Pollard was not the first black athlete paid to play football, but he was the first to star in the confederation of Midwestern franchises that became the National Football League. Fans started showing up to see what this footballleague was all about. Frederick Douglass " Fritz " Pollard (January 27, 1894 - May 11, 1986) was an American football player and coach. and six touchdowns. 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. 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. Here's the latest on Pollard's injury: Tony Pollard injury update. "Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the '40s," says Pollard's grandson, Fritz Pollard III. Pollard's family grew up Pittsburgh Steelers fans, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal. In 2020, there are three black coaches - the same as when the rule was instituted. "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. When he began playing football aged 15 in 1909, he measured 4ft 11ins and weighed 89 pounds. The new owner of a team there had got in touch with him. [9], On January 11, 2019, Pollard declared for the 2019 NFL Draft. While Brown lost the Rose Bowl 14-0 to Washington State,it was a historic game. Tony isn't the only Pollard living his dream. As a redshirt freshman, he appeared in 13 games, of which he started seven. "Fritz Pollards skin is black. Tony isn't the only Pollard living his dream. 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. Segregation laws had been abolished in the northern states, but with many southerners migrating for work in the rubber factories of Ohio and the coal mines of Pennsylvania, he continued to experience racial discrimination almost everywhere he played. As he walked on, he wouldheartaunts shouted from the stands. When an opposing linebacker greeted Pollard with a deeply offensive racial slur, he responded by waltzing past him and into the end zone. In his seven-year pro career, Pollard played for four NFL teams plus two in rival leagues in Pennsylvania. All eight of the Pollard children graduated from high school and excelled at athletics or music. The rule is named for former Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who chaired the league's diversity committee. "The big contrast now is absolutely how crazy big the NFL is as a business, billions and billions of dollars," he said. The Pollards were well known in Rogers Park, a suburb on the north side of Chicago. Now the family shop is where Tony's family and friends gather to cheer him on. 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). The FPA meets with the NFL formally twice a year to discuss proposals and collate a list of qualified minority candidates ready for interview. I'd rather watch him do it.". 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Pollard wanted the same thing. "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.". "You couldn't eat in the restaurants or stay in the hotels," Pollard told the New York Times in 1978. [15] During Week 3 against the Miami Dolphins, Pollard posted his first career 100+-yard game as he finished with 103 rushing yards on 13 carries and a touchdown as the Cowboys won 316. But when the Pro Football Hall of Fame opened in 1963, he was not among the charter class of 17 inductees. IE 11 is not supported. 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 . They taught Fritz that he could never retaliate, despite the provocation he was sure to face. He is considered by many observers of the NFL as the first conscience of the game. ), 31 carries for 159 yards (5.1-yard avg.) Instead, he let his play speak for itself. He didn't care to serve Fritz," Gibbons wrote. Many credit Pollard and Jim Thorpe with saving the fledgling league as it struggled to compete with baseball and boxing. and three touchdowns. 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. Early years [ edit] Things have not been much different in 100 years, said Solomon. Everything he learnt from his brothers was about to be put to the test. But Pollard appears more likely for several reasons. The Fritz Pollard Alliance was in 2016 one of the first to support Colin Kaepernick, another black quarterback who has had to wait for the significance of his deeds to be acknowledged by his sport. He left Memphis as one of the most accomplish kick returners in NCAA history. Pollard then signed with the NFL's Akron Pros, whom he led to a championship in his rookie season. His three older brothers all played the game and felt black players could do well - if they adhered to an unwritten code of conduct. After Pollard, the second black starting quarterback was Marlin Briscoe in 1968. "Id look at themand grin," Pollard said in a 1974 interview with NFL Films. "It's terribly ironic that we live in a time that Fritz Pollard's own coaching experience in the NFL isn't really that different from today," said Aron Solomon, chief legal analyst with Today's Esquire, which provides comprehensive legal analysis on news stories of the day. It was really important to us as a family to get that known. If Pollard wasn't allowed to stay at the hotel, they would all leave and head back to Rhode Island. Halas and Pollard had both grown up in Chicago and knew each other from high school. "And it has been discouraging to see that in the last three hiring cycles of head coaches, things have not been much different. "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. Against all these handicaps, Fritz Pollard plays with dauntless spirit. The Dallas Cowboys selected Tony Pollard in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. If he is tackled, as many as possible pile on him. 