QB innovator nobody knows, Benny Friedman

Benny Friedman revolutionized the passing game and the quarterback position in football as we know today. Yet, few people including the so-called experts and historian have heard of this man. Born in Cleveland Ohio to Jewish immigrants from Russia on March 18, 1905, Benny was a small, skinny child who was bullied and roughed up by his older siblings and kids in his neighborhood. His goal was to be the world's strongest man. He devoted himself to books on weightlifting exercises and technique, beginning at grade school till high school. Without any help, he developed his own training regiment of exercise and diet with devotion for many years.

As he got into his teens, he realed he wasn't going to be the world's strongest man when he saw other kids who were bigger than him. Instead, he decided to utilize his strength and speed to become a football player at East Tech in Cleveland. However, East High cut him saying he was too small at 5'8 and 170 lbs. He transferred to another school, Glenville High where he made the football team as well as the basketball and baseball team. In 1922, Benny beat his old team, East High in the regular season 31-0 and in the City championship 13-0 and National Championship against Oak Park, Illinois. In the classroom, he was ranked as top student, president of his senior class, and chosen to deliver the graduation commencement speech.

After graduating from Glenville in 1923, Benny decided to attend Michigan when Penn State said he was too small. With the help of his godfather and working at a Chinese restaurant, he paid his Michigan tuition. He developed his own strength training methods, squeezing tennis balls and using his hands only to slide across stair railings and armrests to become an effective passer. He still maintained his physique from his weight training as a youth and grew to be 5'10 and 175 Ibs. He became All-American in 1925 and 1926 as well as Big Ten MVP in 1926. Michigan won Big 10 tiles in '25 and '26 due to teammate, Benny Oosterbaan blocking and pass-catching abilities and Friedman's passing, kicking, and defensive abilities. After graduation, he turned professional due to his father's illness. He started with the Cleveland Bulldogs which folded in his first season of 1927 and the next year played for Detroit Wolverines.

Newspaper accounts say:

• Friedman led the league in rushing and passing in 1928.
• He threw 20 TD's in 1929 with the old rules and the old, blob ball (4 in one game).
• From 1927-1930, he threw over 50 TD's and passed over 5,663 yards as NFL leader.

New York Giants owner, Tim Mara, bought the whole Wolverine team and paid Friedman 10,000 a year to play for the Giants. He figured that with Friedman's talent, he could attract Jewish fans to come to the Polo Grounds (Giants home). In 1928, the Giants lost 54,000 dollars; 1929, the Giants made 8,500 dollars; 1930, the Giants made 23,000; and in 1931, the Giants made 34,000 dollars (Willard Manus in his article Passing Recognition). In 1932, Benny asked Mara if he can invest with the Giants, Mara said no, because he wanted to give it to his sons. Feeling slighted and exploited, Friedman left the Giants and played 3 more years for the football Brooklyn Dodgers. Throughout his playing days, his mom prayed for his safety by dropping 18 cents in a charity box before each of his games. The number eighteen stands for chai in Hebrew which means "life" according to this mother (Willard Manus, Passing Recognition).

With the Giants

Because of Freedman's passing ability:

1. The football was simmered down from a blob ball to an oval shaped ball in 1933.

2. Passing rules changed where a passer doesn't have to stand five yards from scrimmage to throw.

3. Eliminating 2 incomplete passes as a five yard penalty and an incomplete pass to the end zone as change of possession.

As coach 

After his playing days, Friedman coached at CCNY in New York till World War II where he served in the Navy. When the war was over, he became athletic director and football coach at Brandeis University. In later years, he was an outspoken critic of the 1970 NFL pension plan which did not include pre-1958 players and ran QB summer camps for teenagers till diabetes cost him one of his legs in 1980. Not wishing to be burden, Benny took his own life on November 23, 1982.

Elected to the College Hall of Fame 1951 and the NFL Hall of Fame 2005.


