Charles Edward Brickley (November 24, 1891 – December 28, 1949) 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 was a two-time

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

and set college football records for career and single-season field goals. He then served as the head football coach at the

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 ...

in 1915 and

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

from 1916 to 1917 and coached the New York Brickley Giants of the American Professional Football Association—now the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

—in 1921. He also competed the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

at the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...

Early life and family

Brickley was born in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and raised in

Everett, Massachusetts Everett is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, directly north of Boston, bordering the neighborhood of Charlestown. The population was 49,075 at the time of the 2020 United States census. Everett was the last city in the ...

. He stood 5'10" and weighed 181 pounds during his athletic career.

Athletic career

Brickley attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

, where he played football from 1911 to 1914 for the

Crimson Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, '' Kermes vermilio'', but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red col ...

as a fullback and

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

under head coach Percy Haughton. He was named an All-American in 1913 and 1914. During the 1913 Harvard–Yale game, Brickley kicked all five of Harvard's field goals in the Crimson's 15–5 win over

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

. He set college football records for most field goals made by one player in a single season (13) and most career field goals (34). Brickley was often compared to Otis Guernsey, whom was seen as one of his rivals. Brickley also competed in the triple jump at 1912 Summer Olympics, finishing 9th. At the same Olympics he competed in the baseball event which was held as

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration sport ...

. In 1917, Brickley became a

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

for the

Massillon Tigers The Massillon Tigers were an early professional football team from Massillon, Ohio. Playing in the " Ohio League", the team was a rival to the pre-National Football League version of the Canton Bulldogs. The Tigers won Ohio League championshi ...

, of the

Ohio League The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of American football clubs active between 1902 and 1919 that competed for the Ohio Independent Championship (OIC). As the name implied, its teams were mostly based in Ohio. It is the direct p ...

Coaching career

Brickley's first coaching job was during his senior year at Harvard, where he served as an assistant to the University of Virginia football team during the team's August practices. After graduating, Brickley was sought by many schools looking for head coaches, including

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

. After initially refusing to coach, Brickley eventually accepted the head coaching job at

In 1916, he led Boston College to its first victory over rival Holy Cross since 1889. He left Boston College in 1918 to join the

United States Navy Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2004, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called reservists, are categorized as being in either the S ...

. He was quartermaster for the Naval Transport Service at the Hoboken Port of Embarkation and coached the Naval Transport Service's football team. Brickley was named head coach at

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

in 1919, however the school later decided to cancel the season. He was an advisory coach for Fordham during the 1921 season when his younger brother, Arthur, was a member of the team. In 1922, Brickley was offered the position of head coach at Northwestern, but the two sides could not agree on terms and the school hired

Glenn Thistlethwaite Glenn Franklin Thistlethwaite (March 18, 1885 – October 6, 1956) was an American football, basketball, baseball, and track and field coach. He served as the head football coach at Illinois College (1908), Earlham College (1909–1912), Northwes ...

instead.

Owner

In 1921, Brickley and Billy Gibson formed a professional football team known as the New York Brickley Giants (also known as Brickley's Giants or Brickley's Brooklyn Giants) that played in the

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

. The Giants lost both of their league games by a combined score of 72 to 0. That same year, Brickley purchased the Harrisburg franchise in the Eastern Basketball League, which he quickly sold to New York Celtics owner James Furey.

Later life

After leaving the Navy, Brickley began working for a New York stock brokerage firm. He later headed his own firm, Charley E. Brickley & Co, and by 1921, was reported to have a fortune in the six figures. In 1923, Brickley was indicted on charges of illegal stock negotiations. He was found not guilty of

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...

and

larceny Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Eng ...

by a jury on May 28, 1925. On March 1, 1928, Brickley was found guilty of four counts of larceny and bucketing orders from customers of Charles E. Brickley, Inc., from 1925 to 1927. He was released on parole in December. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Brickley was a pipe-fitter at a

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

shipyard. After the war, he worked as an advertising salesman in New York City. In 1949, Brickley and his son, Charles Jr., were arrested after starting a fight in a

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

restaurant. According to testimony, the fight began when Brickley overheard somebody say, "Is that old bald-headed so-and-so Charlie Brickley, the football player?" or "You mean that old bald-headed man is the great Charlie Brickley?" Brickley died the day the charges against him were to be dismissed. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in

Malden, Massachusetts Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people. History Malden is a hilly woodland area no ...

Family

Brickley's brother George Brickley played five games for the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...

in 1913. His youngest brother Arthur Brickley played football and baseball for Columbia (1920), Fordham (1921), and Providence (1923). Brickley's oldest son, Charles "Chick" Brickley, Jr. played football at Yale and was a minor league baseball player for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

. His youngest son, John "Bud" Brickley, signed with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

in 1946 following his discharge from the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

. His grandson, John Brickley, was a kicker for the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...

. His grandnephew is former

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

player Andy Brickley.

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brickley, Charles 1891 births 1949 deaths American football drop kickers American football fullbacks American football placekickers American stock traders American stockbrokers American male triple jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 1912 Summer Olympics Boston College Eagles football coaches Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery (Malden, Massachusetts) Fordham Rams football coaches Harvard Crimson football players Johns Hopkins Blue Jays football coaches Massillon Tigers coaches Massillon Tigers players New York Brickley Giants New York Brickley Giants players Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Olympic baseball players for the United States All-American college football players Players of American football from New York City Players of American football from Everett, Massachusetts Baseball players from Middlesex County, Massachusetts American sportspeople convicted of crimes United States Navy personnel of World War I United States Navy reservists