Frank Atlee Mason (April 12, 1862 – June 29, 1940) 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 ...

coach and an attorney. He was the first full-time football coach at

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 ...

Early life

Mason was born on April 12, 1862 in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

David H. Mason David Haven Mason (March 17, 1818 – May 29, 1873) was an American attorney and Republican politician from Newton, Massachusetts, who served on the Massachusetts Board of Education, in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and later as th ...

and Sarah Wilson White. He attended Harvard University and played on the school's baseball and football teams. In football, he played quarterback and excelled at the quarterback kick. He graduated from Harvard in 1884 and later attended

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

and

Boston University School of Law Boston University School of Law (Boston Law or BU Law) is the law school of Boston University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top law schools in the United States and considered an eli ...

Coaching career

In the fall of 1886, Mason was named Harvard's head football coach by team captain William A. Brooks. This was the first time in school history that the football team had a full-time head coach (

Lucius Littauer Lucius Nathan Littauer (January 20, 1859 – March 2, 1944) was an American politician, businessman, and college football coach. He served in the United States House of Representatives from New York for five terms between 1897 and 1907. Littauer ...

coached on several occasions in 1881, but did not coach the team full-time). The Crimson went 12–2 under Mason, but returned to coaching by captains the next season. In 1907, Mason returned to coaching at Ole Miss. In Mason's only season as head coach, Ole Miss went 0–6. In what would be his final game as head coach, Ole Miss faced rival Mississippi A&M on a cold, wet Thanksgiving Day. Before the second half began, Mason brought out an urn filled with whisky-laced coffee in an attempt to warm his players. Sloppy second-half play resulted in a 15 to 0 Ole Miss loss. After the game, many of the players blamed Mason for the loss and when asked if the team was returning home that night, Mason was quoted as saying "Yes, the team is going north at 11 o'clock. I'm going in another direction, and hope I never see them again!"

Legal career

In 1888 Mason was admitted to the Suffolk County Bar. He had a law office at 31 Milk Street in Boston, where he practiced

probate Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the sta ...

and

conveyancing In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contracts ...

. From 1900 until his retirement in 1933 he was the legal counsel for Newton Savings Bank.

Personal life

Mason was the son of

, an attorney and politician who served on the Massachusetts Board of Education, in the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

, and later as the

United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The first court session was held ...

. One of Mason's brothers was

Edward Haven Mason Edward Haven Mason (June 8, 1849 – March 21, 1917), of Boston, Massachusetts, was the first philatelist to study, and to write on, proofs and essays of United States postage stamps and postal stationery. Collecting interests Mason specialize ...

, an attorney and philatelist. Mason was a direct descendant of

John Winthrop John Winthrop (January 12, 1587/88 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led t ...

. Mason married Lilian Balch on October 6, 1897. They had two daughters, Mabel and Eleanor. He died on June 29, 1940 in Newton, Massachusetts.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Frank A. 1862 births 1940 deaths 19th-century players of American football American football quarterbacks Harvard Crimson baseball players Harvard Crimson football coaches Harvard Crimson football players Ole Miss Rebels football coaches Boston University School of Law alumni Harvard Law School alumni Massachusetts lawyers Sportspeople from Newton, Massachusetts Players of American football from Massachusetts Coaches of American football from Massachusetts Baseball players from Massachusetts