Bernard John O'Rourke (March 1886 – June 12, 1941) 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 with ...

player and coach. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

and was a consensus first-team selection to the

1908 College Football All-America Team The 1908 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans for the 1908 college football season. The only two individuals who have been recognized as "official" selectors by the National ...

. O'Rourke was born in 1886 and raised in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

. He attended

from 1907 to 1909 and played on the

Cornell Big Red football The Cornell Big Red football team represents Cornell University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) college football competition as a member of the Ivy League. It is one of the ol ...

team. He was selected as a consensus first-team

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

on the

. While attending Cornell, he was a member of and Dunstan,

Aleph Samach Aleph Samach () was a junior honor society at Cornell University that existed from 1893 until 1981. It was founded on four pillars: leadership, loyalty, service, and honor. Unlike most collegiate secret societies, which have primarily senior mem ...

, and Rod and Bob.1910 Cornellian (Cornell yearbook), page 367, listing Bernard John O'Rourke. After graduating from Cornell, he coached the Cornell football team for three years and also coached the football team at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. After

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 ...

, O'Rourke moved to

Norristown, Pennsylvania Norristown is a municipality with home rule status and the county seat of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Montgomery County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the third-most populous county in Pennsylvania and the 7 ...

, where he lived for the rest of his life and was married to Medora Altemus. He operated a contracting firm with his brother and, in 1935, became the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

administrator for

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Montgomery County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the third-most populous county in Pennsylvania and the 73rd-most populous county in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 856,55 ...

. He also worked as superintendent of the Montgomery County highways and as postmaster of Norristown. He died in Norristown in June 1941, aged 55.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ORourke, Bernard 1886 births 1941 deaths American football guards Cornell Big Red football players Cornell Big Red football coaches Johns Hopkins Blue Jays football coaches All-American college football players Players of American football from Syracuse, New York