Henry Schoellkopf (December 14, 1879 – December 5, 1912) 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. He was selected as an All-American

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

while attending

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 ...

in 1903. He was the head coach of the

Cornell Big Red football The Cornell Big Red football team represents Cornell University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) college football competition as a member of the Ivy League. It is one of the ol ...

team from 1907 to 1908, compiling a record of 15–3–1.

Early life

Henry Schoellkopf was born December 14, 1879 in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

to Henry Schoellkopf Sr. (1848–1880) and Emily Vogel. Henry Sr. was the oldest son of

businessman

Jacob F. Schoellkopf Jacob Friedrich Schoellkopf (November 15, 1819 – September 15, 1899) was a pioneer in harnessing the hydroelectric power of Niagara Falls. Early life Jacob F. Schoellkopf was born on November 15, 1819 in Kirchheim Unter Teck, a small town in th ...

and his wife, Christiana T. (Duerr) Schoellkopf. Henry's father learned the

tannery Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

business and leather trade from Henry's grandfather,

, and later worked with Jacob's cousin and business partner,

Frederick Vogel Friedrich Vogel (May 8, 1823 – October 23, 1892), more commonly known by the Americanized version of his name as Frederick Vogel, Sr., was an American tanner and businessman from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who spent a single one-year term as a member ...

and his business partner, Guido Pfister, in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. Henry Sr. married Vogel's daughter, Emelie (Emily) Vogel (Henry's mother) in 1875. Prior to his father's early death in 1880, he partnered with Vogel and Pfister and opened a tannery in northeast

that eventually "became the largest in the world prior to World War I." Henry would grow up to become the first of many Schoellkopfs to attend Cornell University when he enrolled in 1898. His sister, Paula Schoellkopf (b. 1876) married Gustav A. Reuss who had Henry Schoellkopf Reuss (1912–2002). He attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1902. While at Cornell, he was president of both the

Quill and Dagger Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University. It is often recognized as one of the most prominent societies of its type, along with Skull and Bones and Scroll and Key at Yale University. In 1929, ''The New York Times'' stated t ...

society and the

Zeta Psi Fraternity Zeta Psi () is a collegiate fraternity. It was founded in June 1, 1847 at New York University. The organization now comprises fifty-three active chapters and thirty-four inactive chapters, encompassing roughly fifty thousand members, and is a ...

. Henry received a law degree from

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 ...

, where he continued to play football. Returning to Cornell, he served as a graduate coach before leaving to enter a law firm in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

Career

Schoellkopf began his career as a football player at the

Cascadilla School Cascadilla School is a co-ed preparatory school, in Ithaca, New York, established in 1876 as a tutoring and college preparatory school for Cornell University. History It was founded in 1876 as a boys' preparatory school for Cornell University. A ...

, where he played fullback. He then enrolled at Cornell and played

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 ...

for the

team from 1900 to 1901, contributing to the development of the original

Slope Day Slope Day is an annual day of celebration held at Cornell University historically during the last day of regular undergraduate classes, but has moved to the following day as of 2014. The Slope Day Programming Board (SDPB) is responsible for organizi ...

iteration. After graduating from Cornell in 1902, Schoellkopf enrolled at

where he played for the

Harvard Crimson football The Harvard Crimson football program represents Harvard University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Harvard's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun c ...

team while he was a second-year law student at Harvard in 1903. He played principally at the

position and some at the halfback position. While playing at Harvard, Schoellkopf was 23 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall, and weighed 183 pounds. After the 1903 college football season, Schoellkopf was selected as a first-team All-American fullback by

Fielding H. Yost Fielding Harris Yost (; April 30, 1871 – August 20, 1946) was an American football player, coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at: Ohio Wesleyan University, the University of Nebraska, the University ...

, Charles Chadwick, and the ''San Antonio Daily Light''. In 1907 and 1908, after graduating from Law School, he served as the head coach of Cornell's football team. In two years as Cornell's coach, Schoellkopf compiled a record of 15 wins, three losses and one tie. His winning percentage of .816 ranks second all-time among Cornell coaches, trailing only

Raymond Starbuck Raymond D. Starbuck (June 26, 1878 – August 16, 1965) was an American football player and coach and railroad executive. Born in Fort Ann, New York, and raised in Glen Falls, New York, Starbuck attended Cornell University. He played fullback o ...

but ranking ahead of

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 ...

. After coaching, Schoellkopf moved to

, where he became a member in the law firm of Marksam & Schoellkopf and one of the most well known attorneys in Milwaukee.

Personal life

Schoellkopf Memorial Hall, Cornell University

In Milwaukee, he married Catherine and together they had a daughter. In December 1912, he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a revolver while alone in his office in Milwaukee. He was aged 32 at the time of his death. Following Schoellkopf's death his close friend,

Willard Straight Willard Dickerman Straight (January 31, 1880 – December 1, 1918) was an American investment banker, publisher, reporter, diplomat and by marriage, a member of the very wealthy Whitney family. He was a promoter of Chinese arts and investments, an ...

, donated $100,000 () to construct the Schoellkopf Memorial Hall in his honor. In response to Straight's gift, members of the Schoellkopf family and the

donated $70,000 () for the construction of

Schoellkopf Field Schoellkopf Field is a 21,500-capacity stadium at Cornell University's Ithaca campus that opened in 1915 and is used for the Cornell Big Red football, sprint football and lacrosse teams. It is located just north of Cascadilla Creek on the southe ...

in honor of the Schoellkopf family patriarch,

.Schoellkopf Field
Cornell University, retrieved June 18, 2010.

Head coaching record

References

External links