Bob Higgins (American football)

For those of a similar name, see Bob Higgins.

Bob Higgins
Biographical details

Sport(s)	Football
Born	(1894-11-24)November 24, 1894 Corning, New York
Died	June 6, 1969(1969-06-06) (aged 74) State College, Pennsylvania
Playing career
1914–1916, 1919	Penn State
1920–1921	Canton Bulldogs
Position(s)	End
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1920, 1922–1924	West Virginia Wesleyan
1925–1927	Washington University
1928–1929	Penn State (assistant)
1930–1948	Penn State
Head coaching record
Overall	123–83–16
Bowls	1–0–1
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
All-American, 1915 All-American, 1916 All-American, 1919

College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1954 (profile)

Robert A. Higgins (November 24, 1894 – June 6, 1969) was an American football player and coach. He played college football at Pennsylvania State University, where he was a three-time All-America, and then with professionally with the Canton Bulldogs in 1920 and 1921. Higgins served as the head football coach at West Virginia Wesleyan College (1920, 1922–1924), Washington University in St. Louis (1925–1927), and Pennsylvania State University, compiling a career college football record of 123–83–16. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1954.

Playing career

Collegiate

Higgins played at Penn State from 1914 to 1916, and was named an All-American in 1915. After spending World War I in the service, he returned to captain Penn State, earning All-America honors again in 1919. In a 20–0 victory over Pittsburgh that season, Higgins caught a pass from Walter Hess and turned it into a thrilling 92-yard touchdown and was immortalized in Knute Rockne's "Great Football Plays."

Professional

In 1920 and 1921, Higgins played end for the Canton Bulldogs of the National Football League.

Coaching career

Higgins coached four seasons at West Virginia Wesleyan (1920, 1922–1924), and three seasons at Washington University in St. Louis. He returned to Penn State in 1928, first as an assistant coach, before becoming head coach in 1930. He served as head coach there for the next 19 seasons. He led the Nittany Lions to only the second unbeaten season in the school's history, culminating in a tie versus Southern Methodist University in the 1948 Cotton Bowl Classic. It marked only the second time that Penn State had played in a bowl game.

Ill health forced Higgins' retirement after the 1948 season, but he remained at Penn State as a special assistant in the Physical Education Department until his retirement in November 1951. His overall coaching record was 123–83–16. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.

Family

Higgins was a brother of Margaret Sanger, famed campaigner for birth control, family planning and social reform.^[1] His youngest daughter Nancy married James J Dooley Jr, who was a second team All American Center in 1952 at Penn State. Their son James J Dooley III also played football at Penn State from 1979 to 1981 . Their other son Peter Dooley was on the Cross Country and Track & Field team at Penn State from 1982-84. Bob Higgin's eldest grandson, Robert Lyford, son of Higgins eldest daughter Mary Ann, played basketball at Penn State during the late 1960s.

His daughter Virginia ("Ginger") married All-American guard and fellow College Football Hall of Fame inductee Steve Suhey.^[2] He is the maternal grandfather of Penn State standouts Paul Suhey and Larry Suhey and former Chicago Bears fullback, Matt Suhey. More recently, Paul's son Kevin and Matt's son Joe have played for the Nittany Lions. The Higgins-Suhey family has been called the "first family of Penn State football", with 90 years of involvement with the program.^[2]

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Bowl/playoffs	AP^#
West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats (1920)
1920	West Virginia Wesleyan	4–4–1
West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats (1922–1924)
1922	West Virginia Wesleyan	8–2
1923	West Virginia Wesleyan	3–4–1
1924	West Virginia Wesleyan	9–2	W Dixie Classic
West Virginia Wesleyan:		24–12–2
Washington University Bears (1925–1927)
1925	Washington University	2–5–1
1926	Washington University	1–7
1927	Washington University	5–2–2
Washington University:		8–14–3
Penn State Nittany Lions (1930–1948)
1930	Penn State	3–4–2
1931	Penn State	2–8
1932	Penn State	2–5
1933	Penn State	3–3–1
1934	Penn State	4–4
1935	Penn State	4–4
1936	Penn State	3–5
1937	Penn State	5–3
1938	Penn State	3–4–1
1939	Penn State	5–1–2
1940	Penn State	6–1–1
1941	Penn State	7–2
1942	Penn State	6–1–1		19
1943	Penn State	5–3–1
1944	Penn State	6–3
1945	Penn State	5–3
1946	Penn State	6–2
1947	Penn State	9–0–1	T Cotton	4
1948	Penn State	7–1–1		18
Penn State:		91–57–11
Total:		123–83–16
^#Rankings from final AP Poll.

