John Jackson McLaughry (April 8, 1917 – November 28, 2007) 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 participated in the Mosquito Bowl.

Playing career

He attended

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

, graduating in 1940 and earning All-American honors as a player. He was drafted in the third round of the 1940 NFL Draft. In 1940, he played one season 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 ...

. While serving as a Marine in the 6th Division on Guadalcanal he participated in the Mosquito Bowl. McLaughry was also a successful

hammer throw The hammer throw (HT for short) is one of the four throwing events in regular outdoor track-and-field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and Javelin throw, javelin. The hammer used in this sport is not like any of the tools a ...

er in

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 ...

, placing runner-up at the 1939 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and 8th at the 1936 United States Olympic trials in that event.

Coaching career

After serving in the Pacific theater 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 ...

he returned to football, becoming an assistant coach at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

. He then served as a head coach at

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the s ...

(1947–1949),

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

(1950–1958), and

(1959–1966). While his career at his first two coaching jobs was highly successful, his time at Brown was considered a disappointment as he posted just one winning season in eight years. After his coaching career he became Director of Summer and Special Projects at Brown University and spent a great deal of his time painting before dying on November 28, 2007.

Personal life

McLaughry was the son of Tuss McLaughry, head football coach at Westminster College (Pennsylvania) from 1915 to 1916, 1918, and 1921, head football coach at

from 1922 to 1925, head football coach at Brown from 1926 to 1940, and head football coach at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

from 1941 to 1942 and 1945 to 1954, interrupted due to service in World War II. McLaughry thus played for his own father while in college. His mother was Florence Marguerite (née Jackson) McLaughry (1892-1985). He had an older sister, Jeanne Marguerite McLaughry Mahoney (1912-2007) and a younger brother, Robert DeOrmond McLaughry (1921-2016). On May 22, 1948, in Rotterdam, New York, he married Anne Justine (née Van Dyck) Salisbury, who had been previously married and had a son, Edwin Bevier Salisbury (1941-2020). He and Anne had three children of their own: Richard Graham McLaughry (b. 1951), David William McLaughry (b. 1954), and Marguerite Justine McLaughry (b. 1956). Anne was the daughter of Louis Bevier Van Dyck Jr. (1889-1934) and his wife, Marguerite Justine (née Towle, 1890–1980). She was the third of eight children, and a descendant of Louis DuBois and the Hasbrouck family.

Head coaching record

References

External links