Bernard John O'Rourke (March 1886 – June 12, 1941) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player and coach. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and was a consensus first-team selection to the

1908 College Football All-America Team The 1908 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans for the 1908 college football season. The only two individuals who have been recognized as "official" selectors by the National ...

. O'Rourke was born in 1886 and raised in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

. He attended

from 1907 to 1909 and played on the

Cornell Big Red football The Cornell Big Red football team represents Cornell University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I Division I (NCAA)#Football Championship Subdivision, Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) college fo ...

team. He was selected as a consensus first-team

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

on the

. While attending Cornell, he was a member of and Dunstan,

Aleph Samach Aleph Samach () was a junior honor society at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York that existed from 1893 until 1981. History Aleph Samach (sometimes spelled Aleph Samech) was founded in 1893 at Cornell University as an honorary secret society ...

, and Rod and Bob.1910 Cornellian (Cornell yearbook), page 367, listing Bernard John O'Rourke. After graduating from Cornell, he coached the Cornell football team for three years and also coached the football team at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, O'Rourke moved to

Norristown, Pennsylvania Norristown is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough with Home Rule Municipality (Pennsylvania), home rule status and the county seat of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States, in the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area. Located ...

, where he lived for the rest of his life and was married to Medora Altemus. He operated a contracting firm with his brother and, in 1935, became the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

administrator for

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Montgomery County, colloquially referred to as Montco, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 856,553, making it the third-most populous county in Pennsylvania after Philadel ...

. He also worked as superintendent of the Montgomery County highways and as postmaster of Norristown. He died in Norristown in June 1941, aged 55.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ORourke, Bernard 1886 births 1941 deaths American football guards Cornell Big Red football players Cornell Big Red football coaches Johns Hopkins Blue Jays football coaches All-American college football players Players of American football from Syracuse, New York