Fritz Pollard, an All-America halfback from Brown University was a pro football pioneer in more ways than one. 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. I was never interested in socializing with whites. Now, the power of his legacy is growing through an organisation that bears his name. Academic difficulties meant Pollard's college career was cut short. 38. In 1921, he became the first African-American head coach in the National Football League (NFL). Teams would take kick-offs short, so that Pollard could be gang-tackled as soon as he received the ball. He was honoured instead at a separate banquet held by a local black business association. Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard, middle, is carted off the field during the 19-12 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Fritz Pollard, the Brown University halfback, in 1916. 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. When owners colluded to shut black players out of the league from 1934 to 1946, Pollard used the pages of a newspaper that he started after his retirement to press for change. He was the son of Fritz Pollard Sr., who also held a few "first" designations, one of which was . Im wondering what it will be this week after Elliott was good against the Chargers and Pollard was great. (Story), What Happened To Ed Hochuli? 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. Sometimes Pollard's team stayed in centre-field at half-time rather than run the gauntlet of going into the locker room. 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. Aged 21, Pollard was only 5ft 8ins - small for football, even then. Yet after he retired, the doors he forced open were slammed shut by a 'gentleman's agreement' that saw African-Americans banned from 1934 until 1946. [6], As a junior, even though he shared the backfield with Darrell Henderson, he totaled 78 carries for 552 yards (7.1-yard avg. Pollard grew up in Rogers Park, a community area on the north side of Chicago, Ill. [3] He finished among the national leaders in kickoff return average (28.1 yards). He averaged 30.1 yards per return. Fritz, the standout achiever, earned a Rockefeller Scholarship at Brown University, an Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island, on the United States' east coast. Pollardoften had to be escorted onto the field by police officers. "Becausethey didn't want him in the locker room.". Solomon said. 'Feels Like Home:' electrical failure from a light fixture caused December fire that killed 1, Shelby County reporting an increase in drug-related overdoses, largely due to fentanyl, Severe weather threat is over | Prepare for a sunny weekend, Daylight saving time starts soon. [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. Pollard and Thorpe were pro football's highest-paid players, the main attractions. And here I was, playing and coaching and pulling down the highest salary in pro football. The NFL has now acknowledged it did exist.external-link. It's kind of weird to say, but I. Yet, Pollard's humble, quiet ways never changed. 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. https://t.co/5repnhdcW4. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. 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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. "Now it's a healthy engagement, an exchange of ideas and not always agreement, but overall it's a working relationship with open lines of communication.". A standout athlete at Brown University, Pollard also qualified for the 1916 Olympics in Berlin for the low hurdles, but the games were cancelled after the outbreak of World War I. On the train out west to Los Angeles, even black porters refused to wait on him. He became a tax consultant. Jan 12, 2023. His brothers decided they had to toughen him up. [10] Just six days later, on January 17, 2019, Pollard was added to the 2019 North Senior Bowl roster. As a native American, Thorpe had battled racial prejudice to become a multi-sport star, winning golds in decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics. 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. That's something that was drummed into me.". Thats Tennessees Derrick Henry, Minnesotas Dalvin Cook and Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson. Pollard played short stints of football for Northwestern, Harvard and Dartmouth before receiving a scholarship from the Rockefeller family to attend Brown University in 1915. My father had taught me that I was too big to be humiliated by prejudiced whites. He also worked as director of an army YMCAand coached football at Lincoln University. [7] By the fall of 1920, he had begun to play for Akron, missing key Lincoln losses to Hampton (014) and Howard (042), much to the consternation of the alumni and administration. In his seven-year pro career, Pollard played for four NFL teams plus two in rival leagues in Pennsylvania. Its more than fair to wonder about the opposite.More from Cowboys-Chargers, Poor clock management made game-winning kick longer than it needed to be, Cowboys were very comfortable playing in SoFi Stadium, Cowboys gained much-needed confidence from a victory the Chargers bungled away, Tony Pollard, Ezekiel Elliott run all over Chargers defense, Rookie LB Micah Parsons records first NFL sack while lined up at DE, 5 takeaways from Cowboys-Chargers, including the best game from Dallas linebackers in years, Cowboys were very comfortable playing in SoFi Stadium: That was our home game, National reaction to Cowboys-Chargers: Greg Zuerlein drills game-winning FG; Tony Pollard shines. 