Richard was born in Flint, Michigan on October 15, 1911, the son of Charles and Lucy Pohrt. In 1926 Milford G. Chandler met with the young Pohrt, when Chandler worked with Marvel Carburetor Company in Flint to develop a fuel-injection system for military aircraft. Although they were a generation apart in age they formed an association and friendship that lasted some fifty years until Chandler's death. Pohrt shared Chandler's enthusiasm for Native American life and culture. In 1933, Pohrt went to live on the Indian reservation at Fort Belknap, Montana, a location to which he has often returned.