Harry Addison March (December 11, 1875 – June 10, 1940) was an early

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

historian and promoter, as well as a

medical doctor A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...

. He also helped organize 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 ...

(NFL) and well as the second American Football League (AFL). March is also credited with convincing Tim Mara to purchase an NFL franchise for New York City, which is still in existence today as 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 ...

. He wrote one of the first books on the history of the professional game: '' Pro Football: Its Ups and Downs'' in 1934.''Pro Football, Its Ups and Downs'' Harry March, J. B. Lyon Company, Albany, NY 1934 Dr. March is known as the "Father of Professional Football.""Dr. Harry March, Noted in Football", obituary Dr. Harry March, ''New York Times'', June 11, 1940, p. 25

Biography

Early life

March was born in New Franklin, Ohio, on December 11, 1875, and grew up in Canton. His father, Henry Clay March, was an officer in the U.S. Army and a close friend to future President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

. Harry 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 ...

at Mount Union College in 1893 and later became a reporter for the '' Canton Repository''. When McKinley campaigned for the Presidency in 1896, March joined him as a reporter and followed his campaign. The job led Harry to Washington, D.C., where he landed a job earning $7-a-week as an assistant to drama critic Channing Pollock. When McKinley advised him that newspaper reporters were " lounge lizards", he studied medicine at George Washington University Medical School and went back to Canton to start a practice.

Pro football

While in Canton, March played in or watched hundreds of football games featuring the best professionals of the day such as

Christy Mathewson Christopher Mathewson (August 12, 1880 – October 7, 1925), nicknamed "Big Six," "the Christian Gentleman," "Matty," and "the Gentleman's Hurler," was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball for ...

, Fielding Yost, Walter Okeson, Knute Rockne and

Pudge Heffelfinger William Walter "Pudge" Heffelfinger (December 20, 1867 – April 2, 1954), also spelled Hafelfinger, was an American football player and coach. He is considered the greatest lineman of his time, and the first athlete to play American football p ...

. These experiences would inspire and help him to write ''Pro Football:It's Ups and Downs'' in 1934. In 1904, March was a coach for the Canton McKinley High School football team. By 1906, March was practicing medicine in Canton and was even one of the team doctors to the Canton Bulldogs of the pre-NFL "

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 ...

". March would treated the players for shin splints and muscle pulls. Since he was Canton's team doctor in 1906, March was witness to the events surrounding the Canton Bulldogs–Massillon Tigers betting scandal. He recorded his interpretation of the event in his book ''Pro Football: Its Ups and Downs'', over a quarter-century later. However his version of the scandal has been questioned for accuracy by the

Professional Football Researchers Association The Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA) is an organization of researchers whose mission is to preserve and, in some cases, reconstruct professional American football history. It was founded on June 22, 1979 in Canton, Ohio by w ...

in 1984, with their article "Blondy Wallace and Biggest Football Scandal Ever". From 1925 to 1928 he served as Secretary of the New York Football Giants and from 1928 to 1933 he served as president of the club. In 1926 he was selected to a three-man committee to meet with the Intercollegiate Committee of Athletics in New York City. The other two members of this panel were

George Halas George Stanley Halas Sr. (February 2, 1895 – October 31, 1983), nicknamed "Papa Bear", was an American professional football end, coach, and executive. He was the founder and owner of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL), ...

and Peggy Parratt. A squabble with

George Preston Marshall George Preston Marshall (October 11, 1896 – August 9, 1969) was an American professional American football, football executive who founded the National Football League (NFL)'s Washington Commanders. The team began play as the Boston Braves in ...

, owner of the

Boston Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football franchise based in the Washington metropolitan area. They are members of the NFC East, East division in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL). ...

, put him out of the National Football League in 1934. March sold his interest in the Giants and helped form the second American Football League. March served as president of the new AFL for one year before resigning over differences with the management of several member teams. March's book ''Pro Football: Its Ups and Downs'', published in 1934, stamped him as the leading historian of American professional football history for the next several decades.

Military service

March served in the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

as a correspondent and in World War I as a lieutenant in the

medical corps A medical corps is generally a military branch or staff corps, officer corps responsible for medical care for serving military personnel. Such officers are typically military physicians. List of medical corps The following organizations are exam ...

Death

March died in Canton on June 10, 1940, at the age of 64.

References