Fritz Pollard biography
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 participant and coach in American collegiate {and professional} gridiron soccer. He was the primary African American chosen to a backfield place on Walter Camp’s All-America crew (1916) and the primary African American head coach within the National Football League (NFL), with the Akron Pros in 1921.
Only 5 toes 7 inches (1.7 metres) and 150 kilos (68 kg), Pollard received the grudging acceptance of his teammates at Brown University in Rhode Island in 1915, main the crew to a victory over Yale and an invite to the Tournament of Roses recreation in Pasadena, California. Pollard had a subpar recreation in a 14–0 defeat to Washington State, however he turned the primary African American to play within the Rose Bowl recreation. In 1916 Pollard’s excellent play led Brown to a season of eight victories and one defeat, together with wins over each Yale and Harvard.
After service in World War I, Pollard turned head soccer coach at Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) and started enjoying skilled soccer for Akron within the casual Ohio League in 1919. The following 12 months Pollard was the star participant for the Akron Pros, who received the primary NFL championship. Pollard continued to play and coach within the NFL till 1926. In 1923, whereas enjoying for the Hammond Pros, he turned the primary African American quarterback within the league. Pollard additionally facilitated integration within the NFL by recruiting different African American gamers reminiscent of Paul Robeson, Jay Mayo Williams, and John Shelbourne and by organizing the primary interracial all-star recreation that includes NFL gamers in 1922.
After he was let go by Akron (which had modified its title to the Indians) in 1926, Pollard continued to advertise integration in skilled soccer as a coach of the barnstorming Chicago Black Hawks (1928–32) and the New York Brown Bombers (1935–37). In 1954 Pollard turned the second African American chosen to the College Football Hall of Fame. He was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005.