Clarence Mann Fincke (October 12, 1874 – June 19, 1959) was an All-American football player and a banker. He played football for

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

from 1894 to 1896, mostly at

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and some at

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

, and was selected as the quarterback for the

1896 College Football All-America Team The 1896 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans for the 1896 college football season, as selected by Caspar Whitney for ''Harper's Weekly'' and the Walter Camp Football Foundat ...

Playing career

Fincke attended

The Hill School The Hill School (commonly known as The Hill) is a coeducational preparatory boarding school located on a campus in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, about northwest of Philadelphia. The Hill is part of the Ten Schools Admissions Organization (TSAO). ...

before enrolling at Yale University, where he was a member of

Skull and Bones Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...

. "This list is compiled from material from the Order of Skull and Bones membership books at

Sterling Library Sterling Memorial Library (SML) is the main library building of the Yale University Library system in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Opened in 1931, the library was designed by James Gamble Rogers as the centerpiece of Yale's Gothic Revi ...

, Yale University and other public records. The latest books available are the 1971 ''Living members'' and the 1973 ''Deceased Members'' books. The last year the members were published in the ''

Yale Banner Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

'' is 1969." At Yale, Fincke played on the football team from 1894 to 1896. Fincke was 5-feet, 11-inches tall and weighed 160 pounds. He was voted captain of the 1895 football team, and a Massachusetts newspaper that year called Fincke "the steadiest player" on Yale's team. His tackling in an 1895 game against the

Carlisle Indian School The United States Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, generally known as Carlisle Indian Industrial School, was the flagship Indian boarding school in the United States from 1879 through 1918. It took over the historic Carlisle ...

helped prevent the Carlisle team from scoring on Yale. Fincke also played third base for the baseball team. One newspaper reported that he was "a good fielder and thrower" but "weak at the bat." Fincke was popular among the Yale student body. He was voted the handsomest man in his Yale class and the most popular. Upon his graduation in 1897, Fincke was also voted as the member of his class who had done the most for Yale.

Later-life

After graduating from Yale, Fincke served as the football coach at The Hill School. He later went into the banking business and became the president and chairman of the board of

Greenwich Savings Bank The Greenwich Savings Bank was an American savings bank based in New York City that operated from 1833 to 1981. At the time of its closure in 1981, it was the 16th largest bank in the U.S. by total deposits. History The Greenwich Savings Bank wa ...

in New York. He died at

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from por ...

in 1959 at age 84.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fincke, Clarence 1874 births 1959 deaths 19th-century players of American football All-American college football players Yale Bulldogs football players Yale Bulldogs men's ice hockey players The Hill School faculty The Hill School alumni Yale College alumni Members of Skull and Bones