Francis Joseph Nagle (July 1, 1924 – August 15, 2014)
/ref> 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, coach, and professor.

Early life

Nagle graduated from high school in West Lynn, Massachusetts and served in the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

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 ...

. A radio operator, Nagle's

B-24 bomber The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

was shot down on his first mission and he became a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

during the last three months of the conflict.

Playing career

He initially attended

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medica ...

-Fort Devans (a temporary two-year college and campus for military veterans) from 1947 to 1948 and became the school's starting

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 ...

despite never having playing football before. In 1949, Nagle followed his coach, Bob Davis, to the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. As a quarterback at Nebraska, Nagle was the statistical leader for passing yards from 1949 and 1950.Nebraska NCAA Record Holders
/ref> He holds a career Nebraska top 25 passing record at 1,289 yards in 190 attempts with 41.6% completions and 13 touchdowns. Nagle was the 43rd pick in the fourth round

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

draft pick as a

back The human back, also called the dorsum, is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral column run ...

for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

in 1951. In 1952, he was signed by the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

but a training camp injury ended his career.

Honors

In 1950, Nagle was chosen as a Big Seven Conference All-Conference selection. In 1951, Nagle played in the Senior Bowl, the College All-Star game, and the East-West Shrine Game. Nagle was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

Coaching career

Nagle was the 25th head football coach at

Doane College Doane University is a private university in Crete, Nebraska. It has additional campuses in Lincoln and Omaha, as well as online programs. History Doane College was founded on July 11, 1872, by Thomas Doane, chief civil engineer for the Burling ...

Crete, Nebraska Crete is a city in Saline County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 7,099 at the 2020 census. History The railroad was extended to the area in 1870, bringing settlers. In 1871, two rival towns merged to form a new town, which was name ...

and he held that position for two seasons, from 1953 and 1954. His coaching record at Doane was 6–10–2.

Head coaching record

Later life

Nagle would go on to receive his PhD in

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

at the

University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center is a public medical school in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is the health sciences branch of the University of Oklahoma and serves as the primary place of instruction for many of Oklahoma's health p ...

in 1966 and would teach physiology at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

. Nagle died on August 15, 2014, at the age of 90.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagle, Fran 1924 births 2014 deaths American football quarterbacks Doane Tigers football coaches Nebraska Cornhuskers football players United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Shot-down aviators American prisoners of war in World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany University of Massachusetts alumni Philadelphia Eagles players Montreal Alouettes players American players of Canadian football Sportspeople from Lynn, Massachusetts Players of American football from Essex County, Massachusetts University of Oklahoma alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty