Benny Friedman - Retirement

Retirement

After leaving the Dodgers, Friedman coached City College of New York until 1941. For decades afterward, the college's beaver mascot took on the moniker "Benny the Beaver." He served in the Navy during World War II. He then moved to Brandeis University in Massachusetts, where he served as athletic director from 1949 to 1961 and head football coach from 1951 to 1959, when the football team was disbanded as part of a cost-cutting effort.

Friedman suffered from heart disease and diabetes in his later years, requiring a leg amputation in 1982. Despondent over his health and inability to get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he took his own life on November 24 of that year.

Despite his impressive numbers, Friedman was not chosen for the Hall of Fame until 2005. Some people attributed this to his relentless self-promotion and campaigning for induction, which was considered bad form, while others attribute it to latent prejudice against him for his ethnic background.

Friedman is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, and of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

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