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. Additionally, Pollard ranks ninth in positive EPA play percentage, meaning he is . 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.. He called the team Redskins in 1933, a racial slur that was only. . Only 5 feet 7 inches (1.7 metres) and 150 pounds (68 kg), Pollard won the grudging acceptance of his teammates at Brown University in Rhode Island in 1915, leading the team to a victory over Yale and an invitation to the Tournament of Roses game in Pasadena, California. 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. Given all that we have seen, its a safe bet the winning wont continue forever for this club. They taught Fritz that he could never retaliate, despite the provocation he was sure to face. "The big contrast now is absolutely how crazy big the NFL is as a business, billions and billions of dollars," he said. "Sometimes I sit at home and say, 'I can't believe this,' Torria said. When owners colluded to shut black players out of the league from 1934 to 1946, Pollard used the pages of a newspaper that he started after his retirement to press for change. 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?". Everything he learnt from his brothers was about to be put to the test. That's where he got the nickname Fritz. "Members of the Akron Pros swear by Pollard," wroteJack Gibbons of The Akron Beacon Journal on Nov.30, 1920. My father had taught me that I was too big to be humiliated by prejudiced whites. Nonetheless, in the opening week of the NFL season, there were four black head coaches, one black general manager and nine black starting quarterbacks. His imprint on this issue is felt daily through the work of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, an organization that advocates for diversity and equality in coaching, scouting and the front office in the NFL. Teams would take kick-offs short, so that Pollard could be gang-tackled as soon as he received the ball. Football pioneer Walter Camp called Pollard "one of the greatest runners these eyes have ever seen."[1]. As a senior, he was a two-way starter at wide receiver and cornerback on the high school football team. The Pollard family will now have to switch to Cowboys fans now that they have family ties with the team. Here are five things Cowboys fans might not know about the running back and special teams ace: Pollard was raised in Memphis and decided to stay in the city when he made his college choice. He is the sonof a despised race. The 5-9, 165-pound back, who led Brown to the Rose Bowl in 1915, turned pro in 1919, when he joined the Akron (OH) Pros following army service during World War I. NFL pioneer Fritz Pollard's life story more relevant than ever Published: Jun 17, 2020 at 05:18 PM Anthony Smith "Fritz Pollard: A Forgotten Man", directed and produced by NFL Network senior. [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. For Meredith, who teaches children aged three to eight, Pollard's legacy has a power stretching beyond family and football. "Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the '40s," says Pollard's grandson, Fritz Pollard III. He was the school's first black athlete a triple threat when it came to sports in football, track and boxing. "For Brown, The Wrong Shoe Was On The Foot In The '16 Rose Bowl Game," by Frank Bianco (Nov. 24, 1980), More Black History Month Pioneers:* 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, 2023 ABG-SI LLC. The NFL did not respond to a request for comment on this story. We look at why having two black quarterbacks in the Super Bowl is such a big moment for the NFL, and profile star men Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts. "They said no African Americans, period, because it was bad for business," said Towns. In 1921, Pollard was made player-coach and finished as the league's top scorer. (Story), What Happened To Ed Hochuli? 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. In 1920, the leagues inaugural season, when there was no playoff and the champion was determined by its win-loss record, Pollards Pros went 8-0-3 and took the title. There was one Black head coach in the NFL in 1921. ", "I will never tell a child again to sit down. He is one of the great football stars of all time.". "And it has been discouraging to see that in the last three hiring cycles of head coaches, things have not been much different. Pollard had a subpar game in a 140 defeat to Washington State, but he became the first African American to play in the Rose Bowl game. The Dallas Cowboys selectedTony Pollard in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. 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, the NFL's first African-American head coach, was a true pioneer of the sport. "If anybody had the right to be angry about the way he was treated it was my grandfather, but he never showed it," says Fritz III. "Hammond and Milwaukee were bad, but never as bad as Akron. