Mack Saxon (November 21, 1901 – May 8, 1949) 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 ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player, coach of football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, baseball, and track, and athletic administrator. A Texas native, Saxon was the

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

of the

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...

and

1926 Texas Longhorns football team The 1926 Texas Longhorns football team represented the University of Texas at Austin in the 1926 college football season. Schedule References Texas Texas Longhorns football seasons Texas Longhorns football The Texas Longhorns foot ...

s and was selected as an all-conference player in 1926. He also played minor league baseball in 1926 and 1927. From 1927 to 1941, he served as athletic director and coach at Texas School of Mines (now known as the

University of Texas El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stude ...

). He coached the school's football, baseball, basketball, and track teams at various times. In 13 years as the head football coach, he turned the program into a regional power, oversaw the construction of Kidd Field, led the team to its first bowl game, and compiled a 66–43–9 record. Saxon served in the

United States 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 ...

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 ...

, supervising an athletic training program for naval flyers. He continued that work as a civilian employee of the Navy after the war before dying of a heart attack at age 47.

Early years

Saxon was born in 1901 in

Palestine, Texas Palestine ( ) is a city in and the seat of Anderson County in the U.S. state of Texas. It was named for Palestine, Illinois, by preacher Daniel Parker, who had migrated from that town. The city had a 2020 U.S. census population of 18,544, mak ...

, and attended Temple High School in Temple, Texas. He initially attended

Austin College Austin College is a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Sherman, Texas.Sherman, Texas, before transferring to the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. At Texas, he was

of the school's football team during the 1925 and 1926 seasons. He was selected as both the team captain and the most valuable player on the

. At the end of the 1926 season, he was also selected as the most valuable player, best blocker, best defensive player, and best strategist in the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

. Saxon also played professional baseball as a catcher for two years. He played for the

Tyler Trojans The Tyler Trojans were a minor league baseball team based in Tyler, Texas that played on-and-off from 1924 to 1950. The team played in the East Texas League (1924–1926, 1931, 1936–1940, 1946, 1949–1950), Lone Star League (1927–1929, 1947– ...

in 1927 and for the

Palestine Pals The Palestine Pals were a minor league baseball team that played on-and-off from 1925 to 1940. The team played in the Texas Association (1925–1926), Lone Star League (1927–1929), West Dixie League (1934–1935) and East Texas League (1936–19 ...

in 1927 and 1928.

Coaching career

In 1927, the Texas School of Mines hired

E. J. Stewart Edward James "Doc" Stewart (January 26, 1877 – November 18, 1929) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He was also the founder, and player-coach of the Massillon Tigers professio ...

, who had coached Saxon at Texas, as the school's new head football coach. Saxon joined Stewart in September 1927 as an assistant coach at Texas Mines. In December 1927, Saxon (at age 26) was named Texas Mines' new athletic director, retained his role as assistant football coach, and was also given responsibility to coach the track and baseball teams. He also coached the basketball team beginning in 1928. Stewart retired as the head football coach after the 1928 season, and Saxon was chosen to replace him. Prior to Saxon taking over as head coach, Texas Mines had only four winning seasons in program history and only one season with a record more than one game above .500. Saxon immediately turned the program around, leading his teams to records of 6–1–2 in

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

, 7–1–1 in

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

, 7–1 in

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

, and 7–3 in

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

. The popularity of the football program grew under Saxon's leadership, leading to the construction of Kidd Field. In 1935, he served as co-coach of the El Paso All-Stars in the first

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. ...

game. In

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

, Saxon led his team to a 5–2–1 record in the regular season and a berth in the

game. He followed in

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...

with a 7–1–2 season. After the 1941 season, Saxon resigned his positions at Texas Mines. In 13 seasons as head coach, Saxon's football teams compiled a 66–43–9 record. As coach of the basketball team from 1928 to 1934, he tallied a mark of 34–61. He also coached the school's baseball team in 1928 and 1930, compiling a 17–4 record.

Military service, family and later years

In May 1941, with the United States at war, Saxon was commissioned as a lieutenant in the

. In September 1942, he was placed in charge of the physical fitness program at the Banana River Naval Air Station in Florida. He left active duty in 1945 with the rank of commander. After the war, Saxon remained affiliated with the Navy as a civilian employee in charge of the athletics training program. On June 1, 1934, Saxon was married to Mary Hilton, the former wife of hotel magnate

Conrad Hilton Conrad Nicholson Hilton Sr. (December 25, 1887 – January 3, 1979) was an American businessman who founded the Hilton Hotels chain. From 1912 to 1916 Hilton was a Republican representative in the first New Mexico Legislature, but became disil ...

. In May 1949, Saxon died at age 47 of a heart attack at his home in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saxon, Mack 1901 births 1949 deaths American football quarterbacks United States Navy personnel of World War II Basketball coaches from Texas College men's basketball head coaches in the United States People from Palestine, Texas Texas Longhorns football players United States Navy officers UTEP Miners athletic directors UTEP Miners baseball coaches UTEP Miners men's basketball coaches UTEP Miners football coaches Military personnel from Texas