Frank Augustus Hinkey (December 23, 1870 – December 30, 1925) was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

player and coach. He was notable for being one of only three college football players in history to be named a four-time consensus All-American. 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 vote ...

in 1951.

Early years

Born in

Tonawanda, New York Tonawanda (formally ''City of Tonawanda'') is a city in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 15,130 at the 2010 census. It is at the northern edge of Erie County, south across the Erie Canal (Tonawanda Creek) from North Ton ...

, he attended DeVeaux College and

Phillips Andover ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

Yale University

While attending

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, he played for the

Yale Bulldogs football The Yale Bulldogs football program represents Yale University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Yale's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing ...

team for four years, was captain his junior and senior years, and each year was named to the

College Football All-America Team The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term ''All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Football ...

. One writer claims "when all-time

ends End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: **End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games ** End (gridiron footbal ...

are named, Hinkey invariably heads the list." He graduated from Yale University in 1895 and was a member of Psi Upsilon and

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 ...

Business career

He ran several businesses, including

zinc smelting Zinc smelting is the process of converting zinc concentrates (ores that contain zinc) into pure zinc. Zinc smelting has historically been more difficult than the smelting of other metals, e.g. iron, because in contrast, zinc has a low boiling point ...

plants in Kansas and Illinois, and worked with fellow Yale teammate and All-American

Frank Butterworth Frank Seiler Butterworth Sr. (September 21, 1870 – August 21, 1950) was an American football player and coach. Butterworth attended Yale University, where he was a fullback on Yale's football teams and a member of the Skull and Bones soci ...

at a brokerage. He was head coach of the Yale team from 1914 to 1915. During those two seasons, he had an 11–7 record. Frank Hinkey and Tom Shevlin

Referee

According to Dr. Harry March's, often inaccurate book '' Pro Football: Its Ups and Downs'', Hinkey was a referee at the 1903 World Series of Football held at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

. March states that the officials during the series "were dressed in full evening dress, from top hats down to white gloves and patent leather shoes." During the last play of the series in a game between the

Franklin Athletic Club The Franklin Athletic Club was an early professional football team based in Franklin, Pennsylvania. It was considered the top team in professional football in 1903, by becoming the US Football Champions and winning the 1903 World Series of Foot ...

and the

Watertown Red & Black The Watertown Red & Black is a semi-professional American football team based in Watertown, New York. The team is the oldest active semi-pro football team in the United States, and can trace its history to 1896, although the Professional Footba ...

, the Franklin players, knew that they had the game in hand. As a result, the Franklin backfield agreed to purposely run over the clean and sharply dressed Hinkey in jest, knocking him into the dirt. Hinkey took the incident in good-nature and Franklin's management agreed to pay his cleaning bill.

Death

Hinkey died from complications of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

on December 30, 1925. He was 55 years old.

Head coaching record

References

Additional sources

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hinkey, Frank 1870 births 1925 deaths 19th-century players of American football American football ends American football officials Yale Bulldogs football coaches Yale Bulldogs football players All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Tonawanda, New York Players of American football from New York (state) 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in North Carolina