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Fritz Pollard – First African American NFL Head Coach. Fritz Pollard – First African American NFL Head Coach.
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Fritz Pollard – First African American NFL Head Coach • Only 5 feet 7 inches and 150 pounds 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 Fritz Pollard takes it into the end zone during the Brown/Harvard football game.
Fritz Pollard – First African American NFL Head Coach • In 1916 Pollard’s outstanding play led Brown to a season of eight victories and one defeat, including wins over both Yale and Harvard.
Fritz Pollard – First African American NFL Head Coach Pollard became head football coach at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and began playing professional football for Akron in the informal Ohio League.
Fritz Pollard – First African American NFL Head Coach • He became the head coach of the Akron Pros, while still maintaining his roster position as running back.
Fritz Pollard – First African American NFL Head Coach • “Akron was worse than Georgia at that time, because it was full of Southerners who had gone up there to work during the war,” Pollard said in an interview years later. “We had a lot of Southerners on the team, and I think nine out of the eleven were Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama, but they didn’t say anything and they accepted what I said because the manager told them if they didn’t like what I said, the hell with them, because I was developing a good team.”
Fritz Pollard – First African American NFL Head Coach • Over the next three seasons, Pollard would become Akron’s highest-scoring player, and finally, its coach – the only African-American to coach a professional football team until Art Shell was hired by the Oakland Raiders in 1989. Pollard was not the first black athlete paid to play football, but he was the first to star in the confederation of Midwestern franchises that became the National Football League.
Fritz Pollard – First African American NFL Head Coach • The 1926 season was the last for both Pollard and pro football in Akron. Nied fired Pollard again after a 0-0 tie against Canton, stating he had “failed to play up to the form expected of him.” After a truncated 1-4-3 season witnessed by dwindling crowds, Akron’s NFL franchise folded.
Fritz Pollard – First African American NFL Head Coach • Black players would not return to the NFL until 1946 – the year before Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. By then, Pollard’s accomplishments were forgotten. There are no films of his pro football games. The all-comers NFL of his era was a half-step above a sandlot league, with no history, and ragged record keeping. The only players whose names live on – Jim Thorpe and Red Grange – made reputations in their pre-professional days, as an Olympian and a college star, respectively. Pollard’s name was not resurrected until 1989 – three years after his death – when Art Shell became coach of the Raiders.
Fritz Pollard – First African American NFL Head Coach • On March 10, 2003, the Fritz Pollard Alliance was formed as an affinity group of NFL minority coaches, scouts and front office personnel. During the last couple of years the FPA has worked with the NFL to develop hiring guidelines for front office and scouting positions as well as talent development programs. The FPA advocates for policy changes in the NFL hiring practices and working in partnership with the NFL to create opportunities for minority candidates.
