Honestly, if you ask most casual football fans to name the first NFL black head coach, they’ll probably point you toward Art Shell. It makes sense. Shell is a legend. He took over the Raiders in 1989 and looked every bit the part of a modern-era pioneer. But here's the thing: Shell wasn't actually the first. Not by a long shot.
To find the real beginning, you have to go back way further. Think leather helmets, no face masks, and a league that didn't even call itself the NFL yet. We're talking about Fritz Pollard.
Pollard didn't just break the glass ceiling; he basically built the house from scratch while people were throwing rocks at him. In 1921, he became the head coach of the Akron Pros. That’s nearly 70 years before Art Shell stepped onto the sideline in Los Angeles. It’s wild how history just sort of "forgets" these things, or at least files them away in the dusty basement of the archives.
The Man Who Did It All: Fritz Pollard
Fritz Pollard was a blur. Seriously. At only 5'9" and about 165 pounds, he was a massive star at Brown University. He was the first African American to play in the Rose Bowl in 1916. People called him "the most elusive back of any year."
When the NFL (then the APFA) started in 1920, Pollard was one of only two Black players in the entire league. He led the Akron Pros to a championship that year. Then, in 1921, the team decided to make him a player-coach.
Imagine that for a second. You’re the best player on the field, but you're also the guy calling the plays, managing the roster, and dealing with the massive weight of 1920s segregation. He didn't just coach; he survived. Fans would scream slurs from the stands. Opposing players would try to take his head off. Pollard used to dress for games in a cigar box—okay, not literally—but he often had to change in separate facilities because he wasn't allowed in the same locker rooms as his white teammates.
He didn't stop at Akron. He later coached the Hammond Pros and even organized all-Black barnstorming teams like the Chicago Black Hawks when the NFL started pushing Black players out in the 1930s. He was a quarterback, a running back, a coach, and a businessman. Basically, the guy was a force of nature.
The "Modern Era" and the Art Shell Breakout
So why does everyone think Art Shell was the first? It’s because of the "Modern Era" tag. Between 1933 and 1946, the NFL had a "gentleman’s agreement" that essentially banned Black players. It was a shameful period of erasure.
By the time the 1980s rolled around, the idea of a Black head coach felt like a distant dream to many. Al Davis, the maverick owner of the Raiders, didn't care about tradition or optics. He cared about winning. In 1989, he fired Mike Shanahan and promoted Shell.
Why Art Shell Mattered (Again)
- The Spotlight: Unlike the 1920s, the 80s had TV. Shell was on every screen in America.
- Success: He wasn't just a "diversity hire." He went 12-4 in his first full season and took the Raiders to the AFC Championship game.
- The Hall of Fame Pedigree: Shell was already a legendary offensive tackle. His presence demanded respect.
Shell's hiring was a massive deal, but it also highlighted how slow the progress had been. After Pollard finished coaching in 1926, it took sixty-three years for another Black man to lead an NFL team. That is a staggering gap. You’ve gotta wonder what kind of talent was lost in those six decades of exclusion.
Misconceptions You Should Probably Stop Believing
People often think the Rooney Rule was the thing that started it all. Nope. The Rooney Rule didn't come along until 2003, long after Shell, Dennis Green, and Ray Rhodes had already proven they could win.
Another big mistake? Thinking that these guys only coached "Black teams." Pollard coached the Akron Pros, a team that was almost entirely white. He had to command the respect of men who grew up in a world that told them he was inferior. That takes a specific kind of mental toughness that most of us can't even wrap our heads around.
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Also, don't confuse "first minority coach" with "first Black coach." Tom Flores (also a Raider legend) became the first Hispanic head coach to win a Super Bowl in the early 80s. The history of the sideline is a lot more colorful than the history books usually let on, but the path for the first NFL black head coach was uniquely brutal.
Where the League Stands Today
It’s 2026. You’d think this would be ancient history. But the conversation around Black head coaches in the NFL is still... well, it’s complicated.
We’ve seen giants like Tony Dungy become the first Black coach to win a Super Bowl. We’ve seen Mike Tomlin's incredible streak of winning seasons in Pittsburgh. But the numbers still fluctuate. One year there are seven or eight Black head coaches, the next year it drops to three.
The "pipeline" is the buzzword everyone uses now. The idea is that you need more Black offensive and defensive coordinators to feed into the head coaching roles. Back in Pollard's day, there was no pipeline. There was just a guy with enough talent and guts to refuse to be ignored.
Taking Action: How to Actually Learn the History
If you really want to understand the legacy of the first NFL black head coach, don't just stop at a Wikipedia summary.
- Look into the Fritz Pollard Alliance. This is the group that actually works with the NFL to ensure equal opportunity. They take their name from Fritz for a reason—he represents the struggle for entry.
- Watch old film of Art Shell's Raiders. Not just for the coaching, but to see the "Raider Way" that Al Davis championed. It was one of the few places in the league where your skin color mattered less than your ability to "just win, baby."
- Read "Fritz Pollard: Pioneer on a Rocking Horse." It’s one of the best deep dives into his life and the insane obstacles he faced in the early 20th century.
- Support HBCU programs. Both Pollard and Shell had deep ties to the Black college football world. That's where the talent has always been, even when the big schools weren't looking.
Knowing who the first NFL black head coach was isn't just a trivia fact. It’s a reminder that the game we see on Sundays was built by people who had to fight just to get on the bus, let alone the sideline. Pollard paved the way, Shell reopened the door, and the coaches today are still trying to make sure it stays propped open for good.
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Next Steps for You:
Check out the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s digital archives on the 1920s Akron Pros. Seeing the team photos from that era really puts Pollard’s achievement into perspective. You can also look up the current diversity reports released by the NFL each year to see how the hiring trends have shifted since the implementation of the updated Rooney Rule in 2022.