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. I had to duck the rocks and the fellas trying to hurt me.". Notifications can be turned off anytime in the browser settings. It's a game thatalmost didn't happen. Pollard was born on Feb. 18, 1915, in Springfield, Mass. He was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005. Pollard and Co. Fritz Pollard, the NFL's first African-American head coach, was a true pioneer of the sport. Courtesy of Brown University, Providence, R.I. (1894-1986). There have been500 head coaches in the NFL's history 24 of them have been Black. The play that ended Tony Pollard's postseason had huge ramifications on the Cowboys offense in . Are we to believe that youre really doing exhaustive searches, trying to uncover the best coaches, but only two out of the last 20 have been African Americans?". Keep working, keep going. ), ten touchdowns with one kickoff return for a touchdown. "And it has been discouraging to see that in the last three hiring cycles of head coaches, things have not been much different. They had some prejudiced people there. "My son is on TV playing for the Cowboys? It was a German-immigrant part of town. Tony Dungy, who became the first Black . Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Since that letter, Dungy says"not a lot has changed. 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. The following year Pollard was the star player for the Akron Pros, who won the first NFL championship. He never played quarterback again. "I, myself, bought and paid $200 out of my pocket for football shoes for the team." One opposing school'sfans would sing "Bye Bye Blackbird"when his grandfathercame on the field, Towns said. 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. Because my son proved me wrong.". "The narrative we are dealing with here is very close to the narrative FritzPollard dealtwith 100 years ago.". For the game at Yale, Pollard had been smuggled into the stadium via a separate gate. Still, some players didn't like that Pollard was playing and they despised even more that he was a star player in the NFL. As a redshirt freshman, he appeared in 13 games, of which he started seven. 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. And here I was, playing and coaching and pulling down the highest salary in pro football. "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?' By February 1933, there had been 13 black players in the NFL. George Halas Bears, then called the Staleys, also claimed the title with a 10-1-2 record. He is one of the great football stars of all time.". On the train coming out, Pollard hadn't been allowed to sit with his teammates in the dining car. IE 11 is not supported. It's kind of weird to say, but I love it," Terrion said. Lets just make sure no one ever wrings their hands about Pollard taking carries away from Zeke. "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. Three years later, the National Football League hired its second black head coach, Arthur "Art" Shell of the Oakland ( California) Raiders. When the team went to sign in at the hotel, the front desk refused Pollard. As his team returned from one game in Gilberton, the train's windows were shot out. "It was a literal fight," she says. Pollard's father had been a boxer who fought professionally during the Civil War. Pollard established theNew York Independent News, the first weekly black tabloid. American football was different. "My students know I get so mad at them if they call themselves 'stupid'. And yet, still very few NFL fans have even heard of Pollard. "Fritz Pollards skin is black. When an opposing linebacker greeted Pollard with a deeply offensive racial slur, he responded by waltzing past him and into the end zone. The Pollard family will now have to switch to Cowboys fans now that they have family ties with the team. Fritz III gave his permission to name it the Fritz Pollard Alliance (FPA). Pollard underwent surgery. In the 1930s, Pollard founded his own professional football team, the Brown Bombers. Briscoe passed for 14 touchdowns in 1968 - still a Denver Broncos record for a rookie. There was one Black head coach in the NFL in 1921. He was the son of Fritz Pollard Sr., who also held a few "first" designations, one of which was . In 1921, he became the co-head coach of the Akron Pros, while still maintaining his roster position as running back. Now the family shop is where Tony's family and friends gather to cheer him on. 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). 'Bloody Wednesdays' were the scrimmages where reserve players could challenge starters for a spot on the team. At the hotel, Assistant Coach Bill Sprackling demanded to see the manager. Your email address will not be published. His brothers decided they had to toughen him up. "If you think about everything Pollard fought for,this is the same thing we are fighting today," he said. Here are 4 reasons why they should Related: Cowboys RB Tony Pollard undergoes surgery for injuries suffered vs. 49ers Related: What NFL salary cap increase means for Cowboys and how it affects RB . The No. 1. Pollard wouldn't have to dodge the spotlight for long. On special teams, he totaled 2,616 kick return yards and seven touchdowns. He later worked as a tax and public relations consultant. He continued to promote the integration of more black players. Omissions? Tony isn't the only Pollard living his dream. Knowing that the NFL would be oneof the biggest businesses in the nation andthat 70% of the players on 32 teams would be Black? When he showed up for football practice that September, none of the players wanted him on the team. The final was 13-0 with Robeson scoring both touchdowns in his finest pro football performance. "Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the '40s," says Pollard's grandson, Fritz Pollard III. Pollards has been recognized by the Travel Channel as 1 of 10 Memphis BBQ places to visit! this year amid mounting pressure. "He wantedto see anotherhe wanted to seemany African American coaches.". Early years [ edit] USA TODAY. Pollard wanted the same thing. 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. The Yale supporters also turned 'Bye Bye Blackbird', a popular song of the day, into a racially abusive anthem. Subjects: Do you find this information helpful? In his second, he faced future Hall of Famer Jim Thorpe. Its also possibly his way of talking around what seems to be a delicate situation. Academic difficulties meant Pollard's college career was cut short. None of this is meant to discredit Elliott. It was named the Rooney Rule after Dan Rooney, former owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who at the time was chairman of the NFL's diversity committee. "If anybody had the right to be angry about the way he was treated it was my grandfather, but he never showed it," says Fritz III. "Becausethey didn't want him in the locker room.". 