John Snowden Kellison (November 3, 1886 – May 7, 1971) was a professional
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 ...
player in the
National Football League with the
Canton Bulldogs
The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football Leag ...
and the
Toledo Maroons. He also was an
athletic director at
Marietta College as well as
Washington & Jefferson College. He later became the
head coach for William and Mary's football and
basketball teams. In the 1940s he was an assistant coach, under
Greasy Neale, for the
Philadelphia Eagles.
Playing career
John joined the Bulldogs in 1915 along with Greasy Neale, whom Kellison served under as an assistant coach at
West Virginia Wesleyan. When Neale and Kellison first played with Bulldogs, they assumed aliases for fear they’d be fired from their coaching jobs if it came out they were involved with pro football - at the time, most college presidents looked down upon the professional game. So for their first few years with the Bulldogs, Kellison took the name "Keller", while Neale took the name "Foster". When a delegation from West Virginia Wesleyan made surprise visit to a Bulldogs game in 1916 to investigate allegations of
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 ...
personnel playing professionally, Neale, Kellison and
Pete Calac all got wind of the news and briefly left the team.
During his time in
Canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative division terminology
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and ent ...
Kellison and the Bulldogs won three
Ohio League championships, in 1916, 1917 and 1919.
Coaching and administrative career
After his playing days, Kellison became the
athletic director at
Marietta College in
Marietta, Ohio. He resigned from the position at Marietta to become the athletic director at
Washington & Jefferson College in 1921. He later became the head coach for the
William & Mary Tribe men's basketball
The William & Mary Tribe men's basketball team represents the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia in NCAA Division I competition. The school's team competes in the Colonial Athletic Association and play their home games in Kaplan ...
team from 1929 to 1934 and again from 1937 to 1939.
[William & Mary men's basketball history – Media Guide 2007–2008]
. Accessed March 24, 2008.
Kellison was also the head coach for the William & Mary football team from 1931 to 1934, compiling a 21–17–2 record. In 1942 John was made an assistant coach, by Neale, for the
Philadelphia Eagles.
“This Young Kid from Down South”: Bert Milling
, ''page 18''. Accessed May 18, 2009. He was fired along with Neale after the 1950 season. Kellison became an assistant football coach for Washington & Lee
, mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future"
, established =
, type = Private liberal arts university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.092 billion (2021)
, president = William C. Dudley
, provost = Lena Hill
, city = Lexingto ...
in 1952.
Head coaching record
Football
Basketball
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kellison, John
1886 births
1971 deaths
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