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"The first was Fritz Pollard. 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. Pollard's family grew up Pittsburgh Steelers fans, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Halas is a name rightfully synonymous with the founding of the NFL. If he is tackled, as many as possible pile on him. He repeated as the American Athletic Conference's Special Teams Player of the Year. "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. [7] In the 2018 Birmingham Bowl against Wake Forest, he recorded 318 all-purpose yards (209 on kickoff returns) and one rushing touchdown. His white teammates had high respect for Pollard and often stuck up for him as he faced discrimination. 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. After his playing career, he'd moved to New York with the Harlem Renaissance still in full swing and had become a talent agent, booking black entertainers for films and white nightclubs. [18], Pollard continued his role as a backup to Ezekiel Elliott to go along with some kickoff return duties in the 2020 season. He later worked as a tax and public relations consultant. When he was tackled, he'd flip on to his back and pedal his feet in the air to stop opponents piling on to him. He subsequently became the first black running back to ever be selected for the All-American team. Yet, through it all, Pollard held his head high and helped lead Brown to the Rose Bowl against Washington State in 1916. It would be almost half a century until the NFL next had a black starting quarterback. Everything he learnt from his brothers was about to be put to the test. Today, SI looks back on the legacy of Fritz Pollard. "And it's not even close.". "Oh yes," said Towns. For Meredith, who teaches children aged three to eight, Pollard's legacy has a power stretching beyond family and football. 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. 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. Still, some players didn't like that Pollard was playing and they despised even more that he was a star player in the NFL. Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves and say, 'Is this real? Fritz Pollard: 10 Amazing facts on the 1st Black NFL Coach As he faced criticism and discrimination, Pollard didn't fight back, not off the field. "All of us got played by the NFL," he said. Five of the 11 men who had agreed to ban black players were, however. Pollard left a lasting impression in Providence. Pollard attended Melrose High School, where he played high school football. The Kansas City Chiefs will face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57 on Sunday, 12 February - where is it being played and how to follow on the BBC. In his freshman year, he was the only black player in the Ivy League and Brown's win over Yale saw them earn an invite to the Rose Bowl in January 1916. It was one of many measures he'd take to avoid being targeted, verbally and physically, by fans and players alike, across the game's heartland of the American Northeast and Midwest. On the train coming out, Pollard hadn't been allowed to sit with his teammates in the dining car. His legacy lives on with the Fritz Pollard Alliance, an initiative that promotes the hiring of minority candidates across professional football. In 1917 he enlisted in the army, serving as a physical director in Maryland while coaching at the all-black Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. Discover short videos related to tony pollard throne on TikTok. The following 1920 season was the first for the American Professional Football Association - renamed the NFL in 1922 - and the Akron Pros went undefeated, outscoring their opponents 151-7. 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. For his son, the Olympic hurdler, see. "I don't need to get hit every Sunday. [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. Rival fans would taunt Pollard with it throughout his career. I didnt go sniffing around hoping theyd accept me. 0:00. 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. That's because Pollard was an exceptional return man for Memphis. 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. Notifications can be turned off anytime in the browser settings. Nonetheless, in the opening week of the NFL season, there were four black head coaches, one black general manager and nine black starting quarterbacks. "When he was six years old, he said 'Mom, I'm going to the NFL.' There was one Black head coach in the NFL in 1921. He wasn't just a star football player and coach. 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. "That's the only way you can come in," Torria Pollard, the mother of Dallas running back Tony Pollard, said with a laugh. 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. The family had prospered. He was the school's first black athlete a triple threat when it came to sports in football, track and boxing. ", Tony Dungy, who became the first Black coach to win a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts in 2006, said this month the Flores suitmight be "just the tip of the iceberg. He founded a newspaper, and set up an investment fund and a company trading coal. '", RELATED: Cordova High School alum Quinton Bohanna makes Dallas Cowboys 53-man roster. He played professional football with the Akron Pros, the team he would lead to the APFA championship in 1920. Black players began dominatingthe NFL. Since Pollard got here in 2019, he has 10 runs of 20 yards or more in 203 carries about one every 20 rushing attempts. The same players that shunned Pollard four months earlier were now bringing him food. "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?' This article is about the football pioneer. As he walked on, he wouldheartaunts shouted from the stands. "You couldn't eat in the restaurants or stay in the hotels," Pollard told the New York Times in 1978. It was the first time a team had beaten them both in the same season, and Pollard won each game almost single-handedly. [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]. Pollard grew up in Rogers Park, a community area on the north side of Chicago, Ill. Pollard died in 1986 at 92, outliving his rival, George Halas, by three years. Corrections? Tackle that ended Cowboys RB Tony Pollard's season to be reviewed He is the sonof a despised race. 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. [8] Paul Robeson was enlisted by Lincoln's alumni to coach the Thanksgiving 1920 game against Howard. