Robert Lee "Jack" Boone (May 28, 1918 – February 6, 1984) 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; most notably he served as

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

for the

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 ...

team of East Carolina College (now

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university, public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a Normal school, teacher training school, East ...

) for ten years.

Early years

Boone was a native of

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...

, and attended

Elon College Elon University is a private university in Elon, North Carolina. Founded in 1889 as Elon College, Elon is organized into six schools, most of which offer bachelor's degrees and several of which offer master's degrees or professional doctorate d ...

, where he played on the football team as a halfback from 1938 to 1941, and was co-captain his senior year. After his college career, he was signed by the

Cleveland Rams The Cleveland Rams were a professional American football team that played in Cleveland from 1936 to 1945. The Rams competed in the second American Football League (AFL) for the 1936 season and the National Football League (NFL) from 1937 to 194 ...

in 1942, and played in two games for them. He later served in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

during

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 ...

East Carolina

Boone joined the coaching staff of East Carolina in September 1948, as assistant football coach. He was the

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

coach for three seasons; his teams posted a 38–23–2 record, for a .623 winning percentage. In 1952, Boone became head football coach for East Carolina, the ninth in the program's history. That year, the

Pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

saw their first action in the postseason when they played Clarion State College in the

Lions Bowl The Pythian Bowl was a postseason college football bowl games, bowl game played from 1949 through 1951. In 1952, the game was played under the name of Lions Bowl. The game was played each year in December in Salisbury, North Carolina, at Shuford Sta ...

, but lost 13–6. In 1953, the Pirates became the

North State Conference Conference Carolinas, formerly known as the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference (CVAC) or the Carolinas Conference, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) primarily at the Divisio ...

champions and played in the

Elks Bowl The Elks Bowl was a postseason college football bowl game played after the 1953 and 1954 regular seasons. There was also an earlier playing of the game, at the junior varsity level, in 1952. Each game was held at a different venue in North Carolin ...

, where they lost 12–0 to

Morris Harvey College The University of Charleston (UC) is a private non-profit university with its main campus in Charleston, West Virginia. The university also has a location in Beckley, West Virginia, known as UC-Beckley. History The school was founded in 1888 ...

. Boone was named the

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

in the North State Conference, after his team finished 8–2. Boone's football coaching career lasted ten years, during which he compiled a 49–45–5 record. He was dismissed as head coach in November 1961.

Later years

Boone was inducted into the athletic hall of fame of Elon in 1972, and of East Carolina in 1981. He died in February 1984 at

Pitt County Memorial Hospital ECU Health Medical Center (previously Pitt County Memorial Hospital and Vidant Medical Center) is a hospital located in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the primary teaching hospital for East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine and ...

Greenville, North Carolina Greenville is the county seat of and the most populous city in Pitt County, North Carolina, Pitt County, North Carolina, United States; the principal city of the Greenville, North Carolina metropolitan area, Greenville metropolitan area; and th ...

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boone, Jack 1918 births 1984 deaths People from Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina Cleveland Rams players East Carolina Pirates baseball coaches East Carolina Pirates football coaches Elon Phoenix football players United States Navy personnel of World War II Players of American football from Portsmouth, Virginia