Fritz Pollard

Bio

Frederick Douglass Pollard, usually known as "Fritz," played halfback at Brown University and was a consensus All-America in 1916. The 1915 Brown team had a 5-4-1 record, including a loss to Washington State in the Rose Bowl. The 1916 Brown team went 8-1. Pollard was the first African-American to play in the Rose Bowl. In 1923-25 with the Hammond Pros, he was the first African- American to serve as head coach in the National Football League. He was the second African-American to be named All-America (the first was William Lewis of Harvard 1892-93), and the second African-American to be elected to the College Football Hall of Fame (the first was Duke Slater of Iowa). In 1916, he made a 48-yard run against Rutgers, 60-yard run against Yale, runs of 47, 35, 34 against Harvard. His teammate at Brown was Wallace Wade, future Hall of Fame coach. Pollard had a strong family history. His sister Naomi in 1905 became the first African-American woman to graduate from Northwestern; his brother Leslie was on the 1908 Dartmouth football team. Pollard coached football at Lincoln University and owned coal companies in Harlem and Chicago, operated a movie studio, published a weekly paper in New York, founded the nation's first African-American investment company, and operated a booking agency.

Career Highlights

• 1916 Consensus All-America