This article is about the football pioneer, Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard, whose accomplishments and resilience broke racial barriers in professional football.
Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard (January 27, 1894 - May 11, 1986) was an American professional football player and coach. He is also recognized as the first Black quarterback in NFL history, playing the position for the Hammond Pros in 1923.
Early Life and Education
Pollard was born in Chicago to John W. Pollard, a barber and Union army veteran, and Catherine Amanda Hughes Pollard, a seamstress. Pollard's siblings included advertising executive Luther J. He attended Albert G. Lane Manual Training High School in Chicago, also known as "Lane Tech," where he played football, baseball, and ran track. He then went to Brown University, majoring in chemistry.
Collegiate Career
During the 1915 and 1916 Brown football seasons, Pollard achieved legendary status, compiling “firsts” as frequently as he gained first downs. The first black to play in the Rose Bowl (1916), Fritz was also named to Walter Camp’s All America Team, and was the first African American in Camp’s backfield. Nicknamed “the human torpedo,” Pollard had almost single-handedly defeated Yale and Harvard (Brown’s first win over the Crimson) in 1916. The Bruins were the first college team to defeat both Ivy powerhouses in the same season.
In 1915 season - as a freshman, led Brown to the Rose Bowl vs.:
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- Against Yale, gained 144 yards rushing, 74 on kickoff returns, and 76 on punt returns (1 TD)
- Against Harvard, gained 148 yards rushing, 44 on punt returns, and 51 as a pass receiver in Brown’s first victory over Harvard (2 TD’s)
- Brown was first college to defeat Yale and Harvard in the same season.
After leaving Brown, he served in the military and coached football at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. Pollard criticized Lincoln's administration, saying they had hampered his ability to coach and had refused to provide adequate travel accommodations for the team.
"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. "No cabins were provided, nor were they given a place to sleep after reaching Hampton. They lost the game through lack of rest." He also blamed the school for not providing the proper equipment.
Professional Football Career
In 1920, Pollard and Bobby Marshall were the first two African-American players in the NFL. He played professional football with the Akron Pros, the team he would lead to the APFA championship in 1920.
First African-American Head Coach
In 1921, he became the co-head coach of the Akron Pros, while still maintaining his roster position as running back. Thus becoming the first black coach in pro football. He also played for the Milwaukee Badgers, Hammond Pros, Gilberton Cadamounts, Union Club of Phoenixville and Providence Steam Roller. On November 19, 1922, Pollard and Paul Robeson led the Badgers to victory over the great Jim Thorpe and his Oorang Indians. Fritz also coached the Gilberton Cadamounts, a non-NFL team.
Pollard played for the Milwaukee Badgers, an NFL team in 1922 while living in the city. There is some speculation that he may have been a player /coach in Milwaukee, as he was the year prior in Akron.
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Challenges and Racism
During both his college and pro careers he was a target of multiple incidents of racial abuse. Many times he was the only black player on either team, and probably the only person of color in the stadium. He was singled out for rough play and endured racial taunts that were customary for the time. The haunting sounds of Bye-Bye Black Bird, a song that was sung in his college days, still stung until the day he passed away. The abuse was at times so bad that he had to be escorted to the field just before the kickoff.
Fritz grew up in Rogers Park, Illinois, a largely white suburb of Chicago. The seventh of eight children, young Fritz experienced racism first hand and learned from his family how to pick his battles and subdue his emotions in order to achieve his goals in a predominantly white world.
Pollard, along with all nine of the African American players in the NFL at the time, were removed from the league at the end of the 1926 season, never to return again. Some time in 1934 on what was considered one of the darkest eras in sports a so-called "gentleman's agreement" was reached between the powerful owners of the NFL teams to begin the process of eliminating black players from pro football.
In spite of all this, he along with Jim Thorpe became the stars of the league. His spectacular runs, his elusive speed, along with his hard play earned the respect of all who played the game or saw him play.
Fritz Pollard with his team
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Post-NFL Career
In the 1930s, Pollard founded his own professional football team, the Brown Bombers. 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. Outside of football, he founded the F.D. Pollard and Co.
When injuries took its toll on Fritz's body, he was forced to end his career, but he wasn't out of football. Can you imaging not having these guys around for that period of time and how it damaged the game? My grandfather fought this policy and never stopped fighting for re-integration of the league. He even organized his own all-black team, the Brown Bombers and the Blackhawks, who played so-called exhibition games against the all-white National League football stars. His Bombers, featuring running back Joe Lillard who was the Jim Brown of that time were 19-0 in these matches.
Later in his career, Pollard continued to take on leadership roles both within the sport as well as in business and media.
Other Accomplishments:
- Founded first black investment firm, F.D. Pollard and Co.
- Established first weekly black tabloid (N.Y.
Two of the greatest moments of Fritz's life were his 1954 induction into the College Football Hall of Fame and the pride of seeing his son Fritz, Jr. become an All-American at North Dakota State and win a bronze medal in the '36 Olympics with Jesse Owens.
Legacy and Recognition
Acknowledging Pollard's legacy in football, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005 and inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 2015. The Fritz Pollard Alliance, a group promoting minority hiring throughout the NFL, is named in recognition of Pollard’s resiliency in playing, coaching, and managing football.
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. 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.
Grandpa, the crowds are cheering. The seats behind me and in front of me are filled your legacy. After today everyone will know the gifts you've given to football. From its earliest days from its crowd thrilling game-winning plays to a string of firsts. The first Rose Bowl, College Football Hall of Fame, Walter Camp's All-American team, coaching and quarterbacking, and at last but not least, pushing for African American equality in pro leagues.
Awards and Honors:
- First African American elected to National College Football Hall of Fame (1954)
- Elected to R.I. Heritage Hall of Fame (1967)
- Elected to Brown Athletic Hall of Fame (1971, the inaugural year)
- Elected to National Black Hall of Fame (1973)
