Robert Cook Folwell Jr. (February 17, 1885 – January 8, 1928) 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 wi ...

player and coach. He served as the head coach at

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...

(1909–1911),

Washington & Jefferson College Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County established by three Presbyterian missionaries t ...

(1912–1915), the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

(1916–1919), and the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

(1920–1924), compiling a career college football record of 106–29–9. Folwell then moved to the professional ranks, coaching the New York Giants 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 1925, the Philadelphia Quakers of the American Football League in 1926, and the

Atlantic City Roses The Melrose Athletic Club was a professional football team based in Atlantic City, New Jersey from 1921 until around 1927. The club which was also known as the Atlantic City Roses and the Atlantic City Atlantics was arguably the most popular foot ...

of the

Eastern League of Professional Football The Eastern League of Professional Football was an american football minor league formed in 1926 by independent clubs from Pennsylvania and New Jersey (separate from the ''" Eastern Pennsylvania Football League"'' which played in the late 1930s a ...

in 1927.

Early life and playing career

Folwell was born in the

Mullica Hill Mullica Hill is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community in Harrison Township in Gloucester County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the CDP's population was 3,982.Harrison Township, New Jersey Harrison Township is a township in Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 12,417, reflecting an increase of 3,629 (+41.3%) from the 8,788 counted in the 2000 census. Har ...

in 1885. He attended Haverford Grammar School, where he made prep football All-American. He married Elizabeth Pennock in 1913 and had three sons: Robert III, George P. and William Nathan. He attended the

, where he set several school football records that stand to this day. He also starred as a wrestler. He won the Intercollegiate Wrestling Association's 175-pound title in 1907.

College coaching career

Lafayette

Folwell coached

from 1908 through 1911, amassing a 19–2–1 record.

Washington & Jefferson

After hearing rumors that Folwell was unhappy at Lafayette, Robert "Mother" Murphy personally recruited him to coach for Washington & Jefferson College, where he coached from 1912 to 1915 and post a 36–5–3 record and was named coach of the year in 1913. In Folwell's first season, Washington & Jefferson held the legendary scorer

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Nativ ...

and the

Carlisle Indians The Carlisle Indians football team represented the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in intercollegiate football competition. The program was active from 1893 until 1917, when it was discontinued. During the program's 25 years, the Indians compile ...

to a scoreless tie. In 1913, the team posted a 10–0–1 record and were the highest scoring team in the nation. That season featured a scoreless tie of

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 ...

, a 100–0 defeat of

Grove City College Grove City College (GCC) is a private, conservative Christian liberal arts college in Grove City, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1876 as a normal school, the college emphasizes a humanities core curriculum and offers 60 majors and 6 pre-profession ...

, and a 17–0 victory over Penn State that broke the Nittany Lions' 19-game winning streak, earning the entire school a day off to celebrate. Sportswriter Walter S. Trumbull of ''

The New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New Yor ...

'' suggested that the Michigan Aggies, Washington & Jefferson,

Chicago University The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the be ...

, and Notre Dame were the new "Big 4 of College Football" instead of the traditional grouping of

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

, Yale, Harvard, and Penn. Folwell's 1914 squad lost at Harvard in front of 15,000 fans by a score of 10–9. If not for an errant kick that hit the crossbar, W&J would have won the same and at least a share of the mythical national championship. That squad saved face by becoming only the seventh team to ever defeat Yale, with a decisive 13–7 victory. The game received national press coverage, and the team received a personal note of congratulations by

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

Penn

Folwell then coached at

from 1916 to 1919, where he posted a 27–10–2 record. During the 1918

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case wa ...

, Folwell was hospitalized for the virus.

Navy

Folwell was the 17th head football coach at the

and he held that position for five seasons, from 1920 until 1924. His coaching record with

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

was 24–12–3.

Professional coaching career and death

Folwell was the first head coach for the New York Giants of the

(NFL), in 1925. The following season he took the same position for the Philadelphia Quakers of the first American Football League and led the team to the championship of the short-lived league. He coached the

of the

in 1927, but was forced to retire to his farm in New Jersey after one season. A hip infection, which began while he was coaching the Philadelphia Quakers, worsened, forcing him to walk with a cane. In January 1928, he had a hip operation at

Jefferson Hospital Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals Inc, branded as Jefferson Health, is a multi-state non-profit health system whose flagship hospital is Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Center City, Philadelphia. The health system's hospitals serve ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. The surgery was initially successful, but he took a turn for the worse and died January 8, 1928.

Head coaching record

College

NFL

*Interim head coach

References

External links

Bob Folwell
at

Pro-Football-Reference.com Pro-Football-Reference.com is a website providing a variety of statistics for American football. It is one of the few sites that provides information on both active and retired players. The site provides statistics for teams dating back to 1920. ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Folwell, Robert 1885 births 1928 deaths American football halfbacks Lafayette Leopards football coaches Navy Midshipmen football coaches New York Giants head coaches Penn Quakers football coaches Penn Quakers football players Washington & Jefferson Presidents football coaches People from Harrison Township, New Jersey People from Haverford Township, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania