Richard Cresson Harlow (October 19, 1889 – February 19, 1962) 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, as well as an

oologist Oology (or oölogy) is a branch of ornithology studying bird eggs, nests and breeding behaviour. The word is derived from the Greek ''oion'', meaning egg. Oology can also refer to the hobby of collecting wild birds' eggs, sometimes called egg c ...

. Harlow served as the head coach at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

(1915–1917),

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

(1922–1925),

Western Maryland College McDaniel College is a private college in Westminster, Maryland. Established in 1867, it was known as Western Maryland College until 2002 when it was renamed McDaniel College in honor of an alumnus who gave a lifetime of service to the college. ...

(1926–1934), and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

(1935–1942, 1945–1947). He is credited with pioneering modern defensive schemes. Often fielding undersized teams, Harlow coordinated

stunts A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat or an act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually on television, theaters, or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Before computer generated imagery spec ...

to avoid blockers, rather than trying to overpower them. His offensive style utilized shifts, reverses, and

lateral passes In gridiron football, a lateral pass or lateral (officially backward pass in American football and onside pass in Canadian football) occurs when the ball carrier throws the football to a teammate in a direction parallel to or away from the oppone ...

. Harlow was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

as a coach in 1954.

Early years

A native of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Harlow attended

, where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

for the

Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interc ...

, under

Bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

and

Jack Hollenback John Coffey Hollenback (August 10, 1884 – 1959) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Franklin & Marshall College from 1908 to 1909, Pennsylvania State University in 1910, and Pennsylvania Military ...

. As a tackle, Harlow distinguished himself during the 1910 and 1911 seasons. In the latter year, the team went undefeated and won the national title. A two-year

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

, he also was a member of the

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

teams, as well as the

Phi Sigma Kappa Phi Sigma Kappa (), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic fraternity with approximately 74 active chapters and provisional chapters in North America. Most of its first two dozen chapters were granted to schools in ...

fraternity.

Coaching career

Penn State

Upon graduation from Penn State, Harlow remained with the Nittany Lions as an assistant football coach for three seasons, under his former coach Bill Hollenback. Harlow succeeded him as head coach in 1915, and hired

Lawrence Whitney Lawrence "Larry" Atwood Whitney (February 2, 1891 – April 24, 1941) was an American athlete who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics. Career Whitney graduated from Worcester Academy in 1911, where he lettered in baseball and basketball ...

as an assistant. After compiling a combined 20–8 record in three seasons, Harlow entered the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

in 1918, and was stationed at

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six regi ...

, where he was an assistant coach for Charles A. Bernier. After an

honorable discharge A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and th ...

, Harlow returned to Penn State in the following year, again as an assistant, but this time under coach

Hugo Bezdek Hugo Francis Bezdek (April 1, 1884 – September 19, 1952) was a Czech American athlete who played American football and was a coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He was the head football coach at the University of Oregon (1906, 1913– ...

. Harlow also became the boxing coach at that time.

Colgate

Harlow left Penn State to become the 20th head coach at

from 1922 to 1925, succeeding Ellery Huntington Jr. For the first two seasons, Harlow hired

Punk Berryman Robert Norman "Punk" Berryman (May 18, 1892 – May 18, 1966) was an American football player and coach. He played as a halfback at Pennsylvania State University and was selected as third-team All-American in 1915, his senior year. Berryman se ...

as assistant. Harlow coached the team to a 55–0 victory over

Niagara University Niagara University (NU) is a private Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition in Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. It is run by the Congregation of the Mission and has 3,300 undergraduate students in 50 academic programs. Appro ...

, where players refused to tackle any Colgate players, leading to many scores. Harlow's overall coaching record at Colgate was 24–9–3.

Western Maryland

Harlow moved from Colgate to become the head coach at

from 1926 to 1934, succeeding Ken Shroyer. There, Harlow coached the Green Terror to a 60–13–7 record with three undefeated seasons. In 1934 Western Maryland was invited to play in the inguinal

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

. Seeing it as not much of a challenge; Harlow declined to have his players play in then more prestigious

East–West Shrine Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

. In Orange Bowl, Bucknell, who lost to the Green Terror early that season, beat the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

.Lighter, James E. Fearless and Bold. Westminster: McDaniel College, 2007. 334. Print. Harlow had many great players such as Eugene "Stoney" Willis, who threw the first

shovel pass A shovel is a tool used for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore. Most shovels are hand tools consisting of a broad blade fixed to a medium-length handle. Shovel blades are usually made ...

against

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

in 1932, and Bill Shepherd, who was considered to be one of the best running backs in the country in the early 1930s, starring the East West shrine game in 1934 behind

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

center

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

. At Western Maryland, Harlow also coached

Rip Engle Charles A. "Rip" Engle (March 26, 1906 – March 7, 1983) was an American football player and coach of football and basketball. He served as the head football coach at Brown University from 1944 to 1949 and at Pennsylvania State University from ...

. He had a great influence on Engle's career, and they remained good friends for many years. Harlow said that his "biggest thrill" came from those games where he beat Bosten College and Bucknell by such a lopsided margin.

Harvard

In 1935, Harlow became the first non-alumnus ever to coach at Harvard. The job was initially offered to

Clark Shaughnessy Clark Daniel Shaughnessy (originally O'Shaughnessy) (March 6, 1892 – May 15, 1970) was an American football coach and innovator. He is sometimes called the "father of the T formation" and the original founder of the forward pass, although that ...

, but was turned down. Harlow's assistant coaches immediately became Henry Lamar and

Skip Stahley Jacob Neil "Skip" Stahley (September 22, 1908 – June 27, 1992)''The University of Idaho Magazine'', Oct 1992, Vol.10, No.4, p.20. was an American college football coach and athletic director. He served as the head football coach at the Universit ...

. Lamar took over as head coach while Harlow 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 ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. When Harlow returned, Lamar went back to being an assistant. From 1938 to 1946,

Lyal Clark Lyal W. Clark (July 4, 1904 – January 30, 1971) was an American college football head coach who was Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football, Delaware football program's eighteenth head coach. He led them to a 5–18–1 overall record in thr ...

also served as an assistant. At Harvard, Harlow was voted Coach of the Year in 1936, and a year later, was chosen as the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

Coach of the Year. He retired in 1947 with a lifetime record of 149–69–17, and was succeeded by

Arthur Valpey Arthur Ludgate Valpey Jr. (August 5, 1915 – March 12, 2007) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Harvard University from 1948 to 1949 and at the University of Connecticut from 1950 to 1951, compilin ...

. Harlow was named to the

in 1954.

Oology career

Harlow was an expert in

oology Oology (or oölogy) is a branch of ornithology studying bird eggs, nests and breeding behaviour. The word is derived from the Greek ''oion'', meaning egg. Oology can also refer to the hobby of collecting wild birds' eggs, sometimes called egg c ...

, the study of birds' eggs. In 1939, he was named curator of oology at the Harvard's

Museum of Comparative Zoology A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

, and he remained in that position until 1954.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harlow, Dick 1889 births 1962 deaths 20th-century American zoologists American boxing trainers American football tackles Colgate Raiders football coaches Harvard Crimson football coaches McDaniel Green Terror football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions baseball players Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football players Penn State Nittany Lions men's track and field athletes Virginia Tech Hokies football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions boxing coaches College Football Hall of Fame inductees United States Army personnel of World War I Oologists Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Players of American football from Philadelphia Baseball players from Philadelphia Track and field athletes from Philadelphia