Pollard left a lasting impression in Providence. They were the suburb's only black family. (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). Halas is a name rightfully synonymous with the founding of the NFL. 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. [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). My father had taught me that I was too big to be humiliated by prejudiced whites. They lost the game through lack of rest." Both he and Halas were at that meeting of team owners in 1933, when Marshall pitched the idea of banning black players. He wasn't just a star football player and coach. "Hammond and Milwaukee were bad, but never as bad as Akron. Early years [ edit] He didn't get to see it. Aged 21, Pollard was only 5ft 8ins - small for football, even then. He was the son of Fritz Pollard Sr., who also held a few "first" designations, one of which was . "No cabins were provided, nor were they given a place to sleep after reaching Hampton. Gibbons went on to describe an incident that happened atan Akron restaurant as Pollard sat with a group of teammates. [20] Overall, he appeared in all 16 games, of which he started two, in the 2020 season. 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. He founded two coal delivery companies in Chicago and New York. More than 12,000 people came out to Wrigley to see a much-hyped contest that ended in a scoreless tie. 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). His white teammates had high respect for Pollard and often stuck up for him as he faced discrimination. 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. Pollard got all of 13 carries and turned it into 109 yards, his second biggest day as a pro. 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. As he recalled the song in his final interview with Berry before his death in 1986, tears rolled down his cheek. In 1916 Pollards outstanding play led Brown to a season of eight victories and one defeat, including wins over both Yale and Harvard. Pollard felt that he never received the credit or recognition for his contributions to the early years of the NFL. [23], In Week 5, against the Los Angeles Rams, Pollard had a 57-yard rushing touchdown. At one game, a competitor started mocking Pollard's curly hair. That quest had also been his own - to get his father into the US Pro Football Hall of Fame. Pollard, 25, has assumed a big role in 2022 as he preps for free agency. In 1923 and 1924, he served as head coach for the Hammond Pros.[2]. Still, some players didn't like that Pollard was playing and they despised even more that he was a star player in the NFL. "And the other big difference is that 70% of the players are Black.". There have been500 head coaches in the NFL's history 24 of them have been Black. A memorial for Marshall outside Washington's stadium was removed in June, along with all other references to him, after it was spray-painted with the words "change the name". He has a better burst. Two of the oldest teams, the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears, who opened this years season on Thursday night, were all-white when they first met. Pollard felt Halas held a personal grudge going back to when they were high school sports rivals in Chicago, and that he also played a prominent role in the ban being approved. Updated January 24, 2023 3:22 PM. Who could blame him? ", In February 2021, Dungywrote an open letter to NFL ownersabout the league's lack of minority hires. Pollard was one of the first two along with Bobby Marshall African-Americans in the National Football League in 1920. MEMPHIS, Tenn. Pollard's BBQ is back open on Sundaysbut you better have your Cowboys gear on. "When he was six years old, he said 'Mom, I'm going to the NFL.' According to Sports Info Solutions, only Josh Jacobs and Aaron Jones have a higher EPA generated per rushing attempt than Pollard. As he walked on, he wouldheartaunts shouted from the stands. Doyel: 100 years ago, the NFL took its first baby steps in Indiana. "Opposing players make it a point of pride to rough him as much as possible. The Fritz Pollard Association that certifies that NFL teams have complied with the Rooney Rule is also a tax exempt 501 (c) (6) organization. [11], Pollard was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round (128th overall) in the 2019 NFL Draft. Author of. 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. Is Dallas becoming unaffordable due to rising housing costs, inflation and stagnating pay? Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard (January 27, 1894 May 11, 1986) was an American football player and coach. It was a German-immigrant part of town. As a player-coach and later a fierce private advocate for black advancement in the game, Pollard never backed down to this authority. 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. It didn't end until the Los Angeles Rams signed Kenny Washington in 1946, and the NFL wasn't fully reintegrated until 1962. A memorial for Marshall outside Washington's stadium was removed in June, along with all other references to him, after it was spray-painted with the words "change the name". Fritz, the standout achiever, earned a Rockefeller Scholarship at Brown University, an Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island, on the United States' east coast. They'd then verify the information. [3] He became the first African American running back to be named to Walter Camp's All-America team. He registered 29 receptions for 298 yards (10.3-yard avg. [10], Fritz also coached the Gilberton Cadamounts, a non-NFL team. Some 27 years before Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier in baseball, Fritz Pollard was the best player for the first NFL champions in 1920. 