Eli Abbott (April 1, 1869 – February 13, 1943) 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 ...

player and coach of football and

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 t ...

. He played college football at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

and coached the

Alabama Crimson Tide football The Alabama Crimson Tide football program represents the University of Alabama (variously Alabama, UA, or Bama) in the sport of American football. The team competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Ass ...

team from 1893 to 1895 and again in 1902.

Early years

Abbott was born in Mississippi in 1869. He was the son of James O. and Emily Abbott, both of whom were Mississippi natives. At the time of the

1880 United States Census The United States census of 1880 conducted by the Census Bureau during June 1880 was the tenth United States census.Okolona, Mississippi Okolona is a city in and one of the two county seats of Chickasaw County, Mississippi, United States. It is located near the eastern border of the county. The population was 2,692 at the 2010 census. History Okolona was named as Rose Hill in ...

Athlete and coach

Abbott attended the University of Alabama and played at tackle on Alabama's inaugural football team in 1892. He later attended the

, receiving a bachelor of science degree in 1896. He played varsity football and baseball at Penn. He served as the head football coach at the

from 1893 to 1895 and again in 1902, compiling a career record of 7–13. He also coached the baseball team at Alabama in 1896, posting a 5–5 record.

Family and later years

Abbott married Idah (or Ada) Hausman in September 1896. At the time of the 1910 United States Census, Abbott was living in Leflore County, Mississippi, working as a civil engineer. He and his wife had three sons, Eli, Jr., Charles and Frank. His wife and all three sons were born in Alabama. At the time of the

1930 United States Census The United States census of 1930, conducted by the Census Bureau one month from April 1, 1930, determined the resident population of the United States to be 122,775,046, an increase of 13.7 percent over the 106,021,537 persons enumerated durin ...

, Abbott was living in

Greenwood, Mississippi Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta region, approximately 96 miles north of the state capital, Jackson, and 130 miles south of the riverp ...

with his wife, Ada, and their son Frank. His occupation was listed as a civil engineer with a general practice. Abbott was employed as the city engineer in Greenwood for many years and remained a resident of that city for the remainder of his life. He died at Greenwood in February 1943 at age 73.

Head coaching record

Football

References