"At certain times, we were struggling ourselves as parents, just trying to do for the kids and the family," she said. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Halas is a name rightfully synonymous with the founding of the NFL. In 1919, as more than 25 race riots erupted in major U.S. cities, Fritz Pollard, a former Brown University All-American running back, joined the Akron Pros, a pro football team . I was there to play football and make my money.. Latest on Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard including news, stats, videos, highlights and more on ESPN There have been500 head coaches in the NFL's history 24 of them have been Black. But when the Pro Football Hall of Fame opened in 1963, he was not among the charter class of 17 inductees. Two days after he suffered a broken left fibula and high ankle sprain in Dallas' 19-12 loss against the San . When the clerk refused, Sprackling pounded on the desk bell and shouted, "If there isn't a room for Fritz Pollard, none of us wants one." My father had taught me that I was too big to be humiliated by prejudiced whites. 1. The former Memphis standout is currently earning a base salary of $965,000 while carrying a cap charge of $1.131 million, via Spotrac. It didn't end until the Los Angeles Rams signed Kenny Washington in 1946, and the NFL wasn't fully reintegrated until 1962. Thats Tennessees Derrick Henry, Minnesotas Dalvin Cook and Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson. At that time, black players were banned from the sport. Who could blame him? 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. On November 19, 1922, Pollard and Paul Robeson lead the Badgers to victory over the great Jim Thorpe and his Oorang Indians. Dallas Cowboys RB Tony Pollard undergoes 'TightRope' surgery on ankle Pollard is severely underpaid as a mid-round draft pick. He averaged 30.1 yards per return. It's cheaper. When an opposing linebacker greeted Pollard with a deeply offensive racial slur, he responded by waltzing past him and into the end zone. [10], Fritz also coached the Gilberton Cadamounts, a non-NFL team. I said 'No you're not, sit down.' His case is typical of a process called 'racial stacking' which still influences the number of black head coaches we see today. ", Fritz III recalls: "You could see all the reporters going 'who's Fritz Pollard?' He played college football at Memphis, and was drafted by the Cowboys in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft . "Members of the Akron Pros swear by Pollard," wroteJack Gibbons of The Akron Beacon Journal on Nov.30, 1920. NFL to consider rule change after RB injury. Not the way Solomon believes Pollard might have expected. It wasan incredible display of solidarity. The family had prospered. 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, 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. Get the latest news. That quest had also been his own - to get his father into the US Pro Football Hall of Fame. He called the team Redskins in 1933, a racial slur that was only dropped in July this year amid mounting pressure. After going on to play and coach for four different NFL teams in Indiana and Milwaukee, Pollard was banned from the league in 1926 along with eight or nine other Black players "in a fateful decision to segregate," according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And of the 12-year absence of blacks from the league from 1934 to 1946, Halas would say, Probably the game didnt have the appeal to black players at the time.. Fritz Pollard: 10 Amazing facts on the 1st Black NFL Coach Pollard was small, even for. They'd then verify the information. Pollard's wins above replacement also ranks third in the NFL, behind Jacobs and Nick Chubb. 1. When they tell you something that they want to do, listen. The former Memphis Tiger first stepped on a football field when he was four years old. 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 . Zeke is 25th in rushing and averaging 3.9 per carry. It was the best game I'd ever seen.". There was one Black head coach in the NFL in 1921. "They said no African Americans, period, because it was bad for business," said Towns. Keep working, keep going. ProFootballHistory.com. Pollard told him: "You'll find me down there in your end zone.". 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. The next year, he was named co-head coach as he continued to play for the Pros. He never played quarterback again. In 1921, Pollard became the league's first black coach and in 1923 its first black quarterback. "Id look at themand grin," Pollard said in a 1974 interview with NFL Films. (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). [6], As a junior, even though he shared the backfield with Darrell Henderson, he totaled 78 carries for 552 yards (7.1-yard avg. While Brown lost the Rose Bowl 14-0 to Washington State,it was a historic game. 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. Still, some players didn't like that Pollard was playing and they despised even more that he was a star player in the NFL. The Pollard family tells ABC24 how it took a village to help the former Memphis Tiger achieve his dreams. It was evident in my first year at Akron back in 1919 that they didnt want blacks in there getting that money, Pollard said. It was really important to us as a family to get that known. [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 felt that he never received the credit or recognition for his contributions to the early years of the NFL. Additionally, Pollard ranks ninth in positive EPA play percentage, meaning he is . Five of the 11 men who had agreed to ban black players were, however. 