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. 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. Pollard tied an NCAA record with seven kickoff returns for touchdowns. Teams would take kick-offs short, so that Pollard could be gang-tackled as soon as he received the ball. "And it has been discouraging to see that in the last three hiring cycles of head coaches, things have not been much different. Carolinas Christian McCaffrey is the only back ranked in the top 15 also averaging fewer than four yards per carry. Is Dallas becoming unaffordable due to rising housing costs, inflation and stagnating pay? A standout athlete at Brown University, Pollard also qualified for the 1916 Olympics in Berlin for the low hurdles, but the games were cancelled after the outbreak of World War I. As he faced criticism and discrimination, Pollard didn't fight back, not off the field. Tony isn't the only Pollard living his dream. [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. At his first game, he had to get dressed in the owner's cigar shop and was abused by his own team's fans. Latest on Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard including news, stats, videos, highlights and more on ESPN There are three awards in his name at Brown and in the 1970s, when his grandson Fritz III played football there, a local shop owner refused to take his money and said: "My father took me to see your grandfather play. The Pollard family tells ABC24 how it took a village to help the former Memphis Tiger achieve his dreams. Hundreds of black people were killed by white supremacists. Its more than fair to wonder about the opposite.More from Cowboys-Chargers, Poor clock management made game-winning kick longer than it needed to be, Cowboys were very comfortable playing in SoFi Stadium, Cowboys gained much-needed confidence from a victory the Chargers bungled away, Tony Pollard, Ezekiel Elliott run all over Chargers defense, Rookie LB Micah Parsons records first NFL sack while lined up at DE, 5 takeaways from Cowboys-Chargers, including the best game from Dallas linebackers in years, Cowboys were very comfortable playing in SoFi Stadium: That was our home game, National reaction to Cowboys-Chargers: Greg Zuerlein drills game-winning FG; Tony Pollard shines. Fritz Pollard blazed a trail as the first Black coach in the 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. He repeated as the American Athletic Conference's Special Teams Player of the Year. Here's the latest on Pollard's injury: Tony Pollard injury update. It was time for his family to take up the story. "Crack Lincoln University Team Coached by Fritz Pollard". He produced Rockin' the Blues[11] in 1956, which included such performers as Connie Carroll, The Harptones, The Five Miller Sisters, Pearl Woods,[12] Linda Hopkins, Elyce Roberts, The Hurricanes, and The Wanderers. I had to duck the rocks and the fellas trying to hurt me.". Tony Pollard broke his left . "What Pollard would have said is that at least 70%of coaches would be Black," Solomon said. 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. Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard, middle, is carted off the field during the 19-12 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Bleacher crowds and outside towns jeerhim and taunthim about his color," read anarticle in the Akron Evening Times December 5, 1920. In 1920, with Pollard leading the team, the Pros went undefeated (8-0-3) to win the league's first championship. At that time, black players were banned from the sport. On special teams, he totaled 2,616 kick return yards and seven touchdowns. Pollard was wickedly smart and, while playing halfback at Brown as the school's first Black player, he majored in chemistry, earning almost all As. By February 1933, there had been 13 black players in the NFL. In his seven-year pro career, Pollard played for four NFL teams plus two in rival leagues in Pennsylvania. Pollard's magic on the field created a following for the NFL. The same players that shunned Pollard four months earlier were now bringing him food. Born Frederick Douglass Pollard in 1894 - after the abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass - his nickname Fritz reflected Rogers Park's predominantly German make-up. George Halas Bears, then called the Staleys, also claimed the title with a 10-1-2 record. 1. On the train coming out, Pollard hadn't been allowed to sit with his teammates in the dining car. 0:00. The former Memphis standout is currently earning a base salary of $965,000 while carrying a cap charge of $1.131 million, via Spotrac. As a native American, Thorpe had battled racial prejudice to become a multi-sport star, winning golds in decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics. There was one Black head coach in the NFL in 1921. Pollard's family grew up Pittsburgh Steelers fans, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal. The FPA negotiated with the NFL to establish a rule requiring teams to interview at least one ethnic minority candidate for each head coach vacancy. As his team returned from one game in Gilberton, the train's windows were shot out. 