Fritz Pollard
was an early pioneer of professional football and was one of the first
two Black players in the NFL. Among Pollard's achievements, his most
notable is the distinction he owns as the league's first Black coach.
Born
Fredrick Douglass Pollard on January 27, 1894 in Chicago, Ill., Pollard
grew up in the German-Immigrant neighborhood of Rogers Park. One
account says that Pollard earned the nickname “Fritz” from people in his
neighborhood.
As
one of the few Black families in Rogers Park, Pollard combated racism
but excelled as a multi-sport athlete in high school at Lane Tech High.
Pollard
won a Rockefeller Scholarship to the Ivy League institution, Brown
University as a chemistry major. Starring for the university's football
squad, Pollard became the first Black player to star in the Rose Bowl
after it was selected at the end of the 1915 season.
After
leaving Brown, Pollard considered a career in dentistry before joining
the military and working with the Army's YMCA. Lincoln University named
him a head coach, but he was later recruited by the Akron Pros
professional football team out of Ohio. The Pros merged with the
American Professional Football Association in 1920, making Pollard and
Bobby Marshall the league's first two Black players. The APFA later
became the NFL.
Pollard,
reported to be a punishing half-back despite being just 5-foot-9 and
under 200 pounds, helped lead the team to the league's first
championship title. The Pros named Pollard a co-coach and player the
following year and he performed that dual role for three other teams.
Pollard also played in the grueling Pennsylvania “Coal League” as well.
In
1928, Pollard organized the Chicago Black Hawks, which was an all-Black
professional independent professional team. The squad played white
teams in and around Chicago but also became a popular exhibition team
that toured throughout the West Coast before folding in 1932. In 1933,
the NFL banned further signings of Black players.
Pollard organized and served as coach for another prominent all-Black football team, the Bronx Bombers, but folded the operations in 1938.
Pollard organized and served as coach for another prominent all-Black football team, the Bronx Bombers, but folded the operations in 1938.
Pollard
maintained a series of business ventures during and after his playing
days, including founding the F.D. Pollard and Co. investment firm in
1922. In 1935, Pollard founded the first Black tabloid, the New York
Independent News. Pollard also worked in the film and music industry,
and also served as a tax consultant.
Pollard
passed in 1986. He was posthumously inducted into the NFL Hall Of Fame
in 2005. Two years earlier, the Fritz Pollard Alliance was established
to promote the hiring of minorities in the NFL.
No comments:
Post a Comment