Irving "Moon" Mondschein (February 7, 1924 – June 5, 2015) was an American

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete and

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 coach.

Personal life

Mondschein, who was

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. He attended Boys High School, where he ran track. He also ran for the New York Pioneer Club. He entered the US Army in 1943. He became a member of the

Pi Lambda Phi Pi Lambda Phi (), commonly known as Pi Lam, is a social fraternity with 145 chapters (44 active chapters/colonies). The fraternity was founded in 1895 at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. History Very little is known about the early ...

fraternal organization while attending

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 ...

His son, Brian, was a world-class decathlete in the 1980s. His grandson, also named

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan (given name), Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish language, Irish and Breton language, Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan language, Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. ...

, was an All-American pole vaulter at

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

Decathlon, high jump, and football career

Mondschein was AAU

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

champion in 1944, and in 1946 and 1947. He won the 1944

Olympic trials Olympic trials are competitions held in certain sports to select teams' participants in those sports at the Olympic Games. History Before 1908, members of United States Olympic teams were selected without trials. The 1908 and 1912 teams were s ...

and would have been the top American representative had the Olympic Games been held that year. He was

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

champion in both 1947 and 1948, competing for

. As of 2015, he still held NYU's record in the outdoor high jump—6 feet, 7¾ inches. He also played football as an

end End, END, Ending, or ENDS may refer to: End Mathematics *End (category theory) * End (topology) * End (graph theory) * End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) * End (endomorphism) Sports and games *End (gridiron football) *End, a division ...

for NYU in 1946, earning All-East honors. He competed in the 1948 Olympics for the United States in decathlon, coming in eighth, as teammate

Bob Mathias Robert Bruce Mathias (November 17, 1930 – September 2, 2006) was an American decathlete, politician, and actor. Representing the United States, he won two Olympic gold medals in the Decathlon, at the 1948 and the 1952 Summer Games. As a Re ...

won the gold medal. In his career, he was ranked third in the world in outdoor high jump and tenth in the decathlon in 1947; sixth in the indoor high jump and eighth in the decathlon in 1948; and third in the outdoor high jump and sixth in the decathlon in 1949.

Coaching career

Mondschein later coached track, basketball, and football at Lincoln University in

Oxford, Pennsylvania Oxford is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. Oxford is the closest town to Lincoln University. The population was 5,733 at the 2020 census. History The borough was once called Oxford Crossing and Oxford Village during t ...

, starting in 1949. He coached the US track and field team at the

1950 Maccabiah Games The 3rd Maccabiah () took place during Sukkot from September 27 to October 8, 1950, with 17 countries competing. It was the third edition of the Maccabiah Games and the first held since the independence of the State of Israel; 15 years after the ...

, which included Olympian

Henry Laskau Helmut ("Henry") Laskau (September 12, 1916 – May 7, 2000) has been called the greatest racewalker in U.S. track and field history. Born in Berlin, Germany Laskau was a top distance runner in his native Germany, before being forced to leav ...

(national champion and world record holder) who won a gold medal in racewalking, and was also an advisor to the

Israeli Ministry of Education The Ministry of Education (, translit. ''Misrad HaHinukh''; ) is the branch of the Israeli government charged with overseeing public education institutions in Israel. The department is headed by the Minister of Education, who is a member of the ...

, helping for two years to prepare the country's athletes for the

1952 Olympics 1952 Olympics refers to both: *The 1952 Winter Olympics, which were held in Oslo, Norway *The 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were a ...

. Irv was also athletic coach (Track) at Lawrence High School, Cedarhurst, NY ( Nassau County) from 1956-65. He was then a coach at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

; first the assistant track coach (1965–79) and then the head coach (1979–87). He was also an assistant coach on the 1988 U.S. Olympic team. He was previously an assistant coach at

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Kutztown University of Pennsylvania (Kutztown University or KU) is a public university in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher ...

, and also volunteered as an assistant coach at

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...

. He also served as an assistant coach at

La Salle University La Salle University () is a private university, private, Catholic university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The university was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and named for St. Jean-Bapt ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Honors

Mondschein is a member of the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, the New York Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and the

National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, in Commack, New York, is dedicated to honoring American Jewish figures who have distinguished themselves in sports. Its objective is to foster Jewish identity through athletics, and to commemo ...

. He is also a member of the NYU Athletics Hall of Fame, and the U.S. Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

University of Pennsylvania profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mondschein, Irving 1924 births 2015 deaths American football ends American male decathletes American male high jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Lincoln Lions football coaches Lincoln Lions men's basketball coaches NYU Violets football players Penn Quakers track and field coaches NYU Violets men's track and field athletes Olympic track and field athletes for the United States United States Army personnel of World War II Boys High School (Brooklyn) alumni Track and field athletes from Brooklyn Players of American football from Brooklyn Coaches of American football from New York (state) Players of American football from New York City Basketball coaches from New York (state) Jewish American players of American football 21st-century American Jews Jewish American track and field athletes Jewish American coaches of American football Jewish American basketball coaches Jews from New York (state) NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners 20th-century American sportsmen