Austin Cook "Prex" Merrill (January 15, 1884 – February 23, 1935) was an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach. He was the head football coach at Alderson–Broaddus College in

Philippi, West Virginia Philippi ('FILL-uh-pea') is a city in and the county seat of Barbour County, West Virginia, United States, along the Tygart Valley River. The population was 2,929 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. In 1861, the city was the site of th ...

for one season, in 1910, compiling a record of 1–3. Merrill also coached at Bethany College in West Virginia. He later worked as a lawyer. Merrill attended

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

, graduating in law in 1912 as well as

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, where he received his A.B. He was a member of the

Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania in 1852. The fraternity has over ninety chapters at accredited four-year colleges and uni ...

and Theta Nu Epsilon fraternities while at WVU. Merrill died of a heart attack due to coronary thrombosis in 1935. At the time of his death, Merrill was serving as a Clerk for the U.S. District Court for Northern West Virginia."Austin C Merrill, U.S. Court Clerk, Is Dead, ''Charleston Gazette'', February 23, 1935, Charleston, West Virginia

References

1884 births 1935 deaths 20th-century American lawyers Alderson Broaddus Battlers football coaches West Virginia Mountaineers football players Colgate University alumni West Virginia University College of Law alumni Yale Law School alumni People from Carthage, New York People from De Kalb, New York Players of American football from New York (state) West Virginia lawyers Deaths from coronary thrombosis {{1910s-collegefootball-coach-stub