Benny Friedman
Benny Friedman was a pioneering American football player and coach, notable for his contributions to the development of the passing game in football. Born to Russian immigrants in the early 1900s, he excelled in athletics despite initial limitations due to his size. Friedman played high school football at Glenville High School and later attended the University of Michigan, where he made a significant impact on the team as a quarterback and placekicker during the 1920s. He became known for his innovative passing techniques, which helped transform the game from a predominantly running strategy to a more balanced offensive approach.
In the professional realm, Friedman played for the Cleveland Bulldogs and the Brooklyn Dodgers, where he achieved remarkable success and numerous accolades, including being named a consensus All-American. His popularity and skills led to a lucrative contract and recognition as one of the leading offensive players of his time. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he transitioned to a coaching role and served as athletic director at Brandeis University. Despite facing health challenges later in life and battling for recognition in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Friedman remains a significant figure in the history of football for his role in legitimizing the passing game. He was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame twenty-three years after his passing in 1982.
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Subject Terms
Benny Friedman
Football player
- Born: March 18, 1905
- Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio
- Died: November 23, 1982
- Place of death: New York, New York
As a quarterback for the University of Michigan football team and a professional after graduation, Friedman elevated the role of a passer into a major offensive weapon and brought football to the attention of the public.
Early Life
Benny Friedman (FREED-muhn) was the fourth of six children born to Russian immigrants Lewis and Mayme Friedman. Lewis was a tailor who viewed sports as a distraction in his children’s education. However, for Benny Friedman, and for many Jewish boys, the growing popularity of football provided a means for acceptance into the non-Jewish community. Using a regimen of calisthenics and body-building, the relatively small (five-foot-ten) Friedman developed his body sufficiently to participate in what was then an often brutal sport. An all-around athlete, Friedman became a starter in the backfield for the varsity team of Glenville High School. Friedman’s passing, running, and defense led Glenville to the unofficial national championship by his senior year.
Since he had not yet reached his full height and weight by the time he entered college, Friedman’s size limited his choices for college. Penn State University and Ohio State University passed on Friedman because of such concerns. Dartmouth College offered him a partial scholarship, but football was a minor program at the school. Friedman’s choice became the University of Michigan, the football team led by the legendary coach Fielding “Hurry-Up” Yost.
Freshman football at Michigan was informal, with only intrasquad games and occasional matches with the varsity. Friedman had no scholarship, and his time was spent primarily in class, in working two jobs, and on the practice field. Discouraged by his prospects, Friedman was ready to transfer when a chance meeting with assistant coach George Little convinced him to change his mind. He started the 1924 season on the varsity, sitting on the bench.
Life’s Work
Friedman’s football career began in earnest the fourth game of the season, a week after Red Grange scored five touchdowns in a 39-14 University of Illinois rout of Michigan. Friedman played briefly in that match, long enough to tackle Grange after the game was decided. As a starting back against University of Wisconsin, Friedman threw one pass for a touchdown and scored another by running. He continued as a starter the rest of the season, earning an honorable mention on the All-American Midwest team as quarterback and placekicker. During his junior and senior seasons at quarterback, Friedman led the Michigan team to victories in fourteen of sixteen games. It was during these seasons that Friedman established the passing game as a viable offensive maneuver. The brutality of the sport and all-too-frequent fatalities had resulted in President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905 pushing for rule changes to open the offense. However, until Friedman established the passing offense, the request had rarely been implemented. With his teammate Bennie Oosterbaan, Friedman became known as the front half of the “Benny to Bennie” passing team. In 1926, Friedman became a consensus All-American and received the conference’s most valuable player award.
Professional football during the 1920’s was still in its infancy, with little support in the cities that hosted teams. Friedman’s popularity resulted in a contract offer of eighteen thousand dollars, the highest in the league, from the Cleveland Bulldogs of the National Football League (NFL) in 1927. The team moved to Detroit in 1928, and Friedman led the league in several offensive categories. Friedman’s crowd appeal resulted in the purchase of the entire Detroit team by the New York Giants in 1929. He was picked for the all-NFL team in each of his first four seasons. In 1932, Friedman moved to the Brooklyn Dodgers football team as a player coach. Injuries ultimately slowed Friedman down, and he retired after the 1934 season. During these years, Friedman set season and career records for pass-completion percentage and touchdown passes that lasted for years, all during a time in which the size and relatively round shape of the football made passing a challenge.
Following naval service during World War II, Friedman separated from organized sports until 1949 when Abram Sachar, president of the newly established Brandeis University in Massachusetts, offered him a position as athletic director. Friedman served in that position until 1961.
In 1951, Friedman was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, and he spent his last years lobbying unsuccessfully for admittance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Likely as the result of this self-promotion, voters declined to support his admittance. Friedman’s health deteriorated during the 1970’s. A blood clot following a leg injury, exacerbated by diabetes, resulted in amputation of one leg and potential loss of the other. In November, 1982, Friedman committed suicide. Twenty-three years later Friedman was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Significance
Offensive football, as it was played during the early decades of the twentieth century, relied largely on the “power” or running game. Passing represented more of a desperation tactic when movement of the ball had to be carried out quickly over a relatively long distance. Initially in the college game and then in professional football, Friedman established the passing game as a legitimate offensive weapon. As one of the first “name” players to join professional ranks, Friedman brought public recognition and a significant amount of money to a sport largely ignored by the public.
Bibliography
Greenberg, Murray. Passing Game, Benny Friedman, and the Transformation of Football. New York: PublicAffairs, 2008. Extensive biography of the subject. The author provides insight into both the professional and the personal life of Friedman.
Peterson, Robert. Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. The story of the development and rise of professional football. Friedman was significant because he placed emphasis on the passing game and because he was among the first to catch the eye of the public.
Poole, Gary. The Galloping Ghost: Red Grange, an American Football Legend. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. The story of one of Friedman’s most famous college and professional contemporaries. The rivalry between their respective schools became the source of legends.