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. He's also caught 39 passes for 337 yards. But on Thursday night at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, as a sign of how far things have come since Pollards day, 70 percent of the players on the active rosters of the Bears and Packers were black, a statistic that mirrors the dominant presence of blacks on the field in a league that had $8.78 billion in revenue in 2018. They knew he'd be targeted because of his size and skin colour. Sometimes Pollard's team stayed in centre-field at half-time rather than run the gauntlet of going into the locker room. Pollard became the second African-American in the College Hall of Fame in 1954. "This is a man who paved the way, who showed there is hope. When Pollard played, the NFL was new, rough and tumble, a backyard type of experiment, said Towns. "(I) didnt get mad and want tofight them. Kansas CIty Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes' touchdowns from his biggest games this season ahead of Sunday night's NFL Super Bowl against the. For decades the team owners claimed there was no unwritten agreement. This wasn't the first time the team had encountered such prejudice. Then a fateful meeting took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In his second, he faced future Hall of Famer Jim Thorpe. Yet he welcomed Pollard with a highly abusive racial slur, saying he was going to kill him. Frederick Douglass " Fritz " Pollard (January 27, 1894 - May 11, 1986) was an American football player and coach. "My students know I get so mad at them if they call themselves 'stupid'. As a redshirt freshman, he appeared in 13 games, of which he started seven. Fans started showing up to see what this footballleague was all about. He subsequently became the first black running back to ever be selected for the All-American team. It's kind of weird to say, but I. [8] Paul Robeson was enlisted by Lincoln's alumni to coach the Thanksgiving 1920 game against Howard. After leaving Brown, Pollard pursued a degree in dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania for two years. But in the 1916 season, Brown beat Yale and Harvard on consecutive weekends. "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. Pollard is severely underpaid as a mid-round draft pick. Pollard suffered a fractured left . (Story), What Happened To Ed Hochuli? He managed the Suntan Movie Studio in Harlem. "In making the decision to file the (complaint), I understand that I may be risking coaching the game that I love and that has done so much for my family and me. It doesn't force any teamto hire a Black head coach. He finished with 101 carries for 435 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns to go along with 28 receptions for 193 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown. Pollard's legacy lives on through his grandson Fritz D Pollard III (and children Meredith Pollard Russell and Marcus Pollard) his other grandson Dr Stephen Towns and granddaughter Stephanie Towns. Imagine NFL stars of today like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson having to arrive moments before kick-off and being driven on to the field. Pollard established theNew York Independent News, the first weekly black tabloid. And believe us, Fritz got some service after that.". In the second quarter of the Cowboys-49ers divisional matchup, the Cowboys running back had his left ankle trapped underneath a . Yet, through it all, Pollard held his head high and helped lead Brown to the Rose Bowl against Washington State in 1916. He is closing in on 1,700 runs and receptions while just starting his sixth season. 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. "My son is on TV playing for the Cowboys? Pollard, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, died in 1986. "Sometimes they would just pick him up, take him to camp and wouldn't ask for a dime," Torria said. He had waited65 years from his hiringas an NFL coach to see if he had pioneered a change. He then went to Brown University, majoring in chemistry. He also worked as director of an army YMCAand coached football at Lincoln University. [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]. Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Growingup, Towns said his grandfather didn't complain or talk much about those trials. 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 NFL has now acknowledged, Meet the young UK wrestlers fighting their demons. "Becausethey didn't want him in the locker room.". Tony Dungy, who became the first Black . Pollard underwent surgery. For Meredith, who teaches children aged three to eight, Pollard's legacy has a power stretching beyond family and football. He later worked as a tax and public relations consultant. He was born Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard. If they think they can't do something or belittle themselves. 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. Get the latest news. Pollard attended Albert G. Lane Manual Training High School in Chicago, also known as "Lane Tech," where he played football, baseball, and ran track. But the hiring didn't break down barriers. In 1921, Pollard was made player-coach and finished as the league's top scorer. 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. To settle who was the real champion, Halas reached out to Pollard to arrange a game between the Staleys and the Pros in Chicago. Five of the 11 men who had agreed to ban black players were, however. He played professional football with the Akron Pros, the team he would lead to the APFA championship in 1920. But he combated such treatment with tricks he learned from his brothers. But the discussion of balance that was all about run vs. pass after Tampa Bay should shift to the balancing act the two running backs necessitate.