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. As well as being a running back, he was a defensive back, receiver, kicker, punt returner and kick-off returner. Black players began dominatingthe NFL. "All of us got played by the NFL," he said. They also threatened not to play when he was denied a room in LA. Their move north had paid off. He was so swift and agile that even those who scoffed -- and worse -- at a Black player, couldn't help but cheer when he ran for three50-yard touchdowns in one game. In 1917 he enlisted in the army, serving as a physical director in Maryland while coaching at the all-black Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. Fritz Pollard, an All-America halfback from Brown University was a pro football pioneer in more ways than one. Many believe that the Cowboys just found their next kick returner. They'd then verify the information. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. These shows can run the gamut of topics from love on The Bachelor, to partying and a little bit of chaos on Jersey Shore.. During the 2000s, Flavor of Love became a hit dating show that ultimately launched the career of Tiffany Pollard, who most people know better as New York. 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. When Pollard comes in, the defense focuses on the passing game. The figure to keep Pollard from becoming a free agent is $10.1 million. In 1923, while playing for the Hammond Pros, he became the first African American quarterback in the league. 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. In the second quarter of the Cowboys-49ers divisional matchup, the Cowboys running back had his left ankle trapped underneath a . There was one Black head coach in the NFL in 1921. 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. [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. Getty Images. Since that letter, Dungy says"not a lot has changed. Notifications can be turned off anytime in the browser settings. Pollard was at the time just the sixth black pro-football player in an era when lynchings of black men by white mobs were almost a daily occurrence. If so, watch our guide to the key rules, the player positions and the ultimate aim of the game. Fritz Pollard, the Brown University halfback, in 1916. 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. He founded two coal delivery companies in Chicago and New York. If someone can slug him without the referee seeing him, it is done. Example video title will go here for this video. . AKA: Sharon K Fritz, Sharon Fritz-Pollard, Sharon K Pollard. "Crack Lincoln University Team Coached by Fritz Pollard". 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. Given all that we have seen, its a safe bet the winning wont continue forever for this club. This article is about the football pioneer. Instead, it's a box-checking exercise. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com. This should have surprised no one. Pollard becamethe first Black man to play in the Rose Bowl. Hundreds of black people were killed by white supremacists. 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). 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. Halas was the greatest foe of Black football players, Pollard told a reporter in 1971, adding that Halas helped start the ball rolling that eventually led to the barring of blacks from professional football in 1933., While Halas dismissed the notion that he was racist, he wouldnt draft a black player until 1949 when he took George Taliaferro out of Indiana, the first African American to be drafted by an NFL team. Pollard tied an NCAA record with seven kickoff returns for touchdowns. "Fred Pollard Finishes as Coach for Lincoln", "Path Lit by Lightning" by David Maraniss, Last edited on 22 February 2023, at 22:16, Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Racial issues faced by black quarterbacks, "Jim Muldoon inducted into Rose Bowl Hall of Fame", "Mark Brunell, Fritz Pollard, Tyrone Wheatley and Jim Muldoon to be Inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame presented by Northwestern Mutual", "Alpha Athletes at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany", Brown University and the Black Coaches Association establish annual Fritz Pollard Award, Fritz Pollard and early African American professional football players, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fritz_Pollard&oldid=1141008765. Read about our approach to external linking. ProFootballHistory.com. His professional career was finally about to begin. From there, Black players joined the league and began dominating on the field. He had two returns for touchdown and was named the American Athletic Conference's Special Teams Player of the Year. He was honoured instead at a separate banquet held by a local black business association. He registered 29 receptions for 298 yards (10.3-yard avg. 38. Pollard established theNew York Independent News, the first weekly black tabloid. 