Forrest Eugene "Cap" Craver Sr. (September 24, 1875 – October 18, 1958) was an American

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 ...

player and coach and

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

who helped to pioneer physical education programs at the collegiate level including the introduction of

intramural sports Intramural sports are recreational sports organized within a particular institution, usually an educational institution, or a set geographic region. The term, which is chiefly North American, derives from the Latin words ''intra muros'' meaning " ...

Coaching career

Football

Craver served as the fifth and fourteenth head football coach at

Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = J ...

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

. He held that position for a total of five seasons, first coaching the team for the 1904 season and then returning to coach the team from 1918 until 1921. His overall coaching record at Dickinson was 21 wins, 18 losses, and 6 ties. This ranks him seventh at Dickinson in terms of total wins and tenth at Dickinson in terms of winning percentage. Craver was the first graduate of Dickinson to coach football at Dickinson. His teams would often scrimmage against the cross-town rivals

Carlisle Indians The Carlisle Indians football team represented the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in college football, intercollegiate football competition. The program was active from 1893 until 1917, when it was discontinued. During the program's 25 years, th ...

coached by

Pop Warner Glenn Scobey Warner (April 5, 1871 – September 7, 1954), most commonly known as Pop Warner, was an American college football coach at various institutions who is responsible for several key aspects of the modern game. Included among his inn ...

. Craver was also a delegate to the 1909 Intercollegiate Athletic Association meeting. This meeting brought about serious reforms for safety and rules changes in the sport of American football. For the 1917 season, he worked as head coach and director of sports at the

Tome School The Tome School is a private school in North East, Maryland, North East in Cecil County, Maryland, Cecil County in the U.S. state of Maryland. Founded in 1894 by Jacob Tome, it is one of the oldest schools in Maryland. It enrolls grades K–12. As ...

in Maryland.

Track and field

Besides coaching football, Craver coached track as well. He led the Dickinson track team to ten undefeated seasons in 1912, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1929, and 1934. Craver was the organizer and early president of the Old Middle Atlantic Collegiate Track and Field Association

Athletic director

While serving as athletic director in 1904–05, Craver was sued by Ralph O. Hall, a Dickinson College junior, and varsity baseball pitcher, for breach of contract for offering Hall money to attend Dickinson and play baseball, rather than attending Cornell. The court awarded judgment of $217 to Hall. Craver resigned his position with the college, and left for several years, before returning for a long and successful coaching career.

Academics

Craver was a long-standing faculty member at Dickinson as instructor of mathematics, Latin, and physical education. The school has honored his memory by annually awarding "The Forrest E. Craver Mathematics Prize" to selected graduates. He was a long-standing member of the

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

organization at Dickinson and was the local chapter's treasurer from 1910 until 1939.Dickinson College Chronicles
Alpah of Pennsylvania Centennial History (1887–1986)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Craver, Forrest 1875 births 1958 deaths 19th-century players of American football American football ends Dickinson College faculty Dickinson Red Devils athletic directors Dickinson Red Devils football coaches Dickinson Red Devils football players College track and field coaches in the United States High school football coaches in Maryland People from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania