And yet, still very few NFL fans have even heard of Pollard. Minority coaching hires in the NFL are at lows not seen in 20 years, and the Rooney Rule would look like a total failure if not for the coaching tree of Tony Dungy. 3. Read about our approach to external linking. Mother Amanda was a respected seamstress while father John was a successful businessman. 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. ", Fritz III recalls: "You could see all the reporters going 'who's Fritz Pollard?' The Washington Football Team made NFL history Tuesday when they added Jennifer King to their roster as assistant running backs coach. 3 of 4. In 10 years with the Vikings, Green was a 97-62 and made the playoffs eight times. There are three awards in his name at Brown and in the 1970s, when his grandson Fritz III played football there, a local shop owner refused to take his money and said: "My father took me to see your grandfather play. For the game at Yale, Pollard had been smuggled into the stadium via a separate gate. However, elite players are rarely elite coaches. But the fleet-footed running back quickly became the team's star player, dubbed 'the human torpedo' because he ran so low to the turf. I never saw him angry.". In his seven-year pro career, Pollard played for four NFL teams plus two in rival leagues in Pennsylvania. In 2017, we had a record eight minority head coaches entering the season: Chargers Anthony Lynn, Denver’s Vance Joseph, Cincinnati’s Marvin Lewis, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Detroit’s Jim Caldwell, Cleveland’s Hue Jackson, the Jets Todd Bowles and Carolinas Ron Rivera (Hispanic). In the past three years, 19 head-coaching positions were available, but just two black coaches filled those openings. Atlanta Falcons interim head coach Raheem Morris was given a rare second chance as a Black coach in the NFL, and the Falcons are 3-1 in his tenure. TYROD TAYLOR – W, 16-13 vs. the Cincinnati Bengals . It was the first time a team had beaten them both in the same season, and Pollard won each game almost single-handedly. When an opposing linebacker greeted Pollard with a deeply offensive racial slur, he responded by waltzing past him and into the end zone. They had to cut to a commercial and then my phone just blew up with people saying 'they're talking about your grandfather'.". But Fritz would get up laughing and smiling every time. Everything he learnt from his brothers was about to be put to the test. Only two black head coaches (Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Anthony Lynn of the Los Angeles Chargers) remain in a league where 70 percent of its players are African-American. American football was different. During high school Pollard was actually a better baseball player, but he knew he wouldn't be able to progress. At most 25 percent of head coaches have been, which has happened twice, in 2011 and last year. After three … Hundreds of black people were killed by white supremacists. It might not get better soon. Jay Walker was a star at Howard and played four years in the NFL. The NFL was not ready for a Black head coach, especially one touted as an offensive innovator. There have been 19 head coaches for the Colts franchise. Art Shell was only the second Black head coach in NFL history, after playing for the Oakland Raiders as an offensive lineman. Pollard asked to run the play twice more and scored two more touchdowns. 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. (2013 Week 8) "But I'm not," he said. Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time the Rams have hired a young coach to lead the franchise. Some of the guys on this list will be considered iconic pioneers in 20 years, when at least half of the league’s head coaches will be African-American (we hope), which would more proportionately reflect the nearly 75 percent of African-American players that comprise the league. With his last words, spoken to his family in 2003, he said: "Don't forget your quest.". I said 'yeah, I know, that's what I've been telling you'.". Of the 27 head-coaching vacancies in the past four NFL hiring cycles, just three have been filled by Black coaches. It’s the second of the cycle, the first African American. During a two-day event next week, black coaches who could be future NFL head coaches, coordinators or QB coaches will have the chance to network with current NFL owners, GMs and coaches. Russell was the first black man to win an NBA title as a coach … By February 1933, there had been 13 black players in the NFL. That’s the same number of Black head coaches as when the NFL adopted the Rooney Rule in 2003. The sample size is way too small right now and unfortunately, it’s dwindling again as the implementation of the Rooney Rule continues to go widely ignored by owners unwilling to step outside of their cultural comfort zone to find diverse coaching candidates. After escaping slavery, he had fought for the Union during the Civil War. Pollard told him: "You'll find me down there in your end zone.". It was really important to us as a family to get that known. Race riots took place across the country. ... the only other Black head coach to make it to the NFL … This Month in Sports Reference He feared he had squandered any chance of playing professional football. Eventually the hotel relented. Jennifer King was part of the Washington set-up that reached this year's NFL play-offs. He later worked as a tax and public relations consultant. Pros in 1923-25, when the league was in its … The National Basketball Association has to do a better job with thirty teams and nine African American head coaches, 73 Black head coaches in 73 years, that is one per year. The NFL has historically had its problems promoting African-Americans to leadership positions, therefore the number of Black coaches with the longevity and winning track record to be considered even very good is not plentiful. 