Percy Langdon "Bullet" Wendell (July 16, 1889 – March 13, 1932) was an American football player and coach of football and basketball. 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 Harvard University, where he was a three-time All-American from 1910 to 1920. Wendell served as the head football coach at Boston University in 1920, at Williams College from 1921 to 1924, and at Lehigh University from 1925 to 1927, compiling a career college football coaching record of 30–33–4. He was also the head basketball coach at Boston University for one season, in 1919–20, tallying a mark of 0–6. Wendell was elected to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

as a player in 1972.

Biography

Wendell was born on July 16, 1889, in Roxbury, Massachusetts to Frank Thaxter Wendell and Helen Stamford. He attended the Roxbury Latin School and attended Harvard University from 1909 to 1913. He went on to attend two years of medical school. Wendell was issued a patent () for a design of football nose armor (also referred to as a nose mask or nose guard), a piece of protective equipment used in the early days of football before helmets with

face mask The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human Personal identity, identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental d ...

s. Wendell was the 16th head football coach at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and he held that position for three seasons, from 1925 until 1927. His record at Lehigh was 5–20–2. Wendell died of pneumonia, on March 13, 1932, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* * 1889 births 1932 deaths American football halfbacks Basketball coaches from Massachusetts Boston University Terriers football coaches Boston University Terriers men's basketball coaches Harvard Crimson football players Lehigh Mountain Hawks football coaches Williams Ephs football coaches Roxbury Latin School alumni All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Boston Players of American football from Boston Deaths from pneumonia in Massachusetts {{1920s-collegefootball-coach-stub