Bill Belichick will honor one of the most important figures in football history when his New England Patriots open their 2020 season: Frederick Douglass “Fritz” Pollard. The Patriots’ head coach will wear a visor with Pollard’s name on it when his team takes on the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
After becoming the first black player at Brown University, and despite facing consistent discrimination, Pollard took his talents to the pros in 1920 — literally: he joined the Akron Pros as a running back in the newly formed American Professional Football Association that would later be renamed to become the NFL.