John Alston Moorehead (February 19, 1882 – August 18, 1931) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

during the 1907 and 1908 seasons; the school known as the Western University of Pennsylvania before 1908. Moorehead applied for the coaching job after being cut off by his father for eloping with his mother's French maid. Prior to coaching at Pittsburgh, He played halfback while attending

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 ...

, from which he graduated in 1904. Some historical records from refer to him as John A. Moorhead and as James A. Moorehead. He was also referred to as "Jim".

Pittsburgh football

In 1906 John A. Moorehead took on assistant coaching duties for the Western University of Pennsylvania's (now the

)

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all-s ...

under then head coach Edgar Wingard. In 1907, he was hired as the head coach of the team, guiding it to an 8–2 record, with the team's only losses coming at the hands of

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

and

Washington & Jefferson College Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County established by three Presbyterian missionaries t ...

. Highlighting the season was a 6–0 win over Penn State, which at the time was particularly noteworthy as it had been only the second time that the university's football team had defeated the Nittany Lions in the burgeoning rivalry between the two schools. Moorehead was retained as head coach in 1908, and guided the team to an 8–3 record. During that season, he helped to facilitate the implementation of the first known use of numbers on the uniforms of football players. In 1909, Moorehead withdrew his name from the candidacy for that season's coaching position at the urging of his father who wanted him to have a more direct role in the family's business interests. However, John A. did use his influence to help elect Joseph H. Thompson as his successor to the head coaching position at Pittsburgh.

Family

John A. Moorehead was born into one of Pittsburgh's oldest and wealthiest families. His father, John Moorehead, Jr., was an executive in the steel industry, president of the city's first professional football team, the

Allegheny Athletic Association The Allegheny Athletic Association was an athletic club that fielded the first ever professional American football player and later the first fully professional football team. The organization was founded in 1890 as a regional athletic club in A ...

, and a former Yale football player alongside

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

. Like his father, John A. attended Yale where he played halfback on the football team, and graduated in 1904. In 1906, John A. arrived at his family's home in

Allegheny, Pennsylvania Allegheny City was a municipality that existed in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1788 until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. It was located north across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, with its southwest border formed by ...

, just as his mother, Anna Alston, was returning from a trip to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Alston was accompanied home by a French maid named Marguerite Clements. John A. and Marguerite fell in love, and their relationship, which was kept a secret, blossomed. However, word of the affair soon reached Alston, who then fired Clements. Upon hearing this, John A. declared, "If she goes, I go with her." The two then married in

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 ...

the following day, but John A. was subsequently cut off from his family's fortune and forced to make his own way in life. John A. and his father reportedly reconciled during the February, 1907 funeral of Miss Anne Katherine Moorhead, the sister of John A., who was killed in a train wreck on the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. The coaching success of Moorehead, particularly the 1907 win over rival Penn State, and his ability to provide for himself and his wife, further helped to change the attitude of the elder Moorhead towards his son. According to ''

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 ...

'', the father had "taken his son back to his heart, told him that he has demonstrated that he is every inch a man, and extended to him and his young wife the place that belongs to them in the family circle". John A. and Marguerite would go on to have one child, Marjorie Anne Moorhead. John A. also had a brother, Donald Moorehead, who also attended Yale.

Death

Moorehead died at age 49 in his home in

Sewickley, Pennsylvania Sewickley is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, west northwest of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. It is a residential suburb of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,827 according to the 2010 census. The Sewickley Bridge crosses the Ohio ...

, due to a fall that resulted in a fractured skull. He was buried at

Allegheny Cemetery Allegheny Cemetery is one of the largest and oldest burial grounds in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is a historic rural cemetery. The non-sectarian, wooded hillside park is located at 4734 Butler Street in the Lawrenceville neighborhood, and bou ...

, Pittsburgh.

Head coaching record

References

Additional sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moorehead, John A. 1882 births 1931 deaths American football halfbacks Pittsburgh Panthers football coaches Yale Bulldogs football players People from Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania Burials at Allegheny Cemetery