A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Friedman played college football as a halfback and quarterback for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1924 to 1926.

Friedman played in the backfield on both offense and defense, handled kicking and return duties, and was known for his passing game.

He was a consensus first-team All-American in both 1925 and 1926, and won the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the most valuable player in the Big Ten Conference in 1926.

Friedman also played eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Cleveland Bulldogs (1927), Detroit Wolverines (1928), New York Giants (1929–1931), and Brooklyn Dodgers (1932–1934).

During World War II, he was a lieutenant in the United States Navy, serving as the deck officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La in the Pacific theater.

[1][2] His father, Louis Friedman, was a Jewish tailor and furrier who immigrated to the United States from the Russian Empire in 1890.

However, after an embarrassing 39–14 loss to Red Grange's Illinois team, head coach George Little made several changes to Michigan's lineup, including inserting Friedman as a starter at right halfback.

In the fourth quarter, he threw a 29-yard pass to Charles Grube who was tackled at the seven-yard line, setting up a touchdown run by Dutch Marion.

[14] At the end of the 1924 season, Friedman was the subject of a feature story by syndicated sports writer Billy Evans.

He led the 1925 Michigan team to a 7–1 record and a Big Ten Conference championship, as the Wolverines outscored opponents by a combined score of 227 to 3.

The only points allowed by the team were in a 3 to 2 loss to Northwestern in a game played in a heavy rainstorm on a field covered in mud five or six inches deep in some places.

The AP noted: "It took just thirty-one seconds for Michigan to win the game at Madison and show the football world that Benny Friedman is destined for top rank among the great players developed by Yost.

"[23] Crusinberry later added: "And now we have Mr. Yost's new Michigan team, with not a Grange on it, but with one of the brainiest players of the age in Benny Friedman and a lot of smart fellows to work with him.

Before Benny Friedman ends his career all the teams of the country, even the Navy, will have abandoned the old style football and will be using, or at least trying to use, smart and unexpected stuff.

[34] As captain, Friedman started seven of eight games at quarterback and led the 1926 team to a 7–1 record and a tie for the Big Ten Conference championship.

In November 1926, at a ceremony before Michigan's game in Baltimore against Navy, "The Jewish Times" presented Friedman with a statue of himself running down the field.

[37] He received first-team honors from the Associated Press, based on polling of "more than 100 coaches and critics"[38] Collier's Weekly as selected by Grantland Rice with cooperation from ten leading coaches,[39] the International News Service, the Newspaper Enterprise Association, the Central Press Association, based on a poll conducted by Norman Brown of 500 newspapers, each of which conducted its own election in which fans voted for the All-American team; Central Press reported compiling a million votes.

[43] He also received the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the most valuable player in the Big Ten Conference.

[48] For the second straight season, he led the NFL with 10 passing touchdowns (double the next highest total) and 1,120+ yards,[6] and was again selected as a first-team All-NFL player by both the Chicago Tribune and the Green Bay Press Gazette.

He was named an assistant football coach at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in North Chicago, Illinois.

[67] He later served as the deck officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II.

Despite the limited enrollment, the first years of the football program were incredibly successful winning their first game against the prestigious Harvard freshman team.

Friedman's run as head coach of the Judges was filled with years of struggles to attract high end talent.

Additionally, players at Brandeis were required to maintain certain academic standards that made it challenging for Friedman to recruit.

"[73] Despite the end of the football program, Friedman remained as the athletic director at Brandeis until April 1963 when he resigned his post.

[74] When the College Football Hall of Fame was established in 1951, Friedman was part of the inaugural group of 32 players and 21 coaches to be inducted.

As years passed, numerous quarterbacks were inducted, including Sammy Baugh (1963), Dutch Clark (1963), Jimmy Conzelman (1964), Paddy Driscoll (1965), Otto Graham (1965), Sid Luckman (1965), Bob Waterfield (1965), Arnie Herber (1966), Bobby Layne (1967), Y.

In February 1976, more than 40 years after his NFL career had ended, he wrote a letter to The New York Times pleading his case.

The wedding was held at a Long Island country club with Guy Lombardo and his orchestra providing the entertainment.

He went on sabbatical in September 1962 and resigned the following April, citing business pressures and the growth of his boys' quarterback school at Camp Kohut in Oxford, Maine.