Finis Homer "Boosky" Prendergast Jr. (April 20, 1893 – June 3, 1975) was an American

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 ...

player and high school football coach.

Playing career

Auburn University

Prendergast was a prominent

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for

Mike Donahue Michael Joseph "Iron Mike" Donahue (June 14, 1876 – December 11, 1960) was an American football player, coach of football, basketball, baseball, tennis, track, soccer, and golf, and a college athletics administrator. He served as the head foot ...

Auburn Tigers football The Auburn Tigers football program represents Auburn University in the sport of American college football. Auburn competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Confe ...

team of

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

from

1913 Events January * January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his ''Marxism and the National Question''. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city. * January 3 &ndash ...

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Empire, British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored ...

. He also punted. 1915
He was selected All-Southern in

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 * ...

. 1916
Prendergast was selected All-Southern again in 1916.

Coaching career

In 1923, Prendergast was hired as backfield and ends coach for the football team at the College of Marshall—now known as

East Texas Baptist University East Texas Baptist University (ETBU) is a private Baptist university in Marshall, Texas, United States. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. History ETBU is located on the site of the former Van Zandt Farm at the highes ...

—in

Marshall, Texas Marshall is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Harrison County, Texas, Harrison County and a cultural and educational center of the Ark-La-Tex region. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the population of ...

. In 1926, Prendergast was hired as an athletic coach and English teacher at Shreveport High School in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

. After coaching at Shreveport's C. E. Byrd High School, Prendergast became head coach at

Fair Park High School Fair Park Middle School is a former high school located at 3222 Greenwood Road in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States. The school was originally named Fair Park High School when it opened in 1928, and it was the second high school in the city. ...

, also in Shreveport, in 1935. He remained at Fair Park until his retirement from coaching in 1958. In his 23 years as Fair Park's head football coach, Prendergast compiled a 154–78–13 (.655) record and lead his team to a

Louisiana High School Athletic Association The Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) is the agency that regulates and promotes the interscholastic athletic competitions of all high schools in the state of Louisiana. Organization LHSAA was founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana i ...

(LHSAA) state championship in 1952.''Jerry Byrd's Football Country'' (1981), pp. 103–106, 154–157

Death

Prendergast died on June 3, 1975, at Virginia Hall Nursing Home in Shreveport.

References

1893 births 1975 deaths American football halfbacks American football quarterbacks Auburn Tigers football players Marshall Tigers football coaches High school football coaches in Louisiana All-Southern college football players Players of American football from Marshall, Texas Coaches of American football from Texas {{collegefootball-player-stub