By:Andrew Coen
Friedman, who lived in Lawrence with his wife in the late 1930s and early 1940s, after his NFL career ended, was selected posthumously to the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, by the hall's 39-member selection committee. The committee also voted to induct quarterback greats Dan Marino and Steve Young and halfback Fritz Pollard, who was also selected posthumously. The official induction ceremony will take place Aug. 8.
Friedman is considered by many to be one of the best Jewish football players of all time.
In 1939, five years after making his final appearance in an NFL game, the then 34-year-old Friedman made a comeback as a player-coach with the Cedarhurst Wolverines. At the time, he and his wife were living on Waverly Place in Lawrence, and he was the head football coach at City College of New York. The Wolverines, who borrowed their nickname from Friedman's alma mater, the University of Michigan, played their games at Cedarhurst Stadium, on what is now the site of Lawrence High School. The stadium also hosted the Metropolitan Baseball Association's Cedarhurst Baseball Club and midget auto races before it was shut down in the 1950s due to noise complaints from residents.
Friedman, whose 66 career touchdown passes from 1927 to 1934 stood as an NFL record for years, began the 1939 season as the Wolverines' head coach. But on Oct. 17, 1939, the Nassau Herald reported that the former NFL great would be leaving the sidelines and become player-coach. "Benny is expected to give the Cedarhurst team some of the smart generalship which it has been lacking and will pitch some of those accurate passes which made him the terror of the collegiate and professional ranks," the article read.
Friedman, a two-time All-America quarterback at Michigan, enjoyed an eight-year career in the NFL, from 1927 to 1934, with the Cleveland Bulldogs, Detroit Wolverines, New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, during which he earned first-team All-NFL honors in four seasons.
Nick Farina, former Cedarhurst mayor and village trustee, who also coached at Lawrence High School while he was the school's principal, was the referee for many of the games in which Friedman played for the Cedarhurst Wolverines, and he got to know the quarterback well. "He was very popular and well liked in the town," said the 92-year-old Farina, who now lives in Grand Junction, Colo. "He was a real fine man that liked to express his opinions."
Farina, who was an All-America at Bucknell and officiated many college games, said it was important for Friedman to be on the playing field and not be confined to the sidelines when he played for the Wolverines. "He was a great coach that knew how to control his players, and he became one of them," said Farina. "He was very vocal and wanted to be a part of the group."
Friedman anchored the Wolverines in 1939 and 1940, with many starring performances that were highlighted in the Nassau Herald, including tossing three touchdown passes in just 15 minutes of action in a 32-0 win over the Harlem Brown Bombers on Oct. 13, 1940. "He was probably 50 times better than the other players," said Hewlett Harbor resident William Haft, 79, who attended many of Friedman's games in Cedarhurst. "He was the biggest thing that was around in those days."
Friedman's popularity in the Five Towns was made clear prior to the 1940 season, when a local community group gathered in his Lawrence home to discuss donating all profits from the season to various local charities. The boosters lobbied the quarterback legend to once again take to the field. An Oct. 4, 1940, Herald article recapped how the devoted Wolverines fans said they would assist with the charitable venture if Friedman promised to play on the squad. He immediately accepted their request.
Friedman's short-lived Five Towns semipro stint came to an end, however, when he and other Cedarhurst teammates joined forces with Douglas Hertz, owner of the American Football League's New York Yankees team. According to footballresearch.com, in early October 1941, the Yankees were invited to join the American Football Association when the Providence Steam Roller dropped out of the association. Friedman served as the Yankees' head coach, but the team struggled, and he ended up stepping down, deciding instead to devote more time to his head coaching job at CCNY.
Friedman stepped down as CCNY coach after the 1941 season and eventually became the coach at Brandeis College in Waltham, Mass., from 1951 until the team was disbanded in 1959.
Friedman's life ended tragically when he committed suicide in his Manhattan apartment in 1982, at age 77, after suffering from blood clots which necessitated the amputation of his left leg.
While most football historians will no doubt focus on Friedman's college and NFL accomplishments when he is enshrined in the Hall of Fame this summer, Five Towners will fondly recall his days at Cedarhurst Stadium in 1939 and 1940.
Comments about this story? ACoen@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
