James Howard Horne (July 24, 1874 – April 13, 1959) was an
athletic director and coach of
American football,
basketball,
baseball, and
track and field at
Indiana University between 1898 and 1905.
Early life and education
Horne was born July 24, 1874
in
Berlin, New Hampshire
Berlin ( ) is a city along the Androscoggin River in Coös County in northern New Hampshire, United States. It is the northernmost city in New Hampshire. The population was 9,425 at the 2020 census, down from 10,051 at the 2010 census.
It ...
to John Roberts Horne and Sarah (Wheeler) Horne.
Like his two older brothers, Irving Williams Horne and Rev. John Roberts Horne Jr., James H. Horne attended
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...
where he was a member of
Delta Upsilon and involved in a number of extracurricular activities including
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
and
track and field.
Horne was a four-year member of the varsity
athletic (track and field) team, serving as the team's
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
his junior and senior years.
In the first two years of what has become the annual "State Meet" between
Bates College,
Colby College, and Bowdoin, Horne won the
100-yard dash
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
(1895, 1896),
120 yard high hurdles (1895, 1896),
220 yard dash
The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...
(1895), 220 intermediate hurdles (1896), and
long jump (1896). In 1896, his time of 16.2 seconds in the 110 hurdles was the fourth best time in the nation. Horne graduated from Bowdoin in 1897 with an A.B.
Athletic director
While at Bowdoin, Horne held the position of Assistant to the Director of the Gymnasium from 1895 to 1897.
From 1897 to 1898, he was "in charge of
heGymnasium" at the
Hebron Academy in
Hebron, Maine
Hebron is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. Hebron is included in the Lewiston- Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area. The town's history has always been interconnected with Hebron Academy, a co-ed college prepa ...
prior to succeeding
Madison G. Gonterman
Madison Gillham Gonterman (February 8, 1871 – September 30, 1941) was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and lawyer. He served as the head football coach at Indiana University from 1896 to 1897 and at Knox Co ...
as Indiana University's third Director of the Men's Gymnasium in 1898.
However, Horne saw himself as more of a "Director of Athletics" for the school in that he "handled all the business of that line, making all schedules, looking up and hiring coaches, as well as all the business affairs connected with athletics."
During Horne's tenure as athletic director, Indiana was admitted membership to the
Big Ten Conference in December, 1899.
He served as IU's director until 1905 and was succeeded by
Zora G. Clevenger
Zora G. Clevenger (December 12, 1881 – November 24, 1970) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, and pioneering athletic director. He served as the head football coach at Nebraska Wesleyan University (1908–1910), t ...
.
Coach
Horne also replaced Gonterman as the
head coach of the
Indiana Hoosiers football team from 1898 to 1904, compiling a record of 33–21–5.
In his first game at the helm, he led the Hoosiers to a 16–0 victory over
Rose Polytechnic
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...
.
Horne's second season at IU was his best with a 6–2 record, including five
shutouts and the school's first triumph over
in-state rival Purdue on Thanksgiving Day 1899.
During the
1900 college football season
The 1900 college football season ended with the ''Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book'' listing Yale as having been selected national champions.
Conference and program changes
* The Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representative ...
, he became the first football coach at Indiana to compete in the Big Ten Conference, then known as the Western Conference.
Horne was eventually replaced by
James M. Sheldon
James Milton Sheldon Sr. (c. 1880 – July 7, 1965) was an American football player, coach of football and basketball, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Indiana University from 1905 to 1913, while also se ...
for the
1905 season.
Horne became Indiana University's first
baseball coach in 1899 and tallied a mark of 10–8 over two seasons.
In April 1899, he split his first two games with
Borden Institute, losing the first 4–3 and winning the following day 12–1.
Robert Wicker took over Horne's duties as head coach in 1901.
The
first men's basketball team at Indiana University was also coached by Horne.
On February 8, 1901, the Hoosiers traveled by train to Indianapolis where they lost their first game to
Butler
A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...
, 20–17.
After losing their next two against Butler and
Purdue
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
, Horne coached the team to its first ever victory with a 26–17 win over
Wabash in Bloomington one month later.
Horne is officially credited with coaching Indiana to a 1–4 record in his only season at the helm, however, he was closely involved with the team for three more seasons.
In addition to football, baseball, and basketball, Horne coached track at IU where he introduced
LeRoy Samse to the
pole vault.
Samse earned a silver medal in the
pole vault at the 1904 Summer Olympics.
In 1903, Horne accidentally killed the captain of the track team, Bruce Lockridge, the uncle of novelist
Ross Lockridge Jr.
Ross Franklin Lockridge Jr. (April 25, 1914 – March 6, 1948) was an American writer known for his novel '' Raintree County'' (1948). The novel became a bestseller and has been praised by readers and critics alike. Some have considered it a " ...
, with an errant throw of a
twelve-pound hammer in Louisville.
One report indicated that he was so distraught that he attempted suicide.
Later life
A 1912 directory of Bowdoin alumni reported that Horne was in "business" in
Conway, New Hampshire after 1906,
and a 1917 directory of Delta Upsilon members placed him in "business" in
Wolfboro Falls, New Hampshire. His
World War I draft registration card notes that he had "total loss of hearing."
[Ancestry.com. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Registration Location: Carroll County, New Hampshire; Roll: 1711715; Draft Board: 0.] Horne wrote about his experiences at Indiana University in a letter dated May 14, 1948.
He would die in 1959 in Salem, New Hampshire at the age of 84.
Head coaching record
Football
Basketball
Baseball
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horne, James H.
1874 births
1959 deaths
Indiana Hoosiers athletic directors
Indiana Hoosiers baseball coaches
Indiana Hoosiers football coaches
Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball coaches
College men's track and field athletes in the United States
Basketball coaches from New Hampshire
Bowdoin College alumni
People from Berlin, New Hampshire
Baseball coaches from New Hampshire