He was frustrated by the amateur code which mandated that college athletes should play for no pay. Coach Bill Sprackling, who held a full-time job at the Collier Wire Company in Providence, later recalled that numerous stories circulated that Pollard would attempt to solicit funds from downtown businessmen who were enthusiastic about Brown football. Just before a Saturday game, the stories went, Pollard would explain that he was financially strapped, and that if he did not get his bills paid he would not be able to play in the upcoming game. The former Brown assistant coach maintained that Pollard "was quite successful in this." Although there is no solid evidence to support Sprackling's account, it is consistent with Pollard's business dealings in later years. His son recalled him as an "operator," who always had several financial deals going to support himself and his family,"
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Brown opened its 1916 football season on September 30 with a game against Rhode Island State at Andrews Field. The Rhode Island Rams were clearly overmatched, but made a stronger showing than in previous years. Brown rolled up three touchdowns by the early part of the third period and went on to an 18-0 victory. That Brown missed three extra points in the game was not unusual for a team of that era. In 1916, points after touchdown either had to be kicked from placement or drop-kicked from a position perpendicular to the point where the ball crossed the goal line for the touchdown. In many cases, the kicker was forced to attempt the conversion from an acute angle. The alternative for the scoring team was to punt the ball out of its end zone to the kicker, who then attempted a kick in the face of the on-charging defensive team. Thus, the success of a conversion after touchdown most often depended on where the ball crossed the goal line on the scoring play."
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Pollard had an outstanding game against Rhode Island, but like most of the regulars sat out the fourth quarter. The Brown Daily Herald designated Pollard and halfback Jimmy Jemail, who scored two touchdowns, the stars of the game. The highlight of the game for Brown was the outstanding play of about a half-dozen freshmen who played most of the second half. The play of fullback Walter de Vitalis, who scored one touchdown, and Dune Annan, a future professional player who replaced Purdy at quarterback in the fourth period, indicated that Brown had more depth than in 1915.
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On the Brown campus, Pollard was also a celebrity, but he was careful to share credit for his good fortune with his teammates and the university. As Pollard later explained, "I felt very highly honored and only wanted to keep my feet on the ground because I felt that our whole team had played a very important part in my having received this great honor and I did not want to do anything which might reflect on Brown University or any of the players." While Pollard was genuinely grateful to his teammates and school, he also knew that the racial code of the day demanded that he, a young black man, be properly modest and humble in accepting this honor. Yet, he would have a difficult time keeping his feet on the ground. His brash, assertive personality took over. He later admitted that "I was young and foolish and crazy. I was Fritz Pollard, All-America, and my head was getting a little bit big then,"
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One day in mid-January 1917, President Faunce summoned Pollard to his office and introduced him to a dignified looking gentleman whom Faunce identified as John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Faunce asked whether Fritz knew who Mr. Rockefeller was, and Pollard replied that he did not. Rockefeller, an 1897 Brown graduate and former manager of the school's football team, asked Pollard a number of questions, and then he was excused. The next day Faunce visited Pollard's Hope College room and explained that Rockefeller thought Fritz's room was too cramped, with all the pressing equipment and the clothes hanging everywhere. Rockefeller, the president explained, had made arrangements for Pollard to have another separate room for his living quarters and new pressing equipment, all at Rockefeller's expense. Evidence suggests that Rockefeller later had the files destroyed which related to his subsidy of Pollard; at the time, Pollard recalled Faunce telling him that "from now on you won't have any financial worries,"
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Apparently Faunce saw no inconsistency with the arrangement despite his earlier statement at the Harvard football rally that "if a man wants to get paid for playing football Brown University is no place for him." Rockefeller's visit to campus came within a week of a National Collegiate Athletic Association meeting at which the University of Chicago football coach and athletic director A. Alonzo Stagg introduced a resolution calling for a survey of intercollegiate athletics "with particular reference to their moral influence." Stagg maintained that "a college was responsible for the actions of its athletes, and that when they practice the dishonesty that is known to be the case in many instances, the fault is that of the college." Certainly Pollard had no qualms about Rockefeller's generosity; he purchased the latest pressing equipment in downtown Providence, selected a second, more spacious room in Hope College for his living quarters, and forwarded the bills to Faunce's office."
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During the spring semester, Pollard engaged in a large number of campus and off-campus activities which consumed a good deal of his time. In the winter, for example, he cultivated his lifelong interest in music by playing the slide trombone in both the Brown Band and Orchestra. Late in March, Pollard performed in a musical number in a popular student-produced theatrical farce along with Ink Williams, who did a clog dance with quarterback Jimmy Murphy. The inclusion of the two African-American students indicated that they were being accorded a greater degree of acceptance by the white student body. Pollard was also a member of the varsity indoor and outdoor track teams, and quickly established himself as one of the premier hurdlers and sprinters in New England. Beyond this, he played in the student-organized interclass basketball league. Brown did not field an intercollegiate basketball team in the prewar era
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John Carroll "Fritz Pollard" (1992)