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. It was the best game I'd ever seen.". With Black Monday quickly approaching, plenty of NFL teams are about to begin the formal interview process to find their next coach-in-chief. The opposing teams gave me hell too.". They could not keep Taylor around. The Eagles head coach at the time, Andy Reid, gave the dynamic playmaker the second chance many around the world didn’t feel he deserved. "African-Americans have historically been drummed out of the quarterback position and shifted into more 'athletic' positions like wide receiver, defensive back or running back," says Professor N Jeremi Duru of American University in Washington DC, one of the leading experts in US sports law and discrimination. Every year they did him wrong, he stood as a symbol of their racism. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin is currently only one of two Black NFL head coaches. Aged 21, Pollard was only 5ft 8ins - small for football, even then. Despite going 8-8, this past season was probably one of Tomlin’s best coaching jobs as the Steelers were ravaged by injury, drama, player discontent and fan frustration, but he had them competing for a playoff spot late in the season. Mike Tomlin, Brian Flores and David Culley are the three NFL coaches. He called the team Redskins in 1933, a racial slur that was only dropped in July this year amid mounting pressure. Fritz Pollard: He was the first black NFL coach and the first African-American football player at Brown. The only other black head coach in the NFL was Fritz Pollard, who was player-coach of the Hammond (Ind.) "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. The Pollards were well known in Rogers Park, a suburb on the north side of Chicago. If so, watch our guide to the key rules, the player positions and the ultimate aim of the game. That’s the most since 2004. Pollard and Thorpe were pro football's highest-paid players, the main attractions. It was one of many measures he'd take to avoid being targeted, verbally and physically, by fans and players alike, across the game's heartland of the American Northeast and Midwest. He has spent time as quarterbacks coach of the Washington Redskins and the Atlanta Falcons and as offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams and Tennessee Titans. At that time, black players were banned from the sport. In 1970, a group of Black Syracuse University football players took a stand against racial injustice. Fritz was gifted with speed and elusiveness but he was small. The NFL had one black head coach in its history until 1979. Hall of Famer Bill Russell became the first African American head coach to win a championship. I had to duck the rocks and the fellas trying to hurt me.". Marshall was an avowed segregationist who owned the Washington football franchise from its inception in 1932 to his death in 1969. 4. Academic difficulties meant Pollard's college career was cut short. Becomes second player with a 109 yard return. Although he never won a Super Bowl, he helped revolutionize NFL offenses, proved his ability to lead men and execute with intelligence from his days as head coach at Stanford University to his glory years leading the Minnesota Vikings rebirth in the 1990’s. In 1921, Pollard became the league's first black coach and in 1923 its first black quarterback. Brown finished with an 8-1 record, with their star player selected in the All-America team. February 27, 2021 Austin NFL 0. In a decade during which hundreds of African-Americans were still being lynched, he was playing a 'white man's game' when the NFL was in its brutal infancy. 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". Briscoe passed for 14 touchdowns in 1968 - still a Denver Broncos record for a rookie. For decades the team owners claimed there was no unwritten agreement. The second black player to be inducted in the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame, Motley joined in 1968. The MOTDx team bring you authentic stories from the very top of the game at home and abroad, Entries are now open for all undiscovered artists and bands to upload one original track. Dungy also was very pivotal in helping Mike Vick get a second chance and transition back into the NFL after a jail stint for dogfighting temporarily derailed Vick’s brilliant career. Currently, only three of the NFL’s 32 teams have black head coaches. Alan Shearer analyses Dwight McNeil's performance against Everton and says the Burnley winger "probably won't score many better goals" than his stunning strike. Guys like Belichick, Saban, Sean McVay, etc.. weren’t elite … 12:03 PM PDT . As he recalled the song in his final interview with Berry before his death in 1986, tears rolled down his cheek. Pollard became the second African-American in the College Hall of Fame in 1954. "My dad was a single parent, and when he wasn't working all the hours he did it was phone call after phone call, meeting after meeting, trying to get my great-grandfather's name out there.". Matt LaFleur is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). As his team returned from one game in Gilberton, the train's windows were shot out. In 13 seasons, Tomlin has made the playoffs 8 times and he’s 133-74-1 (.642) as a head coach. But that hasn’t made an impact. In 1921, he became the co-head coach of the Akron Pros, while also beasting out of the backfield. 