Copyright 2005 by Davan S. Mani as unpublished work

Wilmeth Sidat-Singh

WHO IS WILMETH SIDAT-SINGH?

A Tuskegee airman, athlete and scholar, Wilmeth Sidat-Singh is a class of his own. A man considered friend to all those who knew him. Born in Washington D. C. to Elias and Pauline Webb in 1917, Elias died of a stroke when Wilmeth was 5 years old. Pauline remarried to Samuel Sidat-Singh, a medical student from India. The family moved to New York City where Dr. Sidat-Singh set up his pharmacy practice in Harlem.

It was in the Harlem playgrounds where he developed his character of toughness and level-headedness by playing many sports like baseball, basketball, football, and tennis. He attended Dewitt Clinton High and led his basketball team to the Public School Athletic League championship in the 1933-1934 year and named All-City in 1935. Yet, Syracuse was the only school that offered Sidat-Singh a basketball scholarship despite being one of the top students at DeWitt Clinton. His goal was to be a doctor like his step-father and chose his step-father’s last name of Sidat-Singh. Local newspapers publicized him as Hindu, fully aware of his real ancestry.In Wilmeth’s sophomore year at Syracuse, Roy Simmons, Sr. an assistant football coach asked him to join the varsity team for his junior year after he saw him throw a football at intramural game for 55 yards. He became a lead halfback in the single-wing offense which is equivalent of today’s quarterback. Passing as a Hindu, Syracuse coaches decided to play road teams that discriminated against African-Americans until an article by Sam Lacy, an African-American sportswriter, told the truth about Sidat-Singh’s ancestry. This action resulted in him not being allowed to participate in a game against Maryland in 1937 and against Navy as a basketball player.

A star on the basketball team, Syracuse went undefeated in his senior year at 14-0 with overall record at 40-13 during his tenure. He is credited with the no-look pass. On the football field, he was dominant as ever in 1938 when he beat then undefeated Cornell 19-17. In that game, Sidat-Singh threw 6 passes for 150 yards and 3 touchdowns in the final 9 minutes of that game. The same year, Syracuse beat Maryland 53-0 in Syracuse and played Duke in Durham by agreement from the two University presidents.After graduation with a degree in zoology, he played barnstorm basketball for the Syracuse Reds, New York Renaissance and Washington Bruins.

The NFL had an unofficial rule of banning black players from 1933-1946. Yet for Sidat-Singh, his goal was to be a doctor in the surgery field and basketball was there to pay for his medical education. When World War II broke out, he returned to his birthplace and became a policeman as well as basketball In 1943 to serve his country, he passed the U.S. Army Air Corps exam to serve with the Tuskegee Airmen. On May 9, 1943, Sidat-Singh lost his life during air-training exercises over Lake Huron, Michigan. On February 26, 2005, Syracuse retired his basketball jersey number 19. He is buried in National Arlington Cemetery."We are certain he would feel that his life was not in vain," "if it served to put a spark into the lives of aspiring youngsters and to impress upon them that ability, slowly but surely, receives recognition." ---Dr. Samuel Sidat-Singh, Wilmeth’s father speaking at his funeral.

© 2006 as unpublished work by Davan Mani

Darlene Hard (Forgotten care)

Who is Darlene Hard?

Darelene Hard was a tennis champion in the 1950’s-1960’s amateur era. In her time, professionals were not allowed to compete in the Australian, French, Wimbledon, and U.S. until 1968. Darlene’s game consisted of a strong serve and volley. Her forte was doubles which she won numerous Grand Slam titles with players like Althea Gibson, Maria Bueno, Jeanne Arth, and Lesley Turner. In addition, she was a mixed double champion with such players as Rod Laver and Mervyn Rose. Finally, she won three Grand Slam titles in singles despite her main expertise in doubles.

