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 for the Cleveland Bulldogs (1927), Detroit Wolverines (1928), New York Giants (1929–1931), and Brooklyn Dodgers (1932–1934). He was the leading passer of his era in the NFL and is credited with revolutionizing the game with his passing prowess. He led the league in passing for four consecutive years from 1927 to 1930, and was selected as the first-team All-NFL quarterback in each of those years. He also served as the head coach of the Giants for the last 2 games of the 1930 season, both were victories. Then he was the head coach of the Dodgers during the 1932 season.
Friedman later served as the head football coach at City College of New York from 1934 to 1941, and at Brandeis University from 1950 to 1959. He was also the first athletic director at Brandeis, holding the position from 1949 to 1963. 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. He was part of the inaugural class of inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951, and was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005.
In August 1927, Friedman announced that he would play professional football for the Cleveland Bulldogs in the National Football League. During the 1927 season, Friedman started all 13 games at quarterback and led Cleveland to an 8–4–1 record. Cleveland had the top scoring offense in the league with an average of 16.1 points per game. In his first NFL game, he threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Al Bloodgood. He led the NFL during the 1927 with 12 passing touchdowns and 1,721 passing yards; his closest competitors totaled seven passing touchdowns and 1,362 passing yards. He was selected as a first-team All-NFL player by both the Chicago Tribune and the Green Bay Press Gazette.
In 1928, the Cleveland NFL franchise moved to Detroit and became known as the Detroit Wolverines. Friedman started all 10 games for the Wolverines and led the club to a 7–2–1 record. With Friedman at the helm, Detroit also had the top-scoring offense in the league with an average of 18.9 points scored per game. For the second straight season, he led the NFL with 10 passing touchdowns (double the next highest total) and 1,120 yards, and was again selected as a first-team All-NFL player by both the Chicago Tribune and the Green Bay Press Gazette. Friedman also led the NFL in rushing touchdowns in 1928, making him the only player in NFL history to lead the league in both passing and rushing touchdowns in the same season.
In July 1929, Friedman signed with the New York Giants. In his first year in New York, Friedman appeared in all 15 games and led the 1929 Giants to a 13–1–1 record, second best in the NFL. The Giants also had the top scoring offense in the league with an average of 20.8 points per game. Friedman led the NFL with 985 passing yards, and his 20 touchdown passes set an NFL single season record that stood until 1942. After the final game of the 1929 season, one sports writer noted: "The uncanny field generalship of Friedman, combined with his bullet passes, was a big factor in the Giants' thirteenth and last victory of the season."
Friedman's passing proficiency was especially noteworthy considering that the football used at the time was rounder and more difficult to throw. Friedman called plays at the line of scrimmage and threw on first and second down, when most teams waited until third down. "Benny revolutionized football. He forced the defenses out of the dark ages." George Halas later said.
In February 1931, Friedman announced that he intended to retire from professional football. He was hired as an assistant coach for the Yale Bulldogs football team. On October 26, 1931, Friedman signed a contract to return to the Giants for the remainder of the season. Since the Giants' practices were held in the morning, Friedman indicated that his duties with the Giants would not conflict with his coaching duties at Yale. Friedman appeared in nine games for the 1931 Giants.
In March 1932, Friedman signed as player, manager, and coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Dodgers compiled a 3–9 record in 1932.
Friedman signed to return to the Dodgers in September 1933, though he did not serve as the head coach in 1933. He started five of ten games for the 1933 Dodgers. His average of 84.9 passing yards per game led the NFL for the 1933 season.
In 1934, Friedman appeared in only one NFL game.
In his eight seasons in the NFL, statistics are incomplete, but he appeared in 81 games, compiled at least 5,326 passing yards, and had 66 touchdown passes and 51 passes intercepted. He was the NFL's career leader in passing yardage until Sammy Baugh's seventh NFL season in 1947. Friedman also totaled over 1,000 yards rushing and over 400 yards on punt returns. At the time of his retirement, Friedman also held the NFL record with 66 career touchdown passes.
In February 1934, Friedman was hired as the football coach at City College of New York. He remained the coach at City College through the 1941 season, stepping down in 1942 for military service. Friedman's City College teams compiled a composite record of 27–31–4.
In the summer of 1942, Friedman enlisted in the United States Navy with the rank of lieutenant. He was named an assistant football coach at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in North Chicago, Illinois. He later served as the deck officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II.
After being discharged, he went into the automobile sales business. He operated a Jeep dealership in Detroit.
In June 1949, Friedman was hired as the athletic director at Brandeis University, a university founded in 1948 at Waltham, Massachusetts. He was also the school's first coach of the Brandeis football team when it began play in 1950. He remained the head football coach at Brandeis through the 1959 season. Despite the limited enrollment, the first years of the football program were incredibly successful winning their first game against the prestigious Harvard freshman team. In the following years Friedman's Judges posted a winning record in their first varsity season as well as going 6–1 in 1957, the team's best record. 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. Despite this, in 10 years as head coach, Friedman's Brandeis football teams compiled a winning record of 38–35–4.
In 1960, Brandeis discontinued its football program, noting that "the per capita cost of fielding a varsity football team is inordinately high in relation to other varsity and intramural sports." Despite the end of the football program, Friedman remained as the athletic director at Brandeis until April 1963 when he resigned his post.
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.
Friedman also received acclaim for his professional football career. Sports writer Paul Gallico called Friedman "the greatest football player in the world." Wellington Mara, the owner of the New York Giants, said of Friedman, "He was the Johnny Unitas of his day. He was the best of his time." George Halas gave Friedman credit for revolutionizing the game with his passing and wrote an article in 1967 titled "Halas Calls Friedman Pioneer Passer – Rest Came By Design."
However, when the Pro Football Hall of Fame was established in 1963, Friedman was overlooked. 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. A. Tittle (1971), Norm Van Brocklin (1971), and Ace Parker (1972). Friedman's frustration grew as he continued to be overlooked. 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. It was not until 2005, 23 years after his death, that Friedman was finally inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A group of 40 to 50 players who played for him at Brandeis printed brochures and lobbied for his induction. He was then nominated by the Hall's veterans committee and received the requisite votes by a 39-member panel of selectors.
Friedman was married in February 1931 to Shirley Immerman, a resident of Brooklyn. The wedding was held at a Long Island country club with Guy Lombardo and his orchestra providing the entertainment. They were married for more than 50 years.
In 1949, Friedman became Brandeis University's first athletic director. He also served as head football coach until the school dropped the program. 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. He sold the camp in 1969.
In his later years, Friedman suffered from multiple health problems. He battled and beat cancer, underwent back surgery, and suffered from heart disease and diabetes. In April 1979, Friedman developed a diffused clot of arteries in his left leg that resulted in gangrene. He underwent a partial amputation of his left leg below the knee.
In November 1982, he was found dead in his apartment in New York City as the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He left a note indicating that he was "severely depressed." Friedman was survived by his wife, Shirley, a brother, and a sister.
Professional wrestler Maxwell Jacob Friedman claims to be a relative of Friedman.
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