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, Ex-Cowboys OC Kellen Moore opens up on Dallas departure, shows gratitude for Mike McCarthy, 12 Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants that have closed in 2023. He founded a newspaper, and set up an investment fund and a company trading coal. Its possible the head coach simply believes that. That is a heavy, heavy workload, and if there is one thing I give head coach Mike McCarthy credit for, its understanding this. January 26, 2023 11:18 am CT. Torria and Tarrance Pollard made sure Tony and his older brother Terrion had every opportunity to succeed on the field, even if that meant expensive camps and training. His legacy lives on with the Fritz Pollard Alliance, an initiative that promotes the hiring of minority candidates across professional football. 'Feels Like Home:' electrical failure from a light fixture caused December fire that killed 1, Shelby County reporting an increase in drug-related overdoses, largely due to fentanyl, Severe weather threat is over | Prepare for a sunny weekend, Daylight saving time starts soon. Is Dallas becoming unaffordable due to rising housing costs, inflation and stagnating pay? 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). At one game, a competitor started mocking Pollard's curly hair. I was there to play football and make my money.. "My granddaddy barbequed at home," said Tarrance Pollard, Tony's father. With his last words, spoken to his family in 2003, he said:. [7] In the 2018 Birmingham Bowl against Wake Forest, he recorded 318 all-purpose yards (209 on kickoff returns) and one rushing touchdown. In 1921, Pollard was made player-coach and finished as the league's top scorer. Who could blame him? Pollard and Thorpe were pro football's highest-paid players, the main attractions. 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. Still, many were motivated to see them by the opportunity for abuse. [18], Pollard continued his role as a backup to Ezekiel Elliott to go along with some kickoff return duties in the 2020 season. Coming out of the Reconstruction era which followed the American Civil War, the Pollards wanted to live free from the racial oppression of segregation laws in the south and had moved from Oklahoma in 1886. 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. Pollard and Bobby Marshall were the first two African-American players in the NFL in 1920. Get the latest news. Newspaper articles at the time, who described Pollard as a "colored" coach, praised his stellar football IQ. In 2022, with the Steelers' Mike Tomlin and recently-named Texans head coach Lovie Smith, that percentage is 6.3%. Tony Pollard Is a Special Runner. The Bears recently unveiled statues of Halas and one of his great draft choices, Walter Payton, the Hall of Fame running back, who could not have played in the league were it not for the sacrifices of men like Pollard. But McCarthy has said the team will be careful with Elliotts carries because they need him at the end of the year. Many know that Pollard suffered from food poising at the NFL combine. Then a fateful meeting took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 2005, Fritz Pollard was posthumously inducted into the, In 2015, Pollard was posthumously inducted into the, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 22:16. 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. In 1921, he became the first African-American head coach in the National Football League (NFL). Football pioneer Walter Camp called Pollard "one of the greatest runners these eyes have ever seen."[1]. Tony Dungy, who became the first Black . Updated January 24, 2023 3:22 PM. Gibbons went on to describe an incident that happened atan Akron restaurant as Pollard sat with a group of teammates. ", "I will never tell a child again to sit down. Pollard waited his entire life for a second Black person to be named head coach of an NFL team. His case is typical of a process called 'racial stacking' which still influences the number of black head coaches we see today. "Oh yes," said Towns. The family had prospered. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. He was a theater agent, booking African-Americans in clubs across New York City. And yet, still very few NFL fans have even heard of Pollard. But I was there to play football. This February, Sports Illustrated is celebrating Black History Month by spotlighting a different iconic athlete every day. 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.. 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. ", In February 2021, Dungywrote an open letter to NFL ownersabout the league's lack of minority hires. He played college football at Memphis, and was drafted by the Cowboys in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft . "We better let him play," the linebacker told the coach. Pollard's magic on the field created a following for the NFL. Its also possibly his way of talking around what seems to be a delicate situation. There have been 24 in total, with three currently among the 32 teams, despite about 70% of NFL players being from ethnic minorities. "I, myself, bought and paid $200 out of my pocket for football shoes for the team." [20] Overall, he appeared in all 16 games, of which he started two, in the 2020 season. 