Benny Friedman - 1926 Chicago Tribune Silver Football Trophy

Red Grange was quoted as saying that Friedman was the best quarterback he had ever played against. He also stated, about Friedman playing with today’s modern tapered football, “He’d probably be the greatest passer that ever lived”. 

Knute Rockne, in 1930 said “There are those who say Friedman is the greatest passer of all time. They are not far from wrong. He could hit a dime at forty yards. Besides being a great passer, he hit the line, tackled, blocked, and did everything; no mere specialty man, that a fine football player should do”.

Praise like this from players and sports writers who were contemporaries of Friedman’s were testament to his athletic abilities and his role in the development of early professional football. He is considered to be America’s first great passer, and is credited with revolutionizing the game in this regard.

Friedman was quarterback for the University of Michigan in 1925 and 1926 (Captain), being named an All-American in both years, and in 1926 he won the prestigious Chicago Tribune Silver Football Trophy (Big Ten MVP). Red Grange happened to have been the first recipient of this award in 1924.  Jacob had the opportunity over several years to meet and interview a number of individuals who knew and played for Benny Friedman, as a sport’s writer for the Brandeis University newspaper, “The Justice”. He was told during several of these interviews that Friedman considered the Tribune Trophy to be his prized possession, and that Friedman spoke of winning it whenever given the chance.

Friedman began his pro career with the Cleveland Bulldogs in 1927. The team moved to Detroit the following year and were known as the Detroit Wolverines. Tim Mara, the New York Giant’s owner had made a number of attempts to obtain Friedman and was unsuccessful. He was undeterred and purchased the entire Wolverine franchise in order to get Friedman for the Giants. Benny played from 1928 through 1931 for Mara’s Giants and finished out his pro career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, 1931 – 1934.

Friedman was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in 2005 along with inductees Dan Marino, Steve Young and Fritz Pollard.

During WWII Friedman served as a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy. From 1951 to 1959 Friedman finished out his football career as head coach at Brandeis University. 1959 was the last year football was played at the school.

We haven’t scratched the surface on Benny Friedman’s abilities, stats, or his impact on the game. In this instance, it would take much more than a blog entry to do so. However, there is one book that we can highly recommend that will tell this story – an interesting perspective on the early years of professional football as well as a fascinating biography about a man that had such a great impact on the sport: “Passing Game: Benny Friedman and the Transformation of Football”, Murray Greenberg, 2008.

This is a very large trophy, with a 1920s full sized silver football sitting atop the ebonized base, and is certainly one of the more historically significant trophies from that or any other era. 

Friedman (R) played Baseball at Michigan as well.

1928 as a Wolverine 

                                         In 1938 with Sammy Baugh and Sid Luckman