James Lynah (1881 – February 24, 1956) was an American businessman and sports administrator who is considered the principal founder of the Eastern College Athletic Conference.

Lynah Rink Lynah Rink (pronounced LIE-nuh) is a 4,267-seat hockey arena at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, that opened in 1957. Named after James Lynah, Class of 1905, who was the director of Cornell athletics from 1935 to 1943, it is home to t ...

is named in his honor.

Early years

Born in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, Lynah transferred from Clemson University to graduate from Cornell University in 1905 where he was a member of the Quill and Dagger society and Sigma Phi. He played for both coach

John Heisman John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a player and coach of American football, baseball, and basketball, as well as a sportswriter and actor. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College, Buchtel College ...

and Pop Warner. Joe Guyon is the only other known player who can make a similar claim. Lynah was an end for Heisman's

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

and

1901 Events January * January 1 – The Crown colony, British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and Western Australia Federation of Australia, federate as the Australia, ...

Clemson teams, and he was captain and quarterback for Warner's 1904 Cornell team.

Engineer

After graduation, Lynah worked for

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

for fifteen years, becoming a plant manager during World War I. He went on to work at

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

from 1922 to 1929, serving as director of purchasing and manufacturing staff.

Cornell athletics

An active alumnus of Cornell University, he was involved in many alumni committees, was chairman of a committee for the development of the College of Engineering and was a member of the College of Engineering Council. He succeeded Graduate Manager of Athletics Romeyn Berry as the first Director of Athletics at Cornell University from 1935 to 1943. While serving as athletic director, Lynah led the movement to establish an athletic conference in the eastern United States. His efforts led to the creation of the Eastern Intercollegiate Athletics agency, which became the modern ECAC. Lynah was succeeded at Cornell by Robert Kane. He was one of the inaugural members of the Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame.

After Cornell

Lynah left his position at Cornell on indefinite leave to serve as assistant director of the ammunition and light ordnance division of the National Defense Advisory Committee in Washington. He was also a member of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

American Academy of Political and Social Science The American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS) was founded in 1889 to promote progress in the social sciences. Sparked by Professor Edmund J. James and drawing from members of the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmo ...

, and

American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

. He chaired the NCAA committee on recruitment beginning in 1944.

Death and legacy

Lynah died in South Carolina on February 24, 1956. The ECAC created the James Lynah Distinguished Achievement Award in 1957 to recognize outstanding athletic administrators. Previous winners include

Asa Bushnell Asa Smith Bushnell I (September 16, 1834 – January 15, 1904) was an American Republican politician from Ohio. He served as the 40th governor of Ohio. Prior to becoming governor, he served as the president of the Warder, Bushnell and Glessner ...

(1959), Thomas J. Hamilton (1976) and Robert Kane (1977).James Lynah Distinguished Achievement Award
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynah, James 1881 births 1956 deaths Cornell Big Red football players DuPont people Cornell Big Red athletic directors Businesspeople from Charleston, South Carolina Clemson Tigers football players American football ends 20th-century American businesspeople