Alexander Brown Mackie (May 1, 1894 – June 5, 1966) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, coach, college athletics administrator, professor, and college founder and president. He served as the head football coach at

Kansas Wesleyan University Kansas Wesleyan University is a private Christian university in Salina, Kansas. Founded in 1886, it is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. About 800 students attend KWU, with approximately 700 of them studying on the 28-acre campus. ...

Salina, Kansas Salina is a city in, and the county seat of, Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,889. In the early 1800s, the Kanza tribal land reached eastward from the middle of the Kansas Territory. In 1 ...

from 1921 to 1937, compiling a record of 79–52–13. He was also the head basketball coach at Kansas Wesleyan from 1921 to 1938, tallying a mark of 113–161. Mackie was the co-founder of

Brown Mackie College Brown Mackie College was a private for-profit college system in the United States. The colleges offered bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and certificates in programs including early childhood education, information technology, health sc ...

, also in Salina, for which he served as president from 1938 until his retirement in 1963.

Early life and education

Mackie was born on May 1, 1894, in Gazaam in

Clearfield County, Pennsylvania Clearfield County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 80,562. The county seat is Clearfield, and the largest city is DuBois. The county was created in 1804 and later organized in 1822. C ...

. He graduated from Dickinson Seminary in

Williamsport, Pennsylvania Williamsport is a city in, and the county seat of, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. It recorded a population of 27,754 at the 2020 Census. It is the principal city of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a popul ...

and Ohio Wesleyan University in

Delaware, Ohio Delaware is a city in and the county seat of Delaware County, Ohio, United States. Delaware was founded in 1808 and was incorporated in 1816. It is located near the center of Ohio, is about north of Columbus, and is part of the Columbus, Ohio ...

. Mackie played football for Dickinson Seminary in 1913. Mackie served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

as an ensign during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Coaching career

Mackie coached athletics at Athens High School in

The Plains, Ohio The Plains is a census-designated place (CDP) in Athens County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,080 at the 2010 census. History "The Plains" originally referred to the local region where the Mound Builders lived and built their signatu ...

for two years before he was hired to head the athletic department at

in 1921. He was the ninth head football coach for

, serving for 17 seasons, from 1921 to 1937, compiling a record of 79–52–13. Mackie's 1922 team was considered having "no great strengths" by football legend

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

. As he spent more time with the program, his teams encountered more success. Mackie's teams won the

Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The KCAC is the oldest conference in the NAIA and the second oldest in the United Stat ...

championship five times during his tenure. In 1931, his team was one of the few undefeated teams in the country.

Academic contributions

Mackie was the co-founder of

. He and Perry E. Brown founded the school as a

business college A business college is a school that provides education above the high school level but could not be compared to that of a traditional university or college. Unlike universities and even junior and community colleges, business colleges typically ...

, taking what was a part of Kansas Wesleyan's school of business.Brown Mackie College
history

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackie, Alexander Brown 1894 births 1966 deaths Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes athletic directors Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes football coaches Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes men's basketball coaches Lycoming Warriors football players Ohio Wesleyan University alumni United States Navy personnel of World War I United States Navy officers People from Clearfield County, Pennsylvania Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Basketball coaches from Pennsylvania Military personnel from Pennsylvania 20th-century American academics