Francis Morris Touchstone (October 2, 1897 – November 7, 1957) was an American

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

coach. He served for 29 years as the head coach for the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

's men's lacrosse team and is their all-time winningest coach by number of wins. While at Army, he led the Cadets to three national championships and 42 of his players received first-team All-American honors. Shortly after his death he was inducted into the

National Lacrosse Hall of Fame The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum, is located in Sparks, Maryland at the USA Lacrosse headquarters. Prior to moving to its present location in 2016, the hall of fame and museum was located in Baltimore, Maryland, on the Homewood camp ...

. The

Touchstone Memorial Award The F. Morris Touchstone Award is an award given by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association to the nation's most outstanding NCAA Division I lacrosse head coach. The award was first presented in 1958. The award is named after F. Mo ...

for the men's college lacrosse coach of the year was established in his honor.

Biography

Touchstone was a native of

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, and under the guidance of coach Bill Schmeisser, he played as a member of the Mount Washington Lacrosse Club based in the city's neighborhood of the same name. From 1920 to 1923, he ran the club's summer camp. In 1924,

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

hired Touchstone as the head coach for their varsity lacrosse, soccer, and freshman gymnastics teams.Touchstone, F. Morris
, Biography, Lacrosse Museum & National Hall of Fame,

US Lacrosse USA Lacrosse is the national governing body of men and women's lacrosse in the United States. It provides a leadership role in virtually every aspect of the game and has more than 450,000 members throughout the United States, and offers programs ...

, retrieved May 12, 2009. After success at Yale, he took over the Army lacrosse team at the

in September 1928. Touchstone remained in that position until his death 29 years later. During that time, he compiled the most wins of any Army lacrosse coach, with a record of 214–73–4 (0.743). Of Army's total of 82 first-team All-Americans, 42 played under Touchstone.''2009 Army Lacrosse Media Guide''
Army Athletic Communications, United States Military Academy, p. 78–79, 2009. He led the Cadets to back-to-back

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

, outright in 1944 and shared 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 ...

in 1945. Army also won a share of a third national title in 1951 alongside

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 ...

. As a member of the Military Academy staff, Touchstone held the rank of captain. A year before his death, ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'' asked Touchstone, among other authorities, to compare

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 ...

and lacrosse. He said in response:

"Both appeal to the athlete who enjoys rugged competition. Both are highly developed team efforts, but the skills of the two differ. In football, the emphasis is on blocking and tackling. In lacrosse, ball handling with the stick, dodging and accurate shooting are vital."

He served tenures as a member of numerous lacrosse-related governing bodies including the Rules Committee (1934–1937), the All-American Committee (1939–1950), the Executive Board (1939–1940), the Publicity Committee (1943–1944), and the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Lacrosse Rules Committee (1946). From 1951 to 1957, he acted as an advisor to the All-American Committee, and from 1953 to 1955, Touchstone served as the first president of the Lacrosse Coaches Association. With the encouragement of Penn State lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel, Touchstone was instrumental in organizing the

, and he served as its first chairman from 1954 until his death three years later. His son Stanford Touchstone, an Army cadet, played for him at West Point in the early 1950s. Touchstone was survived by his wife Lillian, son Stanford Morris Touchstone, his married daughter Anne Combs Brinkerhoff, wife of Defense Department’s John Brinkerhoff, and his mother. He was buried at the

West Point Cemetery West Point Cemetery is a historic cemetery in the eastern United States, on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. It overlooks the Hudson River, and served as a burial ground for Revolutionary War soldiers and ear ...

on November 14, 1957.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Touchstone, F. Morris 1897 births 1957 deaths Sportspeople from Baltimore American lacrosse players Lacrosse players from Baltimore Mount Washington Lacrosse Club players Johns Hopkins Blue Jays men's lacrosse coaches Yale Bulldogs men's lacrosse coaches American soccer coaches Yale Bulldogs men's soccer coaches American gymnastics coaches Army Black Knights men's lacrosse coaches Military personnel from New York (state) Burials at West Point Cemetery