John Francis Meagher (July 5, 1894 – December 7, 1968) 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, coach of football,

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 ...

, and

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 t ...

, and college athletics administrator. Meagher played football for the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main c ...

in 1916, rising to a second-team end under then-assistant coach,

Knute Rockne Knut ( Norwegian and Swedish), Knud ( Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used ...

. He served with the

United States Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

in France during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and played in four games with the Chicago Tigers in 1920, the first year of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL). Meagher embarked on a career in coaching in 1921 at St. Edward's University, where he served as head football coach from 1921 to 1928, compiling a record of 24–21–4, and as head basketball coach from 1921 to 1924. From 1929 to 1933, he coached football at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

, where he compiled a 26–26 record. From 1934 to 1942, he was the head football coach at

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest ...

, where he compiled a 48–37–10 record. Shug Jordan was his assistant coach. During his nine seasons coaching the Auburn Tigers, they played in their first bowl game ever, the Bacardi Bowl. The game was held in Havana, Cuba. In 1935, Meagher was named the SEC Coach of the Year. He joined the Navy during World War II and served as a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy. Meagher also coached the

Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks football Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

team in 1944 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In 1946, he coached the first six games of the season for the

Miami Seahawks The Miami Seahawks were a professional American football team based in Miami, Florida. They played in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in the league's inaugural season, 1946, before the team was relocated to Baltimore. They are notable ...

of the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

(AAFC), going 1–5. Former players of Meagher at Auburn University were known as Meagher's Marauders because of their aggression on the football field, and most of the games they played were on the road. During Meagher's first 6 years at Auburn, his players played only 3 home games. Meagher was the driving force behind the building of Auburn's stadium. Auburn Stadium opened in 1939 and seated 7,500. Meagher's Marauders award a scholarship every year to an Auburn student during one of the fall games. In 2015, the Coach Jack Meagher Award (CJM) was awarded to Vincent "Bo" Jackson. Meager died on December 7, 1968. He is buried at Hollywood Memorial Gardens East in

Hollywood, Florida Hollywood is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. As of July 1, 2019, Hollywood had a population of 154,817. Founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is no ...

. Meagher was inducted into the St. Edward's University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1989.

Head coaching record

College football

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meagher, Jack 1890s births 1968 deaths American football ends Auburn Tigers athletic directors Auburn Tigers football coaches Chicago Tigers players Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks football coaches Miami Seahawks coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Rice Owls football coaches St. Edward's Hilltoppers baseball coaches St. Edward's Crusaders football coaches St. Edward's Hilltoppers men's basketball coaches United States Marine Corps personnel of World War I Sportspeople from Chicago Coaches of American football from Illinois Players of American football from Chicago Basketball coaches from Illinois Baseball coaches from Illinois