"No cabins were provided, nor were they given a place to sleep after reaching Hampton. "That's the only way you can come in," Torria Pollard, the mother of Dallas running back Tony Pollard, said with a laugh. 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. They had to cut to a commercial and then my phone just blew up with people saying 'they're talking about your grandfather'.". He also worked as director of an army YMCAand coached football at Lincoln University. In 40 college games, Pollard recorded 941 rushing yards and 1,292 receiving yards. Pollard ended his playing career in 1926, aged 32. His mother was Native American, his father an African American who boxed professionally during the Civil War. 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. "And it's not even close.". "Id look at themand grin," Pollard said in a 1974 interview with NFL Films. 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. "He literally kept the NFL from folding," Towns said. "They said no African Americans, period, because it was bad for business," said Towns. They dressed in locker rooms, ate with teammates at restaurants, slept in team hotels and became multi-million-dollar superstars. 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 proved me wrong.". Fritz III's daughter Meredith Kaye Russell, born in 1988, also joined the cause, helping with research and acting as her father's secretary. "We better let him play," the linebacker told the coach. 3:09. Briscoe passed for 14 touchdowns in 1968 - still a Denver Broncos record for a rookie. After Pollard, the second black starting quarterback was Marlin Briscoe in 1968. The 1993 Super Bowl was to be a landmark event for Arizona but it disappeared out of the state in a swirl of politics, polemic and division. And, his grandson said, 100 years after Pollard coached in the NFL and 36 years after his death, he is sure Pollard would have wanted more from the league he helped build. He was the son of Fritz Pollard Sr., who also held a few "first" designations, one of which was . Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Fritz Pollard, an All-America halfback from Brown University was a pro football pioneer in more ways than one. All eight of the Pollard children graduated from high school and excelled at athletics or music. They had some prejudiced people there. When an opposing linebacker greeted Pollard with a deeply offensive racial slur, he responded by waltzing past him and into the end zone. Then came a telegram that changed everything. Florence Griffith Joyner Jackie Joyner-Kersee Wilma Rudolph Althea Gibson. [11], Pollard was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round (128th overall) in the 2019 NFL Draft. Tony Randall Pollard (born April 30, 1997) is an American football running back for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). [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 had died just three years before, at the age of 92, but so many people were only hearing his name for the first time. [1] He helped the team reach the playoffs, while making over 1,200 receiving yards, 20 touchdowns and being named All-District 16-AAA. Pollard underwent surgery. He is closing in on 1,700 runs and receptions while just starting his sixth season. Pollard and Thorpe were pro football's highest-paid players, the main attractions. Pollard felt that he never received the credit or recognition for his contributions to the early years of the NFL. He was 65. According to Sports Info Solutions, only Josh Jacobs and Aaron Jones have a higher EPA generated per rushing attempt than Pollard. But the fleet-footed running back quickly became the team's star player, dubbed 'the human torpedo' because he ran so low to the turf. 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. Pollard established theNew York Independent News, the first weekly black tabloid. Brown finished with an 8-1 record, with their star player selected in the All-America team. They taught Fritz that he could never retaliate, despite the provocation he was sure to face. He continued to promote the integration of more black players. Its also possibly his way of talking around what seems to be a delicate situation. [14], He had 13 carries for 24 yards in his NFL debut in Week 1 against the New York Giants in the 3517 victory. If he is tackled, as many as possible pile on him. Since that letter, Dungy says"not a lot has changed. Against all these handicaps, Fritz Pollard plays with dauntless spirit. He founded two coal delivery companies in Chicago and New York. NFL to consider rule change after RB injury. "Becausethey didn't want him in the locker room.". The Pollards have been Barbequing for four generations. "I kind of love it. In 1921, Pollard became the league's first black coach and in 1923 its first black quarterback. '", RELATED: Cordova High School alum Quinton Bohanna makes Dallas Cowboys 53-man roster. As he faced criticism and discrimination, Pollard didn't fight back, not off the field. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. 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. In 1954 Pollard became the second African American selected to the College Football Hall of Fame. RELATED: Defense leads the way in Memphis' 44-34 win over North Texas. Frederick "Fritz" Pollard saw what the world was like in the 1890s and the 1980s. Pollard was one of only two African-Americans at Brown in 1915 and the first to live on campus. Some of the worst violence took place in Pollard's home town of Chicago. "My son is on TV playing for the Cowboys? Fritz Pollard, the Brown University halfback, in 1916. 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. They also threatened not to play when he was denied a room in LA. 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. 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. Nonetheless, in the opening week of the NFL season, there were four black head coaches, one black general manager and nine black starting quarterbacks. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard, middle, is carted off the field during the 19-12 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. 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). Pollard is severely underpaid as a mid-round draft pick. If Pollard wasn't allowed to stay at the hotel, they would all leave and head back to Rhode Island. "Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the '40s," says Pollard's grandson, Fritz Pollard III. He was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005. In 1923 and 1924, he served as head coach for the Hammond Pros.[2]. Five of the 11 men who had agreed to ban black players were, however. The NFL has now acknowledged, Meet the young UK wrestlers fighting their demons. In 1920, with Pollard leading the team, the Pros went undefeated (8-0-3) to win the league's first championship. That achievement speaks volumes, because like Dallas, Memphis is known for some good BBQ. The NFL has now acknowledged it did exist.external-link. "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. The Yale supporters also turned 'Bye Bye Blackbird', a popular song of the day, into a racially abusive anthem. Then a fateful meeting took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "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.". In 1921, he became the first African-American head coach in the National Football League (NFL). Pollard, 25, has assumed a big role in 2022 as he preps for free agency. "He's the one that taught everybody how to barbeque.". Fritz Pollard blazed a trail as the first Black coach in the NFL. said his grandson Dr. Stephen Towns, a dentist in Indianapolis. Thirty percent of assistant NFL coaches are Black. Everything you need to know about Brian Flores' lawsuit against NFL. [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. 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. "Sometimes I sit at home and say, 'I can't believe this,' Torria said. He had waited65 years from his hiringas an NFL coach to see if he had pioneered a change. If so, watch our guide to the key rules, the player positions and the ultimate aim of the game. He also founded an all-black football team in Harlem that was unsuccessful in luring local NFL teams to play exhibition games. and six touchdowns. It's kind of weird to say, but I love it," Terrion said. How to get into American football a sport for all shapes and sizes that requires both mental and physical skills. The new owner of a team there had got in touch with him. Pollard played and coached at a time when restaurants wouldn't serve him and hotels shunned him. [6], As a junior, even though he shared the backfield with Darrell Henderson, he totaled 78 carries for 552 yards (7.1-yard avg. "The waiter took everybody's order but Pollard's. He was the school's first black athlete a triple threat when it came to sports in football, track and boxing. 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. Running back Tony Pollard was not present during the open-to-media portion of the workout, a source telling CowboysSI.com that that the absence is non related to injury. As a senior, he was a two-way starter at wide receiver and cornerback on the high school football team. A year ago when Pollard averaged 4.3 to Zekes 4.0, and when Pollard got a late-season start against San Francisco and ran for 69 yards and two touchdowns on just 12 carries, it was because the 49ers were injured and prepared to face Elliott.

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