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. The former Memphis standout is currently earning a base salary of $965,000 while carrying a cap charge of $1.131 million, via Spotrac. Five of the 11 men who had agreed to ban black players were, however. (Complete Story), The Life And Career Of NFL Co-Founder Carl Storck (Story), The Life And Career Of Jim Thorpe (Complete Story), Top 20 Most Underrated Coaches In NFL History (Complete List), The Life And Career Of QB Jim Plunkett (Complete Story), The Life And Career Of Deion Sanders (Complete Story). Tony Dungy, who became the first Black . Pollard ended his playing career in 1926, aged 32. In 1921, he became the first African-American head coach in the National Football League (NFL). Pollard was small, even for. The US summer of 1919 was known as the Red Summer. He also founded an all-black football team in Harlem that was unsuccessful in luring local NFL teams to play exhibition games. "Prior to the Hampton game, the team was compelled to go to Hampton by boat, sleeping on the decks and under portholes," he told a reporter. But its unlikely Zeke will get beyond 4.5 yards per carry, where he finished in 2019. Pollard was the only Akron player named in the All-Pro side, but when the team received their championship trophy, he wasn't invited. He attended Albert G. Lane Manual Training High School in Chicago where he played football, baseballand ran track. MEMPHIS, Tenn. Pollard's BBQ is back open on Sundaysbut you better have your Cowboys gear on. 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. Hes quicker. As he walked on, he wouldheartaunts shouted from the stands. Pollard was carted to the X-ray room with an air cast on his leg. Since this would be the second consecutive season on . I didnt go sniffing around hoping theyd accept me. Yet the social revolution that Pollard led in the professional game is largely responsible for the sports endurance as the countrys most popular spectator sport. A year ago when Pollard averaged 4.3 to Zeke's 4.0, and when Pollard got a late-season start against San Francisco and ran for 69 yards and two touchdowns on just 12 carries, it was because the . The following year Pollard was the star player for the Akron Pros, who won the first NFL championship. But the hiring didn't break down barriers. He opened the Sun Tan Studios, where the likes of Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole rehearsed, and produced music videos called 'soundies'. His mother was Native American, his father an African American who boxed professionally during the Civil War. Newspaper articles at the time, who described Pollard as a "colored" coach, praised his stellar football IQ. Pollard died in 1986 at 92, outliving his rival, George Halas, by three years. The same players that shunned Pollard four months earlier were now bringing him food. He was 65. [8] Paul Robeson was enlisted by Lincoln's alumni to coach the Thanksgiving 1920 game against Howard. The final was 13-0 with Robeson scoring both touchdowns in his finest pro football performance. Pollard and Thorpe were pro football's highest-paid players, the main attractions. All the while, he faced death threats from students and opposing teams. For decades the team owners claimed there was no unwritten agreement. So that played a big part too. Here are five things Cowboys fans might not know about the running back and special teams ace: Stayed home. Here's when clocks will 'spring forward' in 2023, Cordova High School alum Quinton Bohanna makes Dallas Cowboys 53-man roster, Defense leads the way in Memphis' 44-34 win over North Texas. "Becausethey didn't want him in the locker room.". 0:00. [25] In Week 11, Pollard had 80 rushing yards, and six catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns in a 40-3 win over the Vikings, earning NFC Offensive Player of the Week. By Farrell Evans. 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. How to get into American football a sport for all shapes and sizes that requires both mental and physical skills. Gibbons went on to describe an incident that happened atan Akron restaurant as Pollard sat with a group of teammates. Pollard got all of 13 carries and turned it into 109 yards, his second biggest day as a pro. He was the seventh of eight children born to a Native American mother and an African American father. The Life And Career Of Steve Sabol (Story), The Fascinating Life Of Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder (Story), What Happened To NFL Referee Mike Carey? The manager appeared, and Pollard got a room. He didn't get to see it. ", 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. USA TODAY. 1. Pollard asked to run the play twice more and scored two more touchdowns. Something like that. He was almost always in the game -- as quarterback, running back and often doing punt returns and kickoff returns. "Opposing players make it a point of pride to rough him as much as possible. Updated January 24, 2023 3:22 PM. Thats Tennessees Derrick Henry, Minnesotas Dalvin Cook and Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson. He founded a newspaper, and set up an investment fund and a company trading coal. Fritz Pollard was born in Chicago in 1894, the seventh of eight children. As a football player, entertainment promoter and social activist, Pollard might have applauded the leagues partnership with Jay-Z and his entertainment company to use musical events to build community relations. It was the best game I'd ever seen.". Fritz III says his grandfather felt there were two reasons why he wasn't voted into the Hall of Fame during his lifetime: George Halas and George Preston Marshall. It didn't end until the Los Angeles Rams signed Kenny Washington in 1946, and the NFL wasn't fully reintegrated until 1962. 