John Michael Yovicsin (October 17, 1918 – September 13, 1989) 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 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 ...

at Gettysburg College from 1937 to 1939 and then professionally with

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) in 1944. Yovicsin served as the head football coach at Gettysburg College from 1952 to 1956 and at

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 ...

from 1957 to 1970, compiling a career record of 110–53–5. Yovicsin was born in

Steelton, Pennsylvania Steelton is a borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States, southeast of Harrisburg. The population was 6,263 at the 2020 census. The borough is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. History After initi ...

and graduated from Gettysburg College in 1940. He returned to Gettysburg as assistant football coach in 1948 and was the head coach there from 1952 to 1956, tallying a mark of 32–11. During his 14 years at Harvard, Yovicsin amassed a record of 78–42–5. He helmed the

Crimson Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, ''Kermes vermilio'', but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red colo ...

during the famous 1968 Harvard–Yale Game, in which Harvard mounted a late comeback to tie

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, 29–29. Yovicsin's role as coach is mentioned many times in the documentary ''

Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 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 l ...

'', where players on both the Harvard and Yale squads talk about his professorial bearing. Yovicsin died on September 13, 1989, of heart disease in Barnstable, Massachusetts at the age of 70.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yovicsin, John 1918 births 1989 deaths American football defensive ends Gettysburg Bullets football coaches Gettysburg Bullets football players Harvard Crimson football coaches Philadelphia Eagles players People from Steelton, Pennsylvania Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Players of American football from Dauphin County, Pennsylvania

Head coaching record

See also

References

External links