Darlene was born in Los Angeles, California. Her mom Ruth was a well-known amateur tennis player in that area. However, Darlene didn’t like the game because you had to wear white, couldn’t make noise, and couldn’t share. Therefore, she played team sports like baseball, basketball, and football. Her father coached her in softball. Friends and family had to manipulate her to play tennis. When she won the Southern California championship for 13 year olds, she committed herself to the game but didn’t beat her mom until she was fifteen.

Through her mom’s tennis reputation and her success, Darlene was taught by legendary players like Alice Marble, Pauline Betz, and Sarah Palfrey Cooke. Also, a famous Australian coach, Harry Hopman, allowed her to play and practice with Australian players like Laver, Roy Emerson, and Neal Fraser at the prestigious Los Angeles Tennis Club. In 1955 at the age of 19, she participated in the Pan American Games in Mexico but lost her father to a heart-attack at the same time. Later that year, she won the French in mixed doubles with Gordon Forbes and women’s doubles with Beverly Baker Fleitz (Anna Kournikova of her time but better). She entered Pomona College in 1957 and won the first National Women’s intercollegiate title in singles. She is the only woman to win a grand slam title and a collegiate title.

Her first moment of impact came in the 1957 Wimbledon final against Althea Gibson. She lost the match 6-3, 6-2 in 49 minutes but her congratulatory kiss to Miss Gibson, an African-American, forced a newspaper in South Africa to shade the photo off Darlene. Her second impact was her rivalry with Margaret Smith from Australia. During the 1962 season (in which Smith won 3 out of the 4 grand-slams), both players were bickering at each other and a rivalry ensued which climaxed at the 1962 U.S. Championships. After winning two straight U.S. Nationals, she lost to Margaret 9-7, 6-4 and cried on an over-rule call in the second set. Her final and biggest impact came at the 1961 French, her doubles partner, Brazilian Maria Bueno, suffered hepatitis and couldn’t play Wimbledon. Her country’s federation could not afford her medical expenses or bring her back to Brazil because her hepatitis could spread to others. Darlene canceled her trip to Wimbledon to take care an ailing, quarantined Maria at a Paris hotel for nearly a month.

In 1963, she won the US Hard Court championship in singles and doubles. The same year, she led the U.S. team over Australia (with Margaret Smith on the team) in the Fed Cup Tournament. Likewise, she won the doubles in the Pan American Games from that year. She retired from the game in 1964 to become an instructor at a country club. After 5 years away from the game, she was a last minute replacement in the U.S. Open doubles with Francoise Durr. Despite her lack of fitness throughout the tournament, Darlene and Francoise got to the finals and but were down 0-6, 0-2 to the duo of Virginia Wade and Margaret Smith Court. In the past, Darlene was known to give up on matches when things weren’t going her way particularly in singles. This time, Darlene was laughing and joking at her circumstance saying “isn’t this fun.” Francoise was not laughing though but they came back to win 0-6, 6-3, 6-4. This was Darlene’s last Grand Slam title. She soon retired from tennis in 1971. In honor of her career and her achievements, Darlene was elected to the tennis Hall of Fame in 1973 and elected to the collegiate Hall of Fame in 1974. Afterwards, she disappeared from public view and is now working at the University of Southern California.

I really believe that Darlene’s sacrifice of her ambition and health for Maria displays an unlimited compassion and care in the heat of competition. Tennis is a game of individualism and sometimes cruel fate favors a player’s outcome. For instance in 1956, Darlene’s ex-doubles partner Beverly Baker Fleitz was favored to win Wimbledon in singles but had to withdraw when she was confirmed pregnant. Fast forward to five years later, Darlene could have taken advantage of Maria’s situation by playing and winning Wimbledon. Yet, Darlene nursed Maria back to health and in the process, caught hepatitis. Eventually, Maria came back and won Wimbledon in 1964 and many U.S. singles titles afterwards. As for Darlene, she won her last singles title at the 1961 U.S. Nationals, never to win a singles title at Wimbledon. However, it is her sacrifice that will stay true to heart.

