When I started research for this story, I had assumed that Fritz Pollard was a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I knew he had been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame some 50 years before, and had made a bigger mark in the professional game as the first African-American quarterback and head coach in the NFL. I had considered Pollard association with the NFL to be the historical equivalent of Jackie Robinson in major league baseball.
Fifty-seven African-Americans are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Not one of them was born when Pollard began his professional football career. By the time he became the first African-American to be a head coach in the NFL, two of the 57 had been born (Marion Motley in 1920; Bill Willis in 1921). By the time his NFL playing career ended, two more were born (Emlen Tunnell in 1925; Len Ford in 1926).
