Francis Alexander "June" Juhan (April 27, 1887 – December 31, 1967) 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 ...

player and coach as well as an

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

bishop. He played

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for the

Sewanee Tigers football The Sewanee Tigers football team represents Sewanee: The University of the South in the sport of American football. The Tigers compete in NCAA Division III as members of the Southern Athletic Association. Three Sewanee Tigers are members of the ...

team and was the first roving

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pla ...

in the South, analogous to

Germany Schulz Adolph George "Germany" Schulz (April 19, 1883 – April 14, 1951) was an All-American American football center for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1904 to 1905 and from 1907 to 1908. While playing at Michigan, Schulz is credited with ...

's status in football history nationally. He 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 vot ...

in 1966, and is also a charter member of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and a member of the Sewanee Athletics Hall of Fame. In 1924, he was appointed the fourth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida.

Early years

Juhan was born in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Ge ...

. Soon after, his parents, Charles J. Juhan and Minnie Hervey, moved to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by b ...

. He graduated from West Texas Military Academy in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

, in 1907.

Sewanee

Juhan also played

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 ...

, ran track, and was a boxing champion at Sewanee: The University of the South, a small Episcopal school in the mountains of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to t ...

. Juhan was a member of the 1909 football team, which won a

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conferen ...

(SIAA) title. That year, Juhan was put on

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the syste ...

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

honorable mention. Juhan was selected for his position on George Trevor's all-time Sewanee football team. He was nominated though not selected for an ''Associated Press'' All-Time Southeast 1869-1919 era team. The Juhan Gym, where Sewanee today plays

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 ...

, is named after him. It was dedicated on June 8, 1957. Juhan was a charter member of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. Juhan was also a member of the

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States-based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapte ...

fraternity on campus, and Bishop's Commons on central campus is also named after him.

Coaching

Juhan assisted his alma maters football team from

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 * ...

Ministry

After graduating with a

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD or BDiv; la, Baccalaureus Divinitatis) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology ...

from Sewanee: The University of the South in 1911, he was ordained in the Episcopal Church, first as deacon in June 1911 and then as priest in June 1912 by Bishop James S. Johnston of West Texas. He married Vera Louise MacKnight Spencer on January 3, 1912, and together had two children. He then became the chaplain at the West Texas Military Academy and priest-in-charge of

Goliad, Texas Goliad ( ) is a city in Goliad County, Texas, United States. It is known for the 1836 Goliad massacre during the Texas Revolution. It had a population of 1,620 at the 2020 census. Founded on the San Antonio River, it is the county seat of Go ...

and

Beeville, Texas Beeville is a city in Bee County, Texas, United States, with a population of 12,863 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Bee County and home to the main campus of Coastal Bend College. The area around the city contains three prisons ope ...

. In 1913 he became chaplain at the

Sewanee Military Academy St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School is a private, coeducational, Episcopal, boarding and day college preparatory school serving 216 students in grades six through twelve. It is located in Sewanee, Tennessee on the Cumberland Plateau between Nashville ...

, while in 1916 he became rector of Christ Church in

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway bet ...

. He was elected the fourth Bishop of Florida in 1924 and was consecrated on November 25, 1924, by Presiding Bishop Ethelbert Talbot. He was the youngest diocesan bishop in the Episcopal Church at the time of his consecration, and the senior active bishop in the church when he retired in 1956. He also became Chancellor of the University of the South in 1944, a post he retained till 1950. He served as Director of Development for Sewanee after 1956.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Juhan, Frank Alexander 1887 births 1967 deaths American football centers Sewanee Tigers baseball players Sewanee Tigers football players College men's track and field athletes in the United States College Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Macon, Georgia American football linebackers Sewanee Tigers football coaches 20th-century American Episcopalians Episcopal bishops of Florida TMI Episcopal alumni