DeOrmond "Tuss" McLaughry (May 19, 1893 – November 26, 1974) 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 football coach at Westminster College in

New Wilmington, Pennsylvania New Wilmington is a borough in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, first platted in 1824 and established as a borough on April 9, 1863. The population was 2,097 at the 2020 census. It is home to Westminster College and serves the Old O ...

(1915–1916, 1918, 1921), Amherst College (1922–1925), Brown University (1926–1940), and

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

(1941–1942, 1945–1954), compiling a career college football record of 143–149–13. McLaughry was also the head basketball coach at Brown from 1926 to 1929, tallying a mark of 17–32. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as coach in 1962. Of all coaches inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, McLaughry is the only one with a winning percentage under .500.

Early life

Born on May 19, 1893, in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, McLaughry was the son of James Alexander McLaughry Sr. (1860–1942) and his wife, Mary Graham McLaughry (1874–1952). He had at least seven siblings. He grew up in

Sharon, Pennsylvania Sharon is a city in western Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city, located along the banks of the Shenango River on the state border with Ohio, is about northeast of Youngstown, about southeast of Cleveland and about northwest ...

and attended Michigan State University for a year before transferring to Westminster College in

Coaching career

McLaughry's coaching career at Dartmouth College was interrupted after two years due to World War II, where McLaughry served as a lieutenant colonel in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

. Twenty years after graduating from high school, McLaughry attended night and summer classes to earn his law degree from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. While and after coaching at Dartmouth, McLaughry was also the chairman of the Physical Education Department there until 1960. McLaughry was instrumental in developing the

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

(AFCA) during his lifetime, even serving a one-year term as President in 1936, and then remaining active with the organization as a volunteer secretary-treasurer from 1940 to 1960. It was after 1960 that McLaughry earned compensation for this position, and retired from the organization in 1965.

Personal life

On August 21, 1911 in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, McLaughry married Florence Marguerite Jackson (July 20, 1892 – June 1, 1985), daughter of John Llouington Jackson (1849-1924) and Ella Adele (nee Lovett) Jackson (1856-1911). Together, they had three children: * Jeanne Marguerite McLaughry (1912-2007) * John Jackson McLaughry (1917-2007), who followed in his father's footsteps and played and coached football; he was the head football coach at

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

from 1947 to 1949, Amherst College from 1950 to 1958, and Brown University from 1959 to 1966. He also served with the Marines in World War II as a Major. * Robert DeOrmond McLaughry (1921-2016) McLaughry died on November 26, 1974, at his home in

Norwich, Vermont Norwich is a town in Windsor County, in the U.S. state of Vermont. The population was 3,612 at the 2020 census. Home to some of the state of Vermont's wealthiest residents, the municipality is a commuter town for nearby Hanover, New Hampshir ...

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McLaughry, Tuss 1893 births 1974 deaths Amherst Mammoths football coaches Amherst Mammoths men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Illinois Brown Bears football coaches Brown Bears men's basketball coaches Dartmouth Big Green football coaches Massillon Tigers players Westminster Titans football coaches Westminster Titans men's basketball coaches College Football Hall of Fame inductees Northeastern University School of Law alumni Sportspeople from Chicago Coaches of American football from Illinois Players of American football from Chicago United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II United States Marine Corps officers Military personnel from Illinois