References

↑ "Margaret Sanger obituary". Toledo Blade. 1966-09-06. Retrieved 2014-07-27.
1 2 "Ginger Suhey, Matriarch of Penn State First Family of Football, Dies". 2011-11-23. Retrieved 2014-06-01.

External links

Bob Higgins at the College Football Hall of Fame
Bob Higgins at the College Football Data Warehouse

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 6981982 LCCN: no96009091

West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats head football coaches

Henry White (1898)
No team (1899)
No coach (1900–1901)
Edward Kenna (1902)
Bull Smith (1903)
Homer Roy Waugh (1904–1906)
Paul Martin (1907)
O. Kerr Price (1908–1909)
Howard Edwards (1910–1911)
John Felton & Mont McIntire (1912–1913)
Frank Mount Pleasant (1914)
William Garlow (1915)
Greasy Neale (1916–1917)
Don Drumm (1919)
Bob Higgins (1920)
John Felton (1921)
Bob Higgins (1922–1924)
Cecil B. Ross (1925–1941)
No team (1942–1945)
Cecil B. Ross (1946–1950)
No team (1951–1952)
David E. Reemsnyder (1953–1957)
Samuel Ross (1958–1961)
William Pugh (1962–1968)
Ralph Bouch (1969–1972)
Kent Carpenter (1973–1982)
Bill Struble (1983–2008)
Dennis Creehan (2009–2010)
Jonas Jackson (2011–2012)
George Shehl (2013–2015)
Del Smith (2016– )

Washington University Bears head football coaches

No coach (1890–1892)
No team (1893)
No coach (1894)
No team (1895–1896)
No coach (1897)
Arthur N. Sager (1898–1899)
No coach (1900)
Gordon Clark (1901)
Wayne Smith (1902)
L. W. Boynton (1903–1904)
C. A. Fairweather (1905)
J. Merrill Blanchard (1906–1907)
Francis M. Cayou (1908–1912)
William P. Edmunds (1913–1916)
R. B. Rutherford (1917–1919)
George Rider (1920–1922)
Byron Wimberly (1923–1924)
Bob Higgins (1925–1927)
Albert Sharpe (1928–1931)
Jimmy Conzelman (1932–1939)
Frank Loebs (1940–1941)
Tom Gorman (1942)
No team (1943–1946)
Weeb Ewbank (1947–1948)
Irwin Uteritz (1949–1952)
Carl Snavely (1953–1958)
Lynn Hovland (1959–1961)
Dave Puddington (1962–1967)
Richard D. Martin (1968–1971)
Donald E. McCright (1972–1976)
Chris Gianoulakis (1977–1979)
Ken Henderson (1980–1982)
Fred K. Remmy (1983–1987)
Ken Woody (1988 )
Larry Kindbom (1989– )

Penn State Nittany Lions head football coaches

George W. Hoskins (1892–1895)
Samuel B. Newton (1896–1898)
Sam Boyle (1899)
Pop Golden (1900–1902)
Daniel A. Reed (1903)
Tom Fennell (1904–1908)
Bill Hollenback (1909)
Jack Hollenback (1910)
Bill Hollenback (1911–1914)
Dick Harlow (1915–1917)
Hugo Bezdek (1918–1929)
Bob Higgins (1930–1948)
Joe Bedenk (1949)
Rip Engle (1950–1965)
Joe Paterno (1966–2011)
Tom Bradley # (2011)
Bill O'Brien (2012–2013)
James Franklin (2014– )

Pound sign (#) denotes interim head coach.

1915 College Football All-America Team consensus selections

Backfield	QB Charley Barrett HB Neno DaPrato HB Dick King HB Bart Macomber HB Eugene Mayer FB Eddie Mahan

Line	E Guy Chamberlin E Bert Baston E Bob Higgins E Murray Shelton T Cub Buck T Joseph Gilman G Clarence Spears G Harold White C Bob Peck

1919 College Football All-America Team consensus selections

Backfield	QB Benny Boynton QB Bo McMillin HB Eddie Casey HB Chic Harley FB Ira Rodgers

Line	E Lester Belding E Bob Higgins E Henry Miller T Pete Henry T Belford West G Doc Alexander G Swede Youngstrom C Charles Carpenter C Red Weaver

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/7/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.