John Pont (November 13, 1927 – July 1, 2008) 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 served as head football coach at

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

Oxford, Ohio Oxford is a city in northwestern Butler County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,035 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A college town, Oxford was founded as a home for Miami University and lies in the southwestern portion ...

, from 1956 to 1962,

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

from 1963 to 1964,

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

from 1965 to 1972,

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

from 1973 to 1977, and Mount St. Joseph University in Delhi, Ohio, from 1990 to 1992, compiling a career

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 ...

head coaching record of 107–141–4.

Early life

Pont was born on November 13, 1927, in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in Stark County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, eighth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 70,872 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Canton–Massillo ...

, to Bautista and Suzannah Pont. He graduated from Timken High School in Canton. As an undergraduate at Miami University, Pont was an outstanding halfback, playing for coaches

Woody Hayes Wayne Woodrow "Woody" Hayes (February 14, 1913 – March 12, 1987) was an American college football coach and player. He served as the head football coach at Denison University from 1946 to 1948, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio from 1949 to 195 ...

and

Ara Parseghian Ara Raoul Parseghian (; ; May 21, 1923 – August 2, 2017) was an American football coach and player who coached the University of Notre Dame to national championships in 1966 and 1973. He is