Irving Rudolph Pray (December 25, 1886 – August 27, 1948) was an

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

coach. He served as the head football coach at

Norwich University Norwich University – The Military College of Vermont is a private senior military college in Northfield, Vermont. It is the oldest private and senior military college in the United States and offers bachelor's and master's degrees on-cam ...

Northfield, Vermont Northfield is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The town lies in a valley within the Green Mountains and has been home to Norwich University since 1866. It contains the village of Northfield, where over half of the population ...

from 1913 to 1914 and

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

(LSU) for part of the 1916 season and for full seasons in 1919 and 1922, compiling a career college football coaching record of 11–20. Pray was a graduate of the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

. He was born in

Natick, Massachusetts Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...

and died in

Alexandria, Louisiana Alexandria is the ninth-largest city in the state of Louisiana and is the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River of the South, Red River in almost the ex ...

. Pray was the head football coach at Natick High School, in hometown in 1911. In 1915, he appointed head football coach at Salem High School in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

, succeeding

Harold McDevitt Harry Sullivan McDevitt (June 5, 1885 – January 30, 1962) was an American college football and baseball coach. He served as the head football coach at the Catholic University of America in 1912 and Colgate University in 1917. He coached baseba ...

Head coaching record

College football

*First 5 games of season were coached by

E. T. MacDonnell Edward Thomas MacDonnell (August 9, 1886 – March 30, 1956) was an American football, basketball, and baseball coach. He served as the head football coach at Louisiana State University (LSU) from 1914 to 1916 and at Wake Forest University for one ...

and the last 3 by

Dana X. Bible Dana Xenophon Bible (October 8, 1891 – January 19, 1980) was an American football player, coach of football, basketball, and baseball, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi College (1913–1 ...

References

1886 births 1948 deaths LSU Tigers football coaches Norwich Cadets football coaches High school baseball coaches in the United States High school football coaches in Massachusetts Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni People from Natick, Massachusetts Sportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts Coaches of American football from Massachusetts Baseball coaches from Massachusetts {{1910s-collegefootball-coach-stub

Head coaching record

College football

See also

References