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). After service in World War I, Pollard became head football coach at Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) and began playing professional football for Akron in the informal Ohio League in 1919. For the game at Yale, Pollard had been smuggled into the stadium via a separate gate. 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. [5] He led the nation with a school-record 40-yard average per kickoff return (22 for 881 yards) and four returns for touchdowns. 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. The restaurant comes highly rated, too. After he was let go by Akron (which had changed its name to the Indians) in 1926, Pollard continued to promote integration in professional football as a coach of the barnstorming Chicago Black Hawks (192832) and the New York Brown Bombers (193537). Its difficult to imagine the game without black players. He's also caught 39 passes for 337 yards. When the team went to sign in at the hotel, the front desk refused Pollard. Pollard's son Fritz Jr competed at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, winning a bronze medal in the 110m hurdles before serving in the US army in World War II. ", In February 2021, Dungywrote an open letter to NFL ownersabout the league's lack of minority hires. When he was tackled, he'd flip on to his back and pedal his feet in the air to stop opponents piling on to him. NFL pioneer Fritz Pollard's life story more relevant than ever 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. 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. Tony Pollard OUT Again - But Dallas Cowboys Have Emergency Injury Plan He founded two coal delivery companies in Chicago and New York. His white teammates had high respect for Pollard and often stuck up for him as he faced discrimination. 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. If they think they can't do something or belittle themselves. At Brown, Pollard led the Bears to their first and only Rose Bowl appearance. In the second quarter of the Cowboys-49ers divisional matchup, the Cowboys running back had his left ankle trapped underneath a . He repeated as the American Athletic Conference's Special Teams Player of the Year. Early years [ edit] But he combated such treatment with tricks he learned from his brothers. 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. He attended Albert G. Lane Manual Training High School in Chicago where he played football, baseballand ran track. In 1921, he became the first African-American head coach in the National Football League (NFL). "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. The Pollards have been Barbequing for four generations. But McCarthy has said the team will be careful with Elliotts carries because they need him at the end of the year. [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. "Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the '40s," says Pollard's grandson, Fritz Pollard III. 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. "But I'm not," he said. The FPA negotiated with the NFL to establish a rule requiring teams to interview at least one ethnic minority candidate for each head coach vacancy. But in the 1916 season, Brown beat Yale and Harvard on consecutive weekends. During 19181919, he led the team to a victorious season defeating Howard University's Bisons 130[5] in the annual Thanksgiving classic as well as Hampton University (70) on November 9, 1918, and teams of military recruits at Camp Dix (190) on November 2, 1918,[6] and Camp Upton (410). He has amassed 1,279 scrimmage yards and 12 touchdowns while sharing load with Elliott. They lost the game through lack of rest." Nonetheless, in the opening week of the NFL season, there were four black head coaches, one black general manager and nine black starting quarterbacks. 128th overall selection in the 2019 NFL Draft, Pollard finds himself in the midst of an ever-important contract year. "All of us got played by the NFL," he said. Pollard and Thorpe were pro football's highest-paid players, the main attractions. Fritz III says his grandfather felt there were two reasons why he wasn't voted into the Hall of Fame during his lifetime: George Halas and George Preston Marshall. "He's the one that taught everybody how to barbeque.". follow. They had some prejudiced people there. Pollard tied an NCAA record with seven kickoff returns for touchdowns. [9], On January 11, 2019, Pollard declared for the 2019 NFL Draft. Gibbons went on to describe an incident that happened atan Akron restaurant as Pollard sat with a group of teammates. "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. After Pollard, the second black starting quarterback was Marlin Briscoe in 1968. 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. "If you think about everything Pollard fought for,this is the same thing we are fighting today," he said. Is Dallas becoming unaffordable due to rising housing costs, inflation and stagnating pay? In 1921, he became the co-head coach of the Akron Pros, while still maintaining his roster position as running back. "The narrative we are dealing with here is very close to the narrative FritzPollard dealtwith 100 years ago.".