© 2006 by Davan Mani as unpublished work

Maria Bueno (Latin Superstar)

WHO IS MARIA BUENO?

She played during the amateur era where professionalism was disallowed in major tennis tournaments. She won 19 Grand Slam titles (7 in singles, 11 doubles and 1 mixed doubles) and won many others in non GS tournaments. In all, she amassed 589 titles in her career. She was the first to win a Grand Slam in doubles in 1960 (Australian with Christine Truman and the others with Darlene Hard). She also won. Leading the way for Latin American athletes, she was the first woman from Latin America to win Wimbledon. Her prime years were from 1958 till 1968 before injuries curtailed her career.

Serving ballerina style with power!

Sportswriters described her moving swiftly and gracefully like a swallow (a bird) that moves swiftly to hunt its prey. Her game was an expression of art and poetry. Her canvas: the tennis court. She had to play the game beautifully and gracefully. Winning mattered but thinking about winning would not allow her to play her fullest: stroke to stroke; point to point; and game to game. By combining the game as art and war, she appealed to fans who like the aesthetic and competitive aspects of tennis. A writer described her as an “ugly ducking who moves beautifully.”

Maria Esther Aldinion Bueno was born on Oct. 11, 1939 in Sao Paolo, Brazil. She learned to play on the clay courts of Sao Paolo where her father was a member of a country club. She never took lessons, instead became a disciple of tennis legend’s Bill Tilden’s book. She read his book very carefully and practiced with her older brother as well as club pros for hours, everyday. The clay surface gives the ball a higher bounce and less speed off shots. Therefore, players learn patience and point construction but Maria was a restless soul who wanted to finish off points quickly. By her own teachings, she developed an attacking style of serve & volley and power-hitting ground strokes from the forehand and the backhand. Likewise, she developed those half-volley touches where she can make contact on the ball at any angle or speed with any type of spin off the bounce. Finally, she was an avid swimmer which provided consistent strength to her eventual, lean body of 5’7 and 115 pounds. Nancy Richey, her former opponent, commented that she was the hardest consistent hitter that she ever faced because the ball felt so heavy compared to others including Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.

The results of her work were quickly put into effect. At age twelve, she won her first tournament; at fifteen, she was on the Brazilian National team; and at eighteen, a world class player. Her first grand slam title came at the 1958 Wimbledon doubles where she teamed up with Althea Gibson beat Margaret Osborne DuPont and Margaret Varner Bloss. That same year, they go the finals at the U.S. Nationals despite protests by the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association of wanting only Americans to play doubles with each other. At that time, Althea Gibson was the dominant singles player. She won back to back titles in both Wimbledon and U.S. in 1957 and 1958. Therefore, Althea threatened to boycott the U.S. Nationals if Maria was not her partner and the USLTA acquiesced. In singles, Maria showed glimpses of championship caliber by winning tournaments at the Italian and other smaller venues but struggled in the major tournaments and against better players like Althea in 1958.

Then in 1959, Maria broke through by beating Althea at the Italian, winning Wimbledon, and the U.S. Nationals over French champion, Christine Truman. She was ranked No. 1 in women’s tennis and voted Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year. The next year she repeated her success of winning Wimbledon but lost in the U.S. finals. Throughout her career, she never won the major that mattered to her the most, the singles title at the French. The fans appreciated her artistic approach to tennis and she grew up on the clay surface. While she grew up in clay, the grass surfaces at Wimbledon and at U.S. Nationals (then Forest Hills, NY) suited her game because the balls moved faster and quicker off the surface. Despite her failures in singles, she won the French in doubles and mixed doubles.

