Former Brandeis athletic director, coach and early NFL quarterback Benny Friedman was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Friedman will be inducted into the Canton, Ohio shrine this August along with Dan Marino, Steve Young and Fritz Pollard.Friedman was one of professional football's first great quarterbacks, and truly revolutionized the game. Before he entered the league in the late 1920s, football was primarily a smash-mouth, running game with rules skewed against passing. Friedman was the first to use the forward pass often, and his aerial attack brought popularity to a league lacking in prestige.

"He was quite a ball player," said Ed Mangniello '54, a guard on one of Friedman's teams. "He was quite a coach. He personified football. He's a fellow that we're proud of and we're proud to be associated with."

Friedman came to Brandeis in 1950 as both athletic director and football coach in an effort to bring attention to the school's athletics. His popularity was instrumental in the program's early success, especially in saving women's athletics from early fiscal cuts. Friedman was inducted into the Brandeis Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993.

"He taught the game of football so that we won with humility and we lost with pride," Mangniello said.

Friedman was a two-time All-American at the University of Michigan and played for four teams in an NFL career that stretched from 1927 to 1934. So many people came to see Friedman that in 1929, the New York Giants purchased an entire team, the Detroit Wolverines, just to acquire Friedman. He passed for more than 1,500 yards twice in his seven-year career, and in 1928 led the NFL in rushing and passing touchdowns. Friedman developed a blood clot late in life that forced his left leg to be amputated. Despondent over his health, Friedman took his own life in 1982 at the age of 77.

Many thought that Friedman's chance of making the Hall in a class with so many great modern-day quarterbacks nominated was a long shot. Marino retired in 1999 as the league's all-time leading passer while Young led the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl victory in 1995 after being named most valuable player in 1992 and 1994.

But thanks to Bob Weintraub '55, a former team manager for Friedman at Brandeis, the Hall's voters were well aware of Friedman's early impact on the game. Weintraub credits Friedman with saving football at its early age, and sent information packets detailing his accomplishments to all 39 voters.

"I don't believe if Bob Weintraub hadn't [made those efforts, Friedman] wouldn't have gotten in," Mangniello said.

Weintraub downplayed his role in Friedman's selection, but was thrilled nonetheless.

"I'm just the guy who got all the stuff we sent together," Weintraub said. "I wasn't surprised because I knew how good [Friedman] was. I was just tremendously overjoyed."

University President Jehuda Reinharz says he also wrote a letter to voters on Friedman's behalf.

"It's terrific," Reinharz said. "It's a great honor for us. I'm delighted that he was voted in.