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. "Offensive co-ordinators tend to come from quarterbacks, and head coaches from offensive co-ordinators, so the pipeline is thin for African-Americans because of discrimination against black players in so-called 'thinking' positions.". "We better let him play," the linebacker told the coach. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported in January that the Detroit Lions, Houston Texans and New York Jets were among NFL teams to interview Lewis - the Bengals' head coach from 2003 to 2018 - … The same players that shunned Pollard four months earlier were now bringing him food. Dennis Green – The second African-American head coach in Division I-A history with Stanford. He holds the distinction of becoming the second African-American head coach in the history of professional football, and the first in the sport's modern era. Feagles played in his first Superbowl after two decades in the NFL, as his Giants beat the New England Patriots, 17-14. He was the model of consistency and the epitome of great character and set a new NFL record for consecutive playoff appearances by a head coach with 10 to end his career. As Fritz Jr handed down his collection of memorabilia in the 1990s, Fritz III began contacting each member of the Hall of Fame's 48-person selection committee, stating his grandfather's case for inclusion. Three other African-American NFL head coaches … "Hammond and Milwaukee were bad, but never as bad as Akron. If the field was a quagmire, his face would be held in the water. Fritz Pollard Jr suffered from Alzheimer's during the final years of his life, but just before he died there was a moment of clarity. 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.He was the first African American selected to a backfield position on Walter Camp’s All-America team (1916) and the first African … He led the team to two of their NFL championships. During those years in LA, Shell had a record of 54-38 and just one losing season. Born Frederick Douglass Pollard in 1894 - after the abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass - his nickname Fritz reflected Rogers Park's predominantly German make-up. Marshall was an avowed segregationist who owned the Washington football franchise from its inception in 1932 to his death in 1969. His is a story for too long left untold. "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. In terms of tenure, Weeb Ewbank has led the team for more games (112) and more complete seasons (nine) than any other head coach. But he combated such treatment with tricks he learned from his brothers. 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. "He always let his skills on the field, and his actions off it, define who he was. He continued to promote the integration of more black players. His three older brothers all played the game and felt black players could do well - if they adhered to an unwritten code of conduct. African Americans were banned from the game until 1950. They had some prejudiced people there. Five of the 11 men who had agreed to ban black players were, however. Pardee was at the controls of the Run and Shoot Oilers, whom he guided to four playoff berths in four full seasons on the job. NFL Proposes Rule That Would Give Teams a Competitive Advantage for Hiring Black Coaches and Executives. The 2018 NFL season began in September with eight minority head coaches in the NFL, including seven black head coaches, the most in league history. He’s the tenth African-American head coach in NFL history and he will probably end up being considered the best one when he’s done. Bieniemy is one of the few Black coaches on NFL teams’ radar who have coaching vacancies, despite the Rooney Rule which says a minority candidate must be interviewed for any coaching position. Entering the 2020 season, there are just four minority coaches; Tomlin (Steelers), Lynn (Chargers), Rivera (Washington) and Brian Flores (Dolphins). In his freshman year, he was the only black player in the Ivy League and Brown's win over Yale saw them earn an invite to the Rose Bowl in January 1916. Harland Svare earned his first coaching job when the Rams hired him in 1962 at just 31 years, 11 months old. John Wooten, a trailblazing African American front office executive during the 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s, called a meeting at the 2003 NFL Combine. The US summer of 1919 was known as the Red Summer. Pollard left a lasting impression in Providence. Seventeen years later, the NFL has the same number of black head coaches as it had in 2003: three. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account. Though many of the 'Syracuse 8' had received interest from NFL scouts before the … He coached and managed all-black teams in exhibition games, giving them a chance to showcase their talent. He was honoured instead at a separate banquet held by a local black business association. Then came a telegram that changed everything. The table shows the current coaches and their records for each National Football League … He never played quarterback again. Kenny Washington: The First to Sign an NFL Contract. Art Shell — He was the first black head coach in the NFL’s modern era. 1-ranked Notre Dame. Fritz Pollard, the first African American coach and quarterback in the NFL. Svare posted a 14-31-3 record in 3 1/2 seasons with Los Angeles. Watch as Finn Russell edges Scotland into the lead after a try review after Stuart Hogg's charge-down causes havoc in the Irish back line at Murrayfield. Fritz Pollard, a black running back, served as player-coach for the Hammond (Ind.) By the time the NFL's second black head coach was appointed in 1989, Pollard, who died in 1986, had long been written out of the history books. Coming out of the Reconstruction era which followed the American Civil War, the Pollards wanted to live free from the racial oppression of segregation laws in the south and had moved from Oklahoma in 1886. When the NFL started, in the 1920s, a handful of African Americans played in the new league. Rival fans would taunt Pollard with it throughout his career. For decades the team owners claimed there was no unwritten agreement. Matt Bryant, Atlanta Falcons, LI, (41). He then left to become the Vikings head coach. The FPA meets with the NFL formally twice a year to discuss proposals and collate a list of qualified minority candidates ready for interview. 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. There is also one Hispanic head coach. There have been 24 in total, with three currently among the 32 teams, despite about 70% of NFL players being from ethnic minorities. In his second season, he upset No. Dungy was head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996 to 2001 and Indianapolis from 2002 to 2008. 113-94 W-L, 4-8 W-L in playoffs, 0 SB won, Vikings/Cardinals 1992-2006, born PA 1949, died 2016 Pollard himself was now in the factory town of Akron, Ohio. Fritz III gave his permission to name it the Fritz Pollard Alliance (FPA). Comments. 2. ... the only other Black head coach to make it to the NFL championship game. I will not have that," she says. Are you a Stathead, too? this year amid mounting pressure. Pollard was the only Akron player named in the All-Pro side, but when the team received their championship trophy, he wasn't invited. Green, 42, replaces Jerry Burns, who resigned. This truly is the year of the African American. When he began playing football aged 15 in 1909, he measured 4ft 11ins and weighed 89 pounds. 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. This NFL season started with a combined 19 black head coaches and coordinators. The Denver Broncos fired head coach Vance Joseph on Dec. 31 after records of 5-11 and 6-10 in his two seasons at the helm. 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. His brothers decided they had to toughen him up. The only other black head coach in the NFL was Fritz Pollard, who was player-coach of the Hammond (Ind.) The NFL has now acknowledged, Meet the young UK wrestlers fighting their demons. Attles became the second black head coach to win an NBA championship when the Warriors swept the Bullets in 1975. The group resolved to form an organization and took the name Fritz Pollard Alliance in honor of Fritz Pollard, the NFL’s first African American head coach. Arthur Lee Shell Jr. is an American former professional football player in the American Football League and later in the National Football League, a Hall of Fame offensive tackle, and a two-time former head coach of the Oakland Raiders. At his first game, he had to get dressed in the owner's cigar shop and was abused by his own team's fans. The Fritz Pollard Alliance was in 2016 one of the first to support Colin Kaepernick, another black quarterback who has had to wait for the significance of his deeds to be acknowledged by his sport. Keep working, keep going. Halas was involved with the Chicago Bears from their creation in 1920 until his death in 1983, first as a player, then coach and team owner. 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". The NFL's full "Black Monday" period for the 2020 NFL season is quickly approaching but several teams have already fired their head coach and/or general manager in the middle of the season. 