3:09. That'sjust the way the times were back then," Pollard would say. It's cheaper. In those times, Memphis-area trainers and coaches like Tim Thompson stepped up to do their part. "The waiter took everybody's order but Pollard's. In 1921, Pollard became the league's first black coach and in 1923 its first black quarterback. Some of the worst violence took place in Pollard's home town of Chicago. [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 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. Is Dallas becoming unaffordable due to rising housing costs, inflation and stagnating pay? "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. 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. There have been500 head coaches in the NFL's history 24 of them have been Black. It was the best game I'd ever seen.". "You just lived with it. If I figured a hotel or restaurant didnt want me, I stayed away. This year, the NFL is celebrating its 100th season and a heritage that began when 11 teams met on Aug. 20, 1920, in Canton, Ohio, to form the American Professional Football Association. Yet, Solomon said, Black men still aren't given equal opportunity to coach the teams they, perhaps, played for. The play that ended Tony Pollard's postseason had huge ramifications on the Cowboys offense in . Last updated on 2 October 20202 October 2020.From the section American Football. "Pollard's Orange and Blue Juggernaut Crushes Camp Dix". At that time, black players were banned from the sport. Marshall was an avowed segregationist who owned the Washington football franchise from its inception in 1932 to his death in 1969. For decades the team owners claimed there was no unwritten agreement. 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. "It was a literal fight," she says. By February 1933, there had been 13 black players in the NFL. [8] Paul Robeson was enlisted by Lincoln's alumni to coach the Thanksgiving 1920 game against Howard. As long as were winning, everything is fine, Pollard said after Sundays 20-17 victory. Since this would be the second consecutive season on . [19] In Week 15 against the San Francisco 49ers, Pollard recorded 132 yards from scrimmage and two rushing touchdowns during the 4133 win. Tony Randall Pollard (born April 30, 1997) is an American football running back for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). "This is a man who paved the way, who showed there is hope. "We thought that meant the NFL was out tohire more Black head coaches. Here are five things Cowboys fans might not know about the running back and special teams ace: Stayed home. Fritz was gifted with speed and elusiveness but he was small. Surrounded by family and BBQ. 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 Yale supporters also turned 'Bye Bye Blackbird', a popular song of the day, into a racially abusive anthem. Pollard's wins above replacement also ranks third in the NFL, behind Jacobs and Nick Chubb. For Meredith, who teaches children aged three to eight, Pollard's legacy has a power stretching beyond family and football. Pollard left a legacy no one would soon forget in his years at UND. It would be almost half a century until the NFL next had a black starting quarterback. In 1981 Brown University conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) In 1954 Pollard became the second African American selected to the College Football Hall of Fame. "My grandfather started playing pro football in 1919. 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. "And the other big difference is that 70% of the players are Black.". He is one of the great football stars of all time.". When returning kick-offs, he often dived to the floor, leaving the tacklers to collide with each other, before getting back to his feet to continue running. Pollard played and coached at a time when restaurants wouldn't serve him and hotels shunned him. It was named one of the 10 best BBQ restaurants in the city of Memphis by the Travel Channel. Pollard's Barber Shop was a popular neighbourhood hang-out and the Pollard boys played football for hours in the local park. The restaurant comes highly rated, too. On the train coming out, Pollard hadn't been allowed to sit with his teammates in the dining car. Its difficult to imagine the game without black players. Don't let anyone tell you 'no'. 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. "My students know I get so mad at them if they call themselves 'stupid'. He also saw how it changed between then. 0:00. It's kind of weird to say, but I. "Sometimes they would just pick him up, take him to camp and wouldn't ask for a dime," Torria said. "Members of the Akron Pros swear by Pollard," wroteJack Gibbons of The Akron Beacon Journal on Nov.30, 1920. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). As his team returned from one game in Gilberton, the train's windows were shot out. and 30 carries for 230 yards (7.7-yard avg.) Omissions? 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. USA TODAY NFL insider Mike Jones breaks down former Miami Dolphins' head coach Brian Flores' lawsuit against the NFL, Giants and Dolphins. "My son is on TV playing for the Cowboys?