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[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. I had to duck the rocks and the fellas trying to hurt me.". But he combated such treatment with tricks he learned from his brothers. "If you think about everything Pollard fought for,this is the same thing we are fighting today," he said. At that time Pollard was 69 and the owner of several business ventures. When Pollard was a rookie in 2019 (and when it wasnt necessarily true), the difference between his 5.3 yards per carry and Zekes 4.5 that season was explained away along these lines and by quite a few different people: When Zeke is in the game, the defense puts eight men in the box. Get the latest news. These shows can run the gamut of topics from love on The Bachelor, to partying and a little bit of chaos on Jersey Shore.. During the 2000s, Flavor of Love became a hit dating show that ultimately launched the career of Tiffany Pollard, who most people know better as New York. Fritz III gave his permission to name it the Fritz Pollard Alliance (FPA). [11], Pollard was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round (128th overall) in the 2019 NFL Draft. follow. Despite his accomplishments in football, he was hardly immune to the discrimination African-Americans facedincluding before that 1916 Rose Bowl. Todd Brock. He was the school's first black athlete a triple threat when it came to sports in football, track and boxing. After Pollard, the second black starting quarterback was Marlin Briscoe in 1968. 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". 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 called the team Redskins in 1933, a racial slur that was only. In that same time frame, Zeke has nine in 572 carries about one every 63 rushing attempts. [23], In Week 5, against the Los Angeles Rams, Pollard had a 57-yard rushing touchdown. 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. 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. "For Brown, The Wrong Shoe Was On The Foot In The '16 Rose Bowl Game," by Frank Bianco (Nov. 24, 1980), More Black History Month Pioneers:* 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, 2023 ABG-SI LLC. Fans started showing up to see what this footballleague was all about. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. It's kind of weird to say, but I love it," Terrion said. Omissions? Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. 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. (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). Both men are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. 1. He called the team Redskins in 1933, a racial slur that was only dropped in July this year amid mounting pressure. The restaurant comes highly rated, too. By Farrell Evans. Three years later, the National Football League hired its second black head coach, Arthur "Art" Shell of the Oakland ( California) Raiders. He is considered by many observers of the NFL as the first conscience of the game. ", Glittering drama based on the audacious Brinks-Mat security depot heist, A corrupt copper and a Leeds gangster are bound together by decades of dishonesty. Race riots took place across the country. Here are five things Cowboys fans might not know about the running back and special teams ace: Stayed home. Along with becoming the league's first African-American head coach, he also was its first. Rival fans would taunt Pollard with it throughout his career. USA TODAY. Knowing that the NFL would be oneof the biggest businesses in the nation andthat 70% of the players on 32 teams would be Black? At one game, a competitor started mocking Pollard's curly hair. degree on Pollard, recognizing his achievements as athlete and leader. He made up for it at Memphis' pro day by clocking in at a 4.37. Corrections? For decades the team owners claimed there was no unwritten agreement. I said 'yeah, I know, that's what I've been telling you'.". ProFootballHistory.com. [9], On January 11, 2019, Pollard declared for the 2019 NFL Draft. He founded two coal delivery companies in Chicago and New York. Mother Amanda was a respected seamstress while father John was a successful businessman. He played professional football with the Akron Pros, the team he would lead to the APFA championship in 1920. He spent some time organizing all-African American barnstorming teams, including the Chicago Black Hawks in 1928 and the Harlem Brown Bombers in the 1930s. "The league was challenged with a report showing that, essentially, African-Americans were the last hired and first fired," says Duru, who worked with the FPA from its inception. 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. If I figured a hotel or restaurant didnt want me, I stayed away. When they tell you something that they want to do, listen. He never played quarterback again. [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]. Many believe that the Cowboys just found their next kick returner. Born Frederick Douglass Pollard in 1894 - after the abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass - his nickname Fritz reflected Rogers Park's predominantly German make-up. He was almost always in the game -- as quarterback, running back and often doing punt returns and kickoff returns. Pollard established theNew York Independent News, the first weekly black tabloid.