Little Known Black History: 1st Head Coach

**The Original Head Honcho**

The first black head coach in the modern era of the NFL was Art Shell.  Shell was the head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders on two separate occasions (the second time the team was based in Oakland).  He was born on November 26, 1946 in Charleston, South Carolina.  Shell also played offensive tackle for the Raiders from 1968 to 1982, going to 8 Pro Bowls.

He took over as the interm coach for the Raiders in 1989.  In 1990 he was named NFL coach of the year.  After going 9-7 in the 1994 season, Shell was fired by longtime Raider’s owner Al Davis.  In 2006, he was re-hired by the Raiders and went 2-14.  He resigned from the position after the season.  His final record as Raiders head coach was 54-38.

The first actual black head coach in professional football was Fritz Pollard.  In 1921, he became the co- head coach of the Akron Pros.  He was a player- coach from 1919 off-and-on until 1926.

Art Shell was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989.  Fritz Pollard passed away, at aged 92, in 1986.  But, he was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 2005.  In 2007, Tony Dungy became the first black head coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory.  Mike Tomlin also did the same with the Puttsburgh Steelers and these men have pioneers like Pollard and Shell to thank for their success.