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Fritz Pollard, the NFL's first African-American head coach, was a true pioneer of the sport. None of this is meant to discredit Elliott. His grandson, Fritz III, became a three-sport All-American at college. Reasons and Patrick, "Pollard Set Records as Black Football Player, Coach". With the US in the depths of the Great Depression and millions of white people unemployed, he argued that paying black men to play football would be bad for business. [26] During the 2022-23 NFC divisional playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers, Pollard suffered a high ankle sprain and fractured fibula in the second quarter when 49ers defensive back Jimmie Ward landed on his ankle while making the tackle. He opened the Sun Tan Studios, where the likes of Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole rehearsed, and produced music videos called 'soundies'. He had two returns for touchdown and was named the American Athletic Conference's Special Teams Player of the Year. "They couldn't find anything so I said 'you're looking in the wrong papers'," says Fritz III. Against all these handicaps, Fritz Pollard plays with dauntless spirit. It's kind of weird to say, but I. Get the latest news. I said 'yeah, I know, that's what I've been telling you'.". Additionally, Pollard ranks ninth in positive EPA play percentage, meaning he is . (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). 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. In 1920, with Pollard leading the team, the Pros went undefeated (8-0-3) to win the league's first championship. As a player-coach and later a fierce private advocate for black advancement in the game, Pollard never backed down to this authority. He didn't get to see it. [5] He led the nation with a school-record 40-yard average per kickoff return (22 for 881 yards) and four returns for touchdowns. Tony Pollard's fractured fibula impacts Cowboys' free agency | Fort When Pollard comes in, the defense focuses on the passing game. I was there to play football and make my money.. 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. It was the best game I'd ever seen.". Fritz Pollard made history as NFL's first black coach and quarterback. 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. In his seven-year pro career, Pollard played for four NFL teams plus two in rival leagues in Pennsylvania. Teams would take kick-offs short, so that Pollard could be gang-tackled as soon as he received the ball. This February, Sports Illustrated is celebrating Black History Month by spotlighting a different iconic athlete every day. That's something that was drummed into me.". 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. It was Halas, who in 1922, suggested to the other owners that the name of the league be changed from the American Professional Football Association to the National Football League. If someone can slug him without the referee seeing him, it is done. Pollard wanted the same thing. Courtesy of Brown University, Providence, R.I. (1894-1986). Whatever Happened To Tiffany 'NY' Pollard From 'Flavor Of Love'? And believe us, Fritz got some service after that.". In 1921, he became the co-head coach of the Akron Pros, while still maintaining his roster position as running back. "The NFL has one fundamental beliefabout Black coaches. I dont know what guidance, if any, he gives offensive coordinator Kellen Moore when it comes to using his two backs. "Times got hard, he let me skip a payment here, skip a payment there and train them anyway," Tarrance said. The restaurant comes highly rated, too. Gibbons went on to describe an incident that happened atan Akron restaurant as Pollard sat with a group of teammates. Fans started showing up to see what this footballleague was all about. When the team went to sign in at the hotel, the front desk refused Pollard. 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). Yet, Solomon said, Black men still aren't given equal opportunity to coach the teams they, perhaps, played for. 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 attended Albert G. Lane Manual Training High School in Chicago where he played football, baseballand ran track. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 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. 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. "(I) didnt get mad and want tofight them. The NFL has now acknowledged it did exist.external-link. In his second, he faced future Hall of Famer Jim Thorpe. But in the 1916 season, Brown beat Yale and Harvard on consecutive weekends. According to Sports Info Solutions, only Josh Jacobs and Aaron Jones have a higher EPA generated per rushing attempt than Pollard. My sincere hope is that by standing up against systemic racism in the NFL, others will join me to ensure that positive change is made for generations to come.". In 1937, Fritz Pollard retired from pro football and pursued a career in business. "I, myself, bought and paid $200 out of my pocket for football shoes for the team." Fritz was gifted with speed and elusiveness but he was small. While Brown lost the Rose Bowl 14-0 to Washington State,it was a historic game. Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard is on the mend. In 2022, with the Steelers' Mike Tomlin and recently-named Texans head coach Lovie Smith, that percentage is 6.3%. As he recalled the song in his final interview with Berry before his death in 1986, tears rolled down his cheek. He became a tax consultant. "If you think about everything Pollard fought for,this is the same thing we are fighting today," he said. [11], Pollard was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round (128th overall) in the 2019 NFL Draft. 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 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. [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. My father had taught me that I was too big to be humiliated by prejudiced whites. They knew he'd be targeted because of his size and skin colour. 