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. The following 1920 season was the first for the American Professional Football Association - renamed the NFL in 1922 - and the Akron Pros went undefeated, outscoring their opponents 151-7. Entering his 22nd season as an NFL head coach, Reid adds Super Bowl champion to his resume after he led his squad to a 31-20 come-from-behind win in Super Bowl LIV. He became the first black running back to be named to the Walter Camp All-America team. "You couldn't eat in the restaurants or stay in the hotels," Pollard told the New York Times in 1978. "They couldn't find anything so I said 'you're looking in the wrong papers'," says Fritz III. Some of the worst violence took place in Pollard's home town of Chicago. Subscribe to our Free Newsletter. "The first was Fritz Pollard. CLOSE. Tony Dungy – The first black head coach to win a Super Bowl when his Peyton Manning-led Colts defeated the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. At that time Pollard was 69 and the owner of several business ventures. Now, the power of his legacy is growing through an organisation that bears his name. Second Black Coach Wins Super Bowl Published February 2, 2009. Then in November 1923, after switching teams, he played an entire game at quarterback for the Hammond Pros. The NFL has now acknowledged it did exist.external-link. "This is a man who paved the way, who showed there is hope. Jennifer King has made history by becoming the first black woman to be appointed a full-time coach in the NFL. A doctor, a lawyer, a qualified vet, a software developer and an NHS recruitment coordinator... and at the same time, elite sports women at the top of their games. After his playing career, he'd moved to New York with the Harlem Renaissance still in full swing and had become a talent agent, booking black entertainers for films and white nightclubs. King, who has been a trailblazer on and off the gridiron, is the first Black woman to coach full time in the league. "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.". By the time the NFL's second black head coach was appointed in 1989, Pollard, who died in 1986, had long been written out of the history books. "They threw rocks at me and called me all kinds of names. He played on two Super Bowl-winning teams with the Raiders. ... 75% of the players in the NFL are black then 75% of the coaches should be. [Rapoport] The #Ravens will now get two third-round compensatory picks for the hire of a minority coach. 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. Pollard's Barber Shop was a popular neighbourhood hang-out and the Pollard boys played football for hours in the local park. They were the suburb's only black family. Head Coach Tyronn Lue won the NBA title two years ago breaking the Black coaching drought of seven years. Now he stays close to the game as a broadcaster, and will speak at the Welcome Reception for … 'Bloody Wednesdays' were the scrimmages where reserve players could challenge starters for a spot on the team. So he entered the college ranks, first as a receivers coach at Oregon State and next settling for a head coaching job at Texas Southern. She is the second woman in league history to be an assistant position coach after Tampa Bay’s assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust. That quest had also been his own - to get his father into the US Pro Football Hall of Fame. Shell coached for the Los … Over a hundred coaches, scouts and front office personnel of color showed up, and Wooten, civil rights lawyer Cyrus Mehri and former San Diego Chargers Hall of Famer Kellen Winslow stressed the importance of collectively pushing for equal employment opportunity throughout the NFL. 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. His professional career was finally about to begin. In 1921, Pollard was made player-coach and finished as the league's top scorer. In the name of “equality,” the National Football League wants to make some teams more equal than others. 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. Still, many were motivated to see them by the opportunity for abuse. The family had prospered. Then a fateful meeting took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Yet he welcomed Pollard with a highly abusive racial slur, saying he was going to kill him. BILL RUSSELL. Biography. Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, a Black man, is reportedly in the mix to lead the Houston Texans. It was time for his family to take up the story. He opened the Sun Tan Studios, where the likes of Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole rehearsed, and produced music videos called 'soundies'. All eight of the Pollard children graduated from high school and excelled at athletics or music. So in essence, because of the uniquely aligned and deeply-rooted circumstances that have prohibited their growth into head coaches, Black coaches truly fall in a category of their own and should be honored accordingly. Second Black Coach Wins Super Bowl Published February 2, 2009. 1. The Minnesota Vikings hired Stanford’s Dennis Green on Friday, making him the the second black NFL head coach in modern league history. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker, promoting African-Americans to leadership positions, The Value Of Elite Black Quarterbacks Is Being Tested This Offseason, The Fan Controlled Football League Is A Glimpse Into The Future Of Sports, Buccaneers’ Glazer Family Should Award a Super Bowl Ring to Jameis Winston – Seriously. He took over the Boston Celtics in November of 1966, as a player-coach. 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. "My students know I get so mad at them if they call themselves 'stupid'. Their move north had paid off. If they think they can't do something or belittle themselves. Taylor has bounced around some in the league but keeps a job and this year he’s the only Black QB also coached by a Black head coach. Sometimes Pollard's team stayed in centre-field at half-time rather than run the gauntlet of going into the locker room.