Fritz Pollard biography

Profile

Born on January 27, 1894, in Chicago, Illinois, Fritz Pollard began playing football for Brown University in 1915. The following year, he became the first African American to play in the Rose Bowl, and went pro soon after, signing with the Akron Pros of the American Professional Football Association. When the APFA was renamed the National Football League in 1922, Pollard became one of the first African-American NFL players, as well as the first African-American coach of the NFL (he had become head coach of the Pros in 1921, continuing to play for the team thereafter). He would continue to play and coach football over the following years, ending his coaching career in 1925 after one season with Indiana's Hammond Pros, and ending his playing career the following year with the Pros, renamed the Akron Indians prior to the 1926 season. Pollard died in 1986 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005.