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 . Not the way Solomon believes Pollard might have expected. When they tell you something that they want to do, listen. Many know that Pollard suffered from food poising at the NFL combine. He called the team Redskins in 1933, a racial slur that was only dropped in July this year amid mounting pressure. In 2022, with the Steelers' Mike Tomlin and recently-named Texans head coach Lovie Smith, that percentage is 6.3%. That's 4.8%. As ESPN's Bill Barnwell noted, Pollard has now touched the ball just eight times in his career after his 30th snap of a given game. When an opposing linebacker greeted Pollard with a deeply offensive racial slur, he responded by waltzing past him and into the end zone. USA TODAY NFL insider Mike Jones breaks down former Miami Dolphins' head coach Brian Flores' lawsuit against the NFL, Giants and Dolphins. At that time, black players were banned from the sport. Pollard becamethe first Black man to play in the Rose Bowl. Pollard's father had been a boxer who fought professionally during the Civil War. 100 years ago, the NFL took its first baby steps in Indiana, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. He became a tax consultant. Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard, middle, is carted off the field during the 19-12 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. He continued to promote the integration of more black players. Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard was born Jan. 27, 1894. What also helped build momentum was an advocacy group formed in 2003 that champions diversity and the hiring of NFL coaches, scouts and front-office staff from minority backgrounds. American football was different. "Id look at themand grin," Pollard said in a 1974 interview with NFL Films. Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Pollard played and coached at a time when restaurants wouldn't serve him and hotels shunned him. Your email address will not be published. It would be almost half a century until the NFL next had a black starting quarterback. Pollard was born on Feb. 18, 1915, in Springfield, Mass. [27], Last edited on 27 February 2023, at 01:13, "Tony Pollard, Memphis , All Purpose Back", "Prep insider: All-district 16-AAA football teams", "Tony Pollard is AAC special teams player of the year; Five other Tigers earn all-conference honors", "2017 American Athletic Conference Football Postseason Honors", "Birmingham Bowl - Memphis vs Wake Forest Box Score, December 22, 2018", "Tony Pollard 2018 University of Memphis", "Memphis football's Tony Pollard declares for the NFL Draft", "Memphis' Tony Pollard added to Senior Bowl Roster", "Tony Pollard Draft and Combine Prospect Profile", "Tony Pollard, Memphis, WR, 2019 NFL Draft Scout, NCAA College Football", "New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys September 8th, 2019", "Prescott, Cowboys get out of funk, ease past Dolphins 316", "Cowboys render coin toss mix-up moot, throttle Rams 4421", "2020 Dallas Cowboys Statistics & Players", "San Francisco 49ers at Dallas Cowboys December 20th, 2020", "Dallas Cowboys at Los Angeles Chargers - September 19th, 2021", "New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys - October 10th, 2021", "2022 NFL season, Week 5: What We Learned from Sunday's games", "Updates: Tony Pollard Wins Weekly RB Award", "Cowboys RB Tony Pollard, Chiefs TE Travis Kelce highlight Players of the Week", "Source: RB Pollard undergoes surgery for ankle", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tony_Pollard_(American_football)&oldid=1141830404, This page was last edited on 27 February 2023, at 01:13. On November 19, 1922, Pollard and Paul Robeson lead the Badgers to victory over the great Jim Thorpe and his Oorang Indians. Marshall was an avowed segregationist who owned the Washington football franchise from its inception in 1932 to his death in 1969. [19] In Week 15 against the San Francisco 49ers, Pollard recorded 132 yards from scrimmage and two rushing touchdowns during the 4133 win. Then a fateful meeting took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was a German-immigrant part of town. Fritz Pollard, the Brown University halfback, in 1916. Mark Wahlberg pours tequila for fans at Dallas restaurant during thunderstorm, Luka Doncic-Kyrie Irving tandem clicks with joint 40-point displays in Mavs win vs. 76ers, Dallas Cowboys focused on adding another dynamic offensive weapon, 12 Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants that have closed in 2023, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones responds to Lakers star LeBron James comments. "You couldn't eat in the restaurants or stay in the hotels," Pollard told the New York Times in 1978. Yet, Pollard's humble, quiet ways never changed. As a player, coach and team owner, he was as important as any single figure in helping to put the league on a course to become the sprawling multibillion-dollar juggernaut that it is today. He averaged 30.1 yards per return. Born Frederick Douglass Pollard in 1894 - after the abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass - his nickname Fritz reflected Rogers Park's predominantly German make-up. [20] Overall, he appeared in all 16 games, of which he started two, in the 2020 season. His white teammates had high respect for Pollard and often stuck up for him as he faced discrimination. [7] In the 2018 Birmingham Bowl against Wake Forest, he recorded 318 all-purpose yards (209 on kickoff returns) and one rushing touchdown. Pollard was one of only two African-Americans at Brown in 1915 and the first to live on campus. In 1923, while playing for the Hammond Pros, he became the first African American quarterback in the league. Flores suit came afterthe New York Giants hiredBrian Daboll over him as head coach. "They couldn't find anything so I said 'you're looking in the wrong papers'," says Fritz III. By February 1933, there had been 13 black players in the NFL. [3] He finished among the national leaders in kickoff return average (28.1 yards). Pollard was one of the first two along with Bobby Marshall African-Americans in the National Football League in 1920. As a redshirt freshman, he appeared in 13 games, of which he started seven. Be the smartest Cowboys fan. Pollard took the matter into his own hands and created an all-Black football team, the Chicago Black Hawks, in 1928, challengingNFL teams to exhibition games. Then came a telegram that changed everything. Don't let anyone tell you 'no'. Pollard told him: "You'll find me down there in your end zone.". '", RELATED: Cordova High School alum Quinton Bohanna makes Dallas Cowboys 53-man roster. I was never interested in socializing with whites. "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. He missed the 1920 Howard game, he said, because his Lincoln salary was so low that he was compelled to augment it with pay from Akron.