Howard Goodsell Cann (October 11, 1895 – December 18, 1992) was an American
sportsman best known as the long-time men's
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
coach at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
. He was also an
Olympic shot putter and a college basketball and
football player.
Playing career
Cann was born in
Bridgeport, Connecticut, into a family of accomplished sportsmen. His father,
Frank Cann, was the director of physical education at New York University, which both Howard and his younger brother
Tedford Cann attended. Tedford was an Olympic swimmer and world-record holder in the 200 meter
freestyle.
Howard first attended
Barringer High School in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.[New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...]
. At Commerce he was captain of the basketball team, member of the track team and member of the
Omega Gamma Delta
Omega Gamma Delta () is an American high school fraternity, now recast with a focus on alumni clubs. It was founded June 22, 1902 by Percy & Arthur Edrop and Walter Dohm in Brooklyn, New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, ...
fraternity.
He briefly attended
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 ...
and then transferred to New York University. During his freshman year in 1914, Howard was the leading scorer on the
NYU Violets
NYU Violets is the nickname of the sports teams and other competitive teams at New York University. The school colors are purple and white. Although officially known as the Violets, the school mascot is a bobcat. The Violets compete as a member o ...
men's basketball team. He was captain of the 1916–1917 football team, where he played as a
tackle, a
punter, and also played in the backfield.
Cann's college career was interrupted by
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. He left NYU and, along with his brother Tedford, joined the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. Howard resumed his studies at NYU in 1919, after the end of the war.
In 1920, Cann led the NYU basketball team to an
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...
National Championship title and was named the
Helms Athletic Foundation Player of the Year
Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award.
Association football
In association football, this award is he ...
as well as an All-American. A group of newspaper sportswriters also named him as the greatest player in the history of basketball to that date. As a member of the
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...
team, he won the
shot put competitions at the
Penn Relays
The Penn Relays (also Penn Relays Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012, there were ...
and the
IC4A IC4A Championships (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) is an annual men's competition held at different colleges every year. Association was established in 1875, the competition (started in 1876) served as the top level col ...
Middle Atlantic States event. He participated in the
1920 Summer Olympics in
Antwerp as a shot putter, finishing
the competition in eighth place with a throw of 13.52 meters. He had originally been scheduled to compete as a hurdler, but broke his leg. That same year, Cann graduated from NYU with a degree in
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
.
Coaching career
Basketball
Three years after graduating from NYU, Cann returned to the school as the men's basketball coach. He coached the team for thirty-five years, from 1923 to 1958, and compiled a 429–235 record before his retirement.
His time as the basketball coach included an unbeaten 1933–34 season and a December 29, 1934 game in
Madison Square Garden where NYU defeated
Notre Dame. This first Madison Square Garden tournament helped to elevate the popularity of college basketball. Cann's
1934–35 team finished the season with an 18–1 record and was retroactively named the national champion by the
Helms Athletic Foundation and the
Premo-Porretta Power Poll
The Premo-Porretta Power Poll is a retroactive end-of-year ranking for American college basketball teams competing in the 1895–96 through the 1947–48 seasons.
The Premo-Porretta Polls are intended to serve collectively as a source of informa ...
. He led the 1944–45 team to the final game of the
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
tournament, but lost the championship to
Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
. Cann was named National Coach of the Year in 1947, and led the Violets to the
National Invitation Tournament final the next year, but was defeated by
Saint Louis University.
Cann retired in 1958, having spent 39 of the first 44 years of his adult life at NYU as a player and coach.
Football
In 1932 and 1933, Cann also coached the NYU football team. His career football coaching record at NYU was 7–7–1.
Accomplishments
In 1968, he was inducted into the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for his accomplishments as a coach. He also served as Director of Physical Education at NYU from 1931 to retirement in 1958 and is commemorated in seven Sports Halls of Fame.
Personal life
Cann married Janet Cann in 1932, and they had a son, Howard, Jr. Cann died at age 97 after a long illness. He was a resident of
Irvington, New York, at the time of his death.
Head coaching record
Basketball
Football
See also
*
List of NCAA Division I Men's Final Four appearances by coach
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cann, Howard
1895 births
1992 deaths
All-American college men's basketball players
American male shot putters
American men's basketball coaches
American men's basketball players
Barringer High School alumni
United States Navy personnel of World War I
Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics
Basketball coaches from Connecticut
Basketball players from Connecticut
College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
NYU Violets football coaches
NYU Violets football players
NYU Violets men's basketball coaches
NYU Violets men's basketball players
Olympic track and field athletes of the United States
People from Irvington, New York
Players of American football from Connecticut
Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni
Sportspeople from Bridgeport, Connecticut