first black head coach, For Brown, The Wrong Shoe Was On The Foot In The '16 Rose Bowl Game, Florence Griffith Joyner Smashed Records and Stereotypes, Remembering Satchel Paige, Maybe The Best Pitcher To Ever Live, Paul Robeson Was America's Quintessential Renaissance Man. He also founded an all-black football team in Harlem that was unsuccessful in luring local NFL teams to play exhibition games. And yet, still very few NFL fans have even heard of Pollard. One of his team-mates, Irving Fraser, later told Pollard's biographer Jay Berry: "When he was tackled, they'd all pile on him and see if they could make him quit. But his family's quest finally came to fruition in 2005 when - two years after his son's death - Pollard was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Pollard was illegally hit during games and, if he landed on the ground, white players would pile on top of him and beat him, according to newspaper accounts. Then came a telegram that changed everything. Since this would be the second consecutive season on . And of the 12-year absence of blacks from the league from 1934 to 1946, Halas would say, Probably the game didnt have the appeal to black players at the time.. Fritz Pollard was born in Chicago in 1894, the seventh of eight children. That is a heavy, heavy workload, and if there is one thing I give head coach Mike McCarthy credit for, its understanding this. Then they leapt from their chairs, grabbed the waiter and proceeded to artistically maul him until he consented to wait on Pollard. (I'd) just look at themand grin, and the next minute run 80 yards for a touchdown.". Bothered by an upset stomach, the running back ran a 4.52 40-yard dash at the combine, which was a slow time for him. In the second quarter of the Cowboys-49ers divisional matchup, the Cowboys running back had his left ankle trapped underneath a . It was the first time a team had beaten them both in the same season, and Pollard won each game almost single-handedly. But the hiring didn't break down barriers. As his team returned from one game in Gilberton, the train's windows were shot out. After service in World War I, Pollard became head football coach at Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) and began playing professional football for Akron in the informal Ohio League in 1919. In 1954 Pollard became the second African American selected to the College Football Hall of Fame. Born Frederick Douglass Pollard in 1894 - after the abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass - his nickname Fritz reflected Rogers Park's predominantly German make-up. "Fans have, perhaps, noticed that after staging one of his brilliant runs for a touchdown he seeks a place of seclusion sometimes even going so far to duck underneath the stands.". Things have not been much different in 100 years, said Solomon. At one game, a competitor started mocking Pollard's curly hair. He could do everything - he played on offence and defence. "And it has been discouraging to see that in the last three hiring cycles of head coaches, things have not been much different. At that time Pollard was 69 and the owner of several business ventures. [18], Pollard continued his role as a backup to Ezekiel Elliott to go along with some kickoff return duties in the 2020 season. 128th overall selection in the 2019 NFL Draft, Pollard finds himself in the midst of an ever-important contract year. Fans started showing up to see what this footballleague was all about. In 1923 and 1924, he served as head coach for the Hammond Pros.[2]. When Pollard played, the NFL was new, rough and tumble, a backyard type of experiment, said Towns. He had waited65 years from his hiringas an NFL coach to see if he had pioneered a change. . There was one Black head coach in the NFL in 1921. Take away his first game as a rookie against the Giants when he had 24 yards on 13 carries (weirdly, Zeke wasnt good in his debut against the Giants, either, in a season where he averaged more than 100 yards per game), and here are Pollards totals when he gets at least 12 carries: The 2021 numbers are skewed because we are only two weeks into the season, but the quality of Pollards start is undeniable. The same players that shunned Pollard four months earlier were now bringing him food. The NFL did not respond to a request for comment on this story. "Becausethey didn't want him in the locker room.". There are twoBlack head coachesin the NFL in 2022. As a senior, he was a two-way starter at wide receiver and cornerback on the high school football team. Pollard continued to play and coach in the NFL until 1926. His brother Terrion now carries on the family tradition, working with his dad at Pollard's. "I kind of love it. Pro Football Hall of Fame (inducted 2005), https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fritz-Pollard, Ohio History Central - Biography of Frederick D. Pollard, Pro Football Hall of Fame - Biography of Fritz Pollard, Fritz Pollard - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Is Dallas becoming unaffordable due to rising housing costs, inflation and stagnating pay? He attended Albert G. Lane Manual Training High School in Chicago where he played football, baseballand ran track. Knowing that the NFL would be oneof the biggest businesses in the nation andthat 70% of the players on 32 teams would be Black? Yet after he retired, the doors he forced open were slammed shut by a 'gentleman's agreement' that saw African-Americans banned from 1934 until 1946. Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. I was there to play football and make my money.. And maybe this will simply be like 2006, when it was clear all season that Marion Barber was more productive than Julius Jones, when Barber scored 10 more touchdowns and averaged almost a yard per carry more than Jones but Barber never started until the team got into the playoffs. [3] He became the first African American running back to be named to Walter Camp's All-America team. Their move north had paid off. Reality television is a place where anything and everything is on the table. Fritz III's daughter Meredith Kaye Russell, born in 1988, also joined the cause, helping with research and acting as her father's secretary. Keep working, keep going. FRISCO, Texas At the age of 14, Tony Pollard started flipping burgers at his family's famous restaurant, Pollard's Bar-B-Que on Elvis Presley Boulevard, in Memphis, Tenn . In 2020, there are three black coaches - the same as when the rule was instituted. "Why?" Here are 4 reasons why they should Related: Cowboys RB Tony Pollard undergoes surgery for injuries suffered vs. 49ers Related: What NFL salary cap increase means for Cowboys and how it affects RB . Instead, he let his play speak for itself. "Oh yes," said Towns. His grandson, Fritz III, became a three-sport All-American at college. Rival fans would taunt Pollard with it throughout his career. The next year, he was named co-head coach as he continued to play for the Pros. Eventually the hotel relented. I had to duck the rocks and the fellas trying to hurt me.". Pollard also facilitated integration in the NFL by recruiting other African American players such as Paul Robeson, Jay Mayo Williams, and John Shelbourne and by organizing the first interracial all-star game featuring NFL players in 1922. The figure to keep Pollard from becoming a free agent is $10.1 million. While Brown lost the Rose Bowl 14-0 to Washington State,it was a historic game. "Now it's a healthy engagement, an exchange of ideas and not always agreement, but overall it's a working relationship with open lines of communication.". In Akron, Pollard became the first black head coach and quarterback in the NFL and the most vocal advocate for black players in the formative years of the league. Pollard would probably recognize all of this as progress for both black people and the game, but chances are he would call on the NFL to do more to increase the number of black head coaches, front office executives and team owners. . If Pollard wasn't allowed to stay at the hotel, they would all leave and head back to Rhode Island. "I, myself, bought and paid $200 out of my pocket for football shoes for the team." "He wantedto see anotherhe wanted to seemany African American coaches.". Fritz Pollard, an All-America halfback from Brown University was a pro football pioneer in more ways than one. He founded two coal delivery companies in Chicago and New York. [14], He had 13 carries for 24 yards in his NFL debut in Week 1 against the New York Giants in the 3517 victory. I said 'No you're not, sit down.' The Yale supporters also turned 'Bye Bye Blackbird', a popular song of the day, into a racially abusive anthem. Both men are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. and three touchdowns. He touched the ball on 16 of his 21 snaps Sunday. He also blamed the school for not providing the proper equipment. "Hammond and Milwaukee were bad, but never as bad as Akron. Actually, if defenses should focus on anyone, its Pollard. "Even if it helps just one person in the same situation as my great-grandfather, with the odds stacked against them, to persevere and make something of themselves, then it was worth it. On November 19, 1922, Pollard and Paul Robeson lead the Badgers to victory over the great Jim Thorpe and his Oorang Indians. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. It didn't end until the Los Angeles Rams signed Kenny Washington in 1946, and the NFL wasn't fully reintegrated until 1962. The 1993 Super Bowl was to be a landmark event for Arizona but it disappeared out of the state in a swirl of politics, polemic and division. "God had gifted me with a special talent to coach the game of football, but the need for change is bigger than my person goals," Flores said in a statement. Fritz Pollard, the NFL's first African-American head coach, was a true pioneer of the sport. [2], Pollard accepted a football scholarship from the University of Memphis. Corrections? "And the other big difference is that 70% of the players are Black.". Notifications can be turned off anytime in the browser settings. As he recalled the song in his final interview with Berry before his death in 1986, tears rolled down his cheek. Yet, Solomon said, Black men still aren't given equal opportunity to coach the teams they, perhaps, played for. For Meredith, who teaches children aged three to eight, Pollard's legacy has a power stretching beyond family and football. They also threatened not to play when he was denied a room in LA.