With Althea Gibson’s retirement during 1959, Maria found a new doubles partner in Darlene Hard. Though adversaries in the singles and mixed doubles, they became great friends off the court and artistic intuitionists on the court. They seem to be in synch spontaneously concerning self, court, and opponent awareness and knew how to respond to each situation, non-verbally with cohesion. Together, they won 5 grand slams in seven appearances. When Maria played in Australia, Darlene didn’t accompany her because Australia was far and expensive for an amateur. Maria played because her Brazilian Tennis Federation was willing to pay for her expenses due to her winnings and World No. 1 ranking. Yet in 1961, the BTF could not pay for Maria medical expenses when she suffered hepatitis during the French. After the canceling the French doubles finals with Darlene, Maria was quarantined at a Paris hotel for one month. Luckily, Darlene took care of her while sacrificing her chance to win the 1961 Wimbledon and her body as she was infected with hepatitis. Darlene would overcome her hepatitis and win the 1961 U.S. Nationals. As for Maria, she recovered to fly back to Brazil but was out of tennis for 1961.

In 1962, a new player was coming in full force to tennis. Her name was Margaret Smith (later Court) from Australia. That year, she won 3 out of 4 majors and the next year won 2 out of 4. She was the first woman in tennis to add weight training to her physical regiment: pulleys, curls, and barbells weighing over 150 pounds. Opponents were intimidated of her size, speed, and her competitiveness. She stood 5’9 and weighed 150 pounds. Margaret beat the smaller and stocky Darlene at the 1962 U.S. Nationals, so bad that Darlene eventually gave up trying to beat her. Maria kept trying despite Margaret’s dominance and her physical problems. Recovering gradually from hepatitis, she did not win any majors in 1962 but optimistic when she reached the semifinals of Wimbledon. In 1963, she won Gold at the Pan American games by beating Mexico’s, Yola Ramirez in singles (Darlene won bronze). The same year, she beat Margaret at the U.S. Nationals in straight sets but Margaret was still the No. 1 player of the year for winning the Australian and Wimbledon. In 1964, Darlene Hard decided to retire from amateur tennis to become a professional instructor at a country club. Maria remained an amateur and took on the challenge of beating Margaret for No. 1 in the world.

With Darlene out of the picture, Maria concentrated on beating Margaret for amateur supremacy while maintaining her doubles game with different partners such as Nancy Richey, Billie Jean King, and Margaret Court. She may have resented her dominance but she respected her play. The year 1964 did not start out too well for Maria, losing to Margaret in the French finals and suffering various other ailments when they met at the Wimbledon finals. The 1964 Wimbledon final is considered a classic with Bud Collins describing it as a “potpourri of shot making by both players” as well as speed and movement. The outcome was close with neither player gaining an advantage until the final set when Maria broke Margaret’s serve and closed the final set winning 6-3. Maria would go on to win the 1964 U.S. Nationals and become the No. 1 player.

Maria would go on to face Margaret many times but would lose to her at the 1965 Australian (default due to cramps) and at the Wimbledon finals. She would win one more major at the 1966 U.S. Nationals but arm and leg injuries would end her career at the end of 1968. That year, tennis became a professional sport and all 4 majors would become open tournaments. Maria missed out on getting paid for her profession. The five year period she missed from 1969-1974 was spent on rehabilitation with weights were added to her regiment. She would make comebacks in 1974, 1976, and 1977. But her injuries were too much to overcome and eventually retired for good in 1977. For her achievements and accomplishments, she was elected to the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1978.

As an older stateswoman, she has become an “ugly ducking” that has aged beautifully. Though no long moving swiftly and gracefully like a swallow, she still in attacking mode when it comes to today’s players. She doesn’t like all the screaming and the power that today’s tennis players display because it takes away the expression of art and poetry. It is all war now. She says that only Justine Henin plays the game with beauty and grace as well as power with a touch of a sculptor. Winning does matter but thinking about it does not allow players to play to the fullest. By combining the game as art and war, Maria has appealed to fans, young and old who like the aesthetic and competitive aspects of tennis.



© 2007 by Davan S. Mani