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Fritz Pollard is a name that I’m sure you’ve all heard before, maybe only in passing. Maybe you know a little bit about the man, but to even the hardcore NFL fan, most will not know an extensive history of him.

I don’t claim to be an NFL history buff, at least not to that extent. The seventies or so is probably as far back as I can go whilst still having a leg to stand on. But, I’ve become more and more fascinated with the way the NFL evolved, progressed and for a moment, regressed in the annals of history.

Fritz Pollard played his collegiate ball at Brown University, whom he led to a Rose Bowl.

After serving his country in World War I he took his football talent to the professional level, signing with the now defunct Akron Pros. A year after doing so, the team joined the American Professional Football Association (APFA) which was the predecessor of the current day National Football League (NFL).

In their very first season in the new league, the Pros, led by Frederick Douglass “Fritz” Pollard won the first ever APFA title with an undefeated record (8-0-3).

Not only was he one of only two African Americans in the league at the time, but he was also the first African American coach in football history, as the Pros named him the co-coach of the time in 1921.

According to accounts of his playing days, he was the Barry Sanders of his generation, as far as the fear he put into opposing teams by being an elusive runner with quick feet and agile cut moves.

During his career, he traversed the league, playing and/or coaching for four different teams. The Akron Pros/Indians, Milwaukee Badgers, Hammond Pros and the Providence Steam Roller.

He also had a second football job, playing some time with an independent team known as the Gilberton Cadamounts.

In 1928, Pollard organized and coached an all African American team known as the Chicago Black Hawks, who played all white teams and even played some teams from the West Coast in the winter, which was their biggest draw.

Once the Great Depression hit, the team was forced to disband even though they were one of the most popular teams at the time.

Eight short years after the Black Hawks’ demise, he became the coach of the Harlem Brown Bombers who played teams from mainly the American Association.

In 2005, this innovator and pioneer was inducted in the NFL Hall Of Fame, just about 20 minutes from the city for which he brought home the NFL’s first title.

The Fritz Pollard Alliance continues to promote minority hiring throughout the NFL, even after Pollard’s death in 1986.

As the first African American coach in NFL history, Pollard ultimately opened the door for future African American coaches such as Tony Dungy and Mike Tomlin, both of whom have won a Super Bowl.

By: Phenomenal TJ aka TJ Jenkins
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