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"They said no African Americans, period, because it was bad for business," said Towns. He averaged 30.1 yards per return. The Fritz Pollard Association that certifies that NFL teams have complied with the Rooney Rule is also a tax exempt 501 (c) (6) organization. He has amassed 1,279 scrimmage yards and 12 touchdowns while sharing load with Elliott. [10], Fritz also coached the Gilberton Cadamounts, a non-NFL team. "Sometimes they would just pick him up, take him to camp and wouldn't ask for a dime," Torria said. "My dad was a single parent, and when he wasn't working all the hours he did it was phone call after phone call, meeting after meeting, trying to get my great-grandfather's name out there.". "My grandfather started playing pro football in 1919. [3] He finished among the national leaders in kickoff return average (28.1 yards). follow. The FPA meets with the NFL formally twice a year to discuss proposals and collate a list of qualified minority candidates ready for interview. "What Pollard would have said is that at least 70%of coaches would be Black," Solomon said. [24] In Week 8, against Chicago, Pollard had 13 carries for 141 yards and three rushing touchdowns in the 4929 win, and was named Ground Player of the Week. 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. It's time to face facts, Tony Pollard is the most dangerous RB in the How to get into American football a sport for all shapes and sizes that requires both mental and physical skills. Getty Images. Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard (January 27, 1894 May 11, 1986) was an American football player and coach. He also worked as director of an army YMCAand coached football at Lincoln University. That's how good the 5-9 Pollard was. Are you an NFL rookie? 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. His brothers decided they had to toughen him up. "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. His is a story for too long left untold. USA TODAY. Many know that Pollard suffered from food poising at the NFL combine. But Pollard appears more likely for several reasons. "Sometimes I sit at home and say, 'I can't believe this,' Torria said. All Rights Reserved. He also saw how it changed between then. After escaping slavery, he had fought for the Union during the Civil War. He could do everything - he played on offence and defence. "They threw rocks at me and called me all kinds of names. When he showed up for football practice that September, none of the players wanted him on the team. "(Two teammates)watched the proceedings as long as they could. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. In that same time frame, Zeke has nine in 572 carries about one every 63 rushing attempts. Your email address will not be published. When he began playing football aged 15 in 1909, he measured 4ft 11ins and weighed 89 pounds. In 1981 Brown University conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) In 1921, Pollard was made player-coach and finished as the league's top scorer. Fritz Pollard Jr suffered from Alzheimer's during the final years of his life, but just before he died there was a moment of clarity. Pollard was carted to the X-ray room with an air cast on his leg. But he combated such treatment with tricks he learned from his brothers. Marshall was an avowed segregationist who owned the Washington football franchise from its inception in 1932 to his death in 1969. "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. 1. It was evident in my first year at Akron back in 1919 that they didnt want blacks in there getting that money, Pollard said. Thats Tennessees Derrick Henry, Minnesotas Dalvin Cook and Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson. 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. 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. Days later, Pollard played in abenefit game inPittsburgh and was greeted with a hero's welcome. Tony Pollard Is a Special Runner. The Pollard family will now have to switch to Cowboys fans now that they have family ties with the team. He's also caught 39 passes for 337 yards. The Life And Career Of NFL Pioneer Fritz Pollard (Complete Story) 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. There have been500 head coaches in the NFL's history 24 of them have been Black. Not the way Solomon believes Pollard might have expected. The new owner of a team there had got in touch with him. Pollard played halfback on the Brown football team, which went to the 1916 Rose Bowl. As long as were winning, everything is fine, Pollard said after Sundays 20-17 victory. 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. Along with becoming the league's first African-American head coach, he also was its first African-American quarterback (1923) and first African-American to play on a championship team (1920). He is one of the great football stars of all time.". And that is that the running back with the $1 million cap hit gobbles up yards faster than the one with the $6.8 million cap hit (a figured reduced by converting part of Elliotts guaranteed $50 million deal to a restructure bonus). Despite his accomplishments in football, he was hardly immune to the discrimination African-Americans facedincluding before that 1916 Rose Bowl. 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. It wasan incredible display of solidarity. Sometimes Pollard's team stayed in centre-field at half-time rather than run the gauntlet of going into the locker room. Now the family shop is where Tony's family and friends gather to cheer him on. After leaving Brown, Pollard pursued a degree in dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania for two years. Read about our approach to external linking. [2], Pollard accepted a football scholarship from the University of Memphis. Pollard underwent surgery. [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. He then went to Brown University, majoring in chemistry. Pollard was one of the first two along with Bobby Marshall African-Americans in the National Football League in 1920. It was only the beginning of Pollard breaking down racialbarriers. Updated January 24, 2023 3:22 PM. Kansas CIty Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes' touchdowns from his biggest games this season ahead of Sunday night's NFL Super Bowl against the. Tony Pollard Rule? NFL to consider rule change after RB injury 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. Tony Pollard (American football) - Wikipedia [23], In Week 5, against the Los Angeles Rams, Pollard had a 57-yard rushing touchdown. 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. . How Much Will Tony Pollard's Next Contract Be Worth? 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.