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". [5] He led the nation with a school-record 40-yard average per kickoff return (22 for 881 yards) and four returns for touchdowns. The former Memphis standout is currently earning a base salary of $965,000 while carrying a cap charge of $1.131 million, via Spotrac. He managed the Suntan Movie Studio in Harlem. Five of the 11 men who had agreed to ban black players were, however. Then in November 1923, after switching teams, he played an entire game at quarterback for the Hammond Pros. [10], Fritz also coached the Gilberton Cadamounts, a non-NFL team. 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. The Dallas Cowboys lost in the playoffs to the San Francisco 49ers for a second straight year, and their Pro Bowl running back suffered a serious injury in the process. Despite his accomplishments in football, he was hardly immune to the discrimination African-Americans facedincluding before that 1916 Rose Bowl. He wanted the trails he blazed to change the future of the NFL. That is a heavy, heavy workload, and if there is one thing I give head coach Mike McCarthy credit for, its understanding this. "When he was six years old, he said 'Mom, I'm going to the NFL.' Reasons and Patrick, "Pollard Set Records as Black Football Player, Coach". 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". Racial disparity in the league's coaching ranks was brought to the forefront last week whenformer Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the NFL and three of its teams, alleging racial discrimination in hiring practices. The Dallas Cowboys selected Tony Pollard in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. He averaged 30.1 yards per return. In the second quarter of the Cowboys-49ers divisional matchup, the Cowboys running back had his left ankle trapped underneath a . "Times got hard, he let me skip a payment here, skip a payment there and train them anyway," Tarrance said. [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. 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. "And it's not even close.". In those times, Memphis-area trainers and coaches like Tim Thompson stepped up to do their part. "At certain times, we were struggling ourselves as parents, just trying to do for the kids and the family," she said. My father had taught me that I was too big to be humiliated by prejudiced whites. 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. Pollard's Barber Shop was a popular neighbourhood hang-out and the Pollard boys played football for hours in the local park. He then went to Brown University, majoring in chemistry. Then a fateful meeting took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pollard became the second African-American in the College Hall of Fame in 1954. 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. 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. Some of the worst violence took place in Pollard's home town of Chicago. There are twoBlack head coachesin the NFL in 2022. 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. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Pollard. [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. 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. 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. "Opposing players make it a point of pride to rough him as much as possible. Don't let anyone tell you 'no'. That's 4.8%. With his last words, spoken to his family in 2003, he said:. Now, the power of his legacy is growing through an organisation that bears his name. ProFootballHistory.com. "Sometimes they would just pick him up, take him to camp and wouldn't ask for a dime," Torria said. He is considered by many observers of the NFL as the first conscience of the game. In 1921, he became the first African-American head coach in the National Football League (NFL). Newspaper articles at the time, who described Pollard as a "colored" coach, praised his stellar football IQ. Halas is a name rightfully synonymous with the founding of the NFL. I'd rather watch him do it.". And maybe this will simply be like 2006, when it was clear all season that Marion Barber was more productive than Julius Jones, when Barber scored 10 more touchdowns and averaged almost a yard per carry more than Jones but Barber never started until the team got into the playoffs. That's because Pollard was an exceptional return man for Memphis. 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 . "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. Some sources indicate that Pollard also served as co-coach of the Milwaukee Badgers with Budge Garrett for part of the 1922 season. In 1919, he signed on to play for the Akron Pros in the American Professional Football Association, which was renamed the NFL in 1922. Fritz was gifted with speed and elusiveness but he was small. Updates? But in the 1916 season, Brown beat Yale and Harvard on consecutive weekends. This wasn't the first time the team had encountered such prejudice. Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard was born Jan. 27, 1894. In 1920, with Pollard leading the team, the Pros went undefeated (8-0-3) to win the league's first championship. The faces inside the helmets may look different than they did a century ago, but the team owners are still mostly all white men who together wield an often uncompromising power in the game. ), 31 carries for 159 yards (5.1-yard avg.) [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. When he began playing football aged 15 in 1909, he measured 4ft 11ins and weighed 89 pounds. [20] Overall, he appeared in all 16 games, of which he started two, in the 2020 season. [21], In Week 2, against the Los Angeles Chargers, Pollard totaled 137 scrimmage yards in the 2017 victory. 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. 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. 3: See photos from DeSoto's Class 6A state semifinal win over Pearland, A day after powerful thunderstorms, North Texas surveys the damage, 3 children killed, 2 wounded at Ellis County home; suspect in custody, How a Texas districts reaction to school shooting fears highlights discipline concerns, Carrollton man advertised pills on social media to entice teens to buy fentanyl, feds say. 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 always let his skills on the field, and his actions off it, define who he was. As well as being a running back, he was a defensive back, receiver, kicker, punt returner and kick-off returner. 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. On November 19, 1922, Pollard and Paul Robeson lead the Badgers to victory over the great Jim Thorpe and his Oorang Indians. Pollard himself was now in the factory town of Akron, Ohio. He played professional football with the Akron Pros, the team he would lead to the APFA championship in 1920. "No cabins were provided, nor were they given a place to sleep after reaching Hampton. According to Sports Info Solutions, only Josh Jacobs and Aaron Jones have a higher EPA generated per rushing attempt than Pollard. 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. His Black fans "were so wild over having him in their midst that they arranged a parade and met him at the railroad depot," wrote Gibbons. In 2003, in response to criticism over the lack of Black coaches in the league, the NFL created the Rooney Rule, a policy that requires teams to interview at least one ethnic-minoritycandidatefor vacant head coaching jobs.