[9]. [1] He helped the team reach the playoffs, while making over 1,200 receiving yards, 20 touchdowns and being named All-District 16-AAA. Aged 21, Pollard was only 5ft 8ins - small for football, even then. Briscoe passed for 14 touchdowns in 1968 - still a Denver Broncos record for a rookie. IE 11 is not supported. They had to cut to a commercial and then my phone just blew up with people saying 'they're talking about your grandfather'.". 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 . On special teams, he totaled 2,616 kick return yards and seven touchdowns. His brother Terrion now carries on the family tradition, working with his dad at Pollard's. "I kind of love it. I was there to play football and make my money.. He touched the ball on 16 of his 21 snaps Sunday. In 1920, with Pollard leading the team, the Pros went undefeated (8-0-3) to win the league's first championship. Tony isn't the only Pollard living his dream. 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. Be the smartest Cowboys fan. "We thought that meant the NFL was out tohire more Black head coaches. Corrections? Pollard and Co. Pollard's son Fritz Jr competed at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, winning a bronze medal in the 110m hurdles before serving in the US army in World War II. Both men are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Frederick Douglass " Fritz " Pollard (January 27, 1894 - May 11, 1986) was an American football player and coach. 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. A century later, some say his coaching experience in the league mirrors today's NFL. In 1921, he became the first African-American head coach in the National Football League (NFL). Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Watch quarterback Jalen Hurts' best plays from his biggest games for the Philadelphia Eagles as he prepares to face the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday's Super Bowl. Brown finished with an 8-1 record, with their star player selected in the All-America team. 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 . Two days after he suffered a broken left fibula and high ankle sprain in Dallas' 19-12 loss against the San . this year amid mounting pressure. With his last words, spoken to his family in 2003, he said:. 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. Marshall's Washington team was the last to sign a black player - after the government threatened to revoke the team's lease on their publicly funded stadium if they did not. 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. Pollard's team won most of those games, said Towns. In 1937, Fritz Pollard retired from pro football and pursued a career in business. Eventually the hotel relented. His is a story for too long left untold. Pollard's wins above replacement also ranks third in the NFL, behind Jacobs and Nick Chubb. 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. The Yale supporters also turned 'Bye Bye Blackbird', a popular song of the day, into a racially abusive anthem. There have been500 head coaches in the NFL's history 24 of them have been Black. 1. The family had prospered. . One opposing school'sfans would sing "Bye Bye Blackbird"when his grandfathercame on the field, Towns said. Sometimes Pollard's team stayed in centre-field at half-time rather than run the gauntlet of going into the locker room. His case is typical of a process called 'racial stacking' which still influences the number of black head coaches we see today. "They threw rocks at me and called me all kinds of names. Mother Amanda was a respected seamstress while father John was a successful businessman. In 1919, he signed on to play for the Akron Pros in the American Professional Football Association, which was renamed the NFL in 1922. "My son is on TV playing for the Cowboys? Then in November 1923, after switching teams, he played an entire game at quarterback for the Hammond Pros. And, his grandson said, 100 years after Pollard coached in the NFL and 36 years after his death, he is sure Pollard would have wanted more from the league he helped build. If they think they can't do something or belittle themselves. "Times got hard, he let me skip a payment here, skip a payment there and train them anyway," Tarrance said. ", In February 2021, Dungywrote an open letter to NFL ownersabout the league's lack of minority hires. Yet, Solomon said, Black men still aren't given equal opportunity to coach the teams they, perhaps, played for. Pollard is severely underpaid as a mid-round draft pick. Reality television is a place where anything and everything is on the table. Pollard left a lasting impression in Providence. Its possible the head coach simply believes that. In those times, Memphis-area trainers and coaches like Tim Thompson stepped up to do their part.
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