Clinton E. Frank (September 13, 1915 – July 7, 1992) 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 advertising executive. He played halfback for

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 ...

, where he won both the Heisman Trophy and

Maxwell Award The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the college football player judged by a panel of sportscasters, sportswriters, and National Collegiate Athletic Association head coaches and the membership of the Maxwell Football Club to be the best al ...

in 1937. In 1954, he founded the Clinton E. Frank, Inc. advertising agency.

Early life and football career

Frank attended

Evanston Township High School Evanston Township High School (ETHS) District 202, is a four-year public high school occupying a campus in Evanston, Illinois, a north suburb of Chicago along the Lake Michigan shore. ETHS was established in 1883 and serves the city of Evanston ...

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...

, where he obtained notoriety as a superb football player. He then attended

Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Lawrenceville is a member of the Eight Scho ...

as a post-graduate student. Frank attended

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

, where he was a member of

Skull and Bones Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...

, and graduated with a degree in economics in 1938. In football, he was a two-time team captain and All-American, and as a senior in 1937, he won the Heisman Trophy and the

. He beat out Byron "Whizzer" White for the Heisman Trophy; White later became a justice of the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. Frank also received the Maxwell Award after his senior year in which he scored three touchdowns in his team`s 19–0 victory over Brown. Frank was drafted in the 12th round of the 1938 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions, but he did not sign; he never played professional football. Frank was married to Margaret Rathje Frank, with whom he had three sons and six daughters.

Military service

Clint Frank attained the rank of lieutenant colonel in the

Army Air Corps Army Air Corps may refer to the following army aviation corps: * Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), the army aviation element of the British Army * Philippine Army Air Corps (1935–1941) * United States Army Air Corps (1926–1942), or its p ...

, serving as an aide to General

Jimmy Doolittle James Harold Doolittle (December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993) was an American military general and aviation pioneer who received the Medal of Honor for his daring raid on Japan during World War II. He also made early coast-to-coast flights ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Following the war he resumed his career in advertising.

Advertising career

Frank joined the Chicago advertising firm of Blackett-Sample-Hummert Inc., where he was employed for ten years before being promoted to advertising manager of E.J. Brach and Sons, the famed candy producer. Frank became a full partner in the advertising agency of Price, Robinson and Frank. He was able to transition this agency into his own with him as owner and president. In 1954 Frank established Clinton E. Frank Inc., a

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

based advertising agency which was sold to Campbell-Ewald Co. of

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 ...

in 1976.Clinton Frank Obituary
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

Braniff Airways account

One of Clinton E. Frank Agency's most memorable clients was the flashy

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

-based Braniff International Airways. Frank obtained the account in 1969 from famed advertising executive

George Lois George Lois (June 26, 1931 – November 18, 2022) was an American art director, designer, and author. Lois was perhaps best known for over 92 covers he designed for ''Esquire'' magazine from 1962 to 1973. Background Lois was born in New Yor ...

. The Frank Agency created the "El Clan, Braniff" advertising scheme for Braniff's growing South American Route System. They also created the highly unique Braniff "You'll Like Flying Braniff Style" Campaign. Both campaigns came complete with musical jingles which were debuted in 1971.

Memberships

* Baxter Travenol Laboratories, Inc., Board Member * Passavant Memorial Hospital, Director * Northwestern University Hospital, Director *

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...

, Governing Member * Yale Club of Chicago, Member * American Association of Advertising, President * Chicago Advertising Club, President * Illinois Racing Board, Board Member

Honors

* Heisman Trophy, 1937 * Maxwell Award, 1937 * All American Quarterback and captain, two time recipient, 1937 * Good Shepard Award from the Lambs, a country home that aids mentally retarded children (three time award recipient)

Retirement and death

Frank founded the Brain Research Foundation at the University of Chicago and the Eye Research Institute in Boston. He also founded the American Academy of Arts during his retirement. Frank died at Evanston Hospital in

after a brief illness.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Clint 1915 births 1992 deaths American advertising executives American football halfbacks Yale Bulldogs football players All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Heisman Trophy winners Maxwell Award winners United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Army Air Forces officers Braniff Evanston Township High School alumni Lawrenceville School alumni Sportspeople from Evanston, Illinois Players of American football from Illinois 20th-century American businesspeople Yale College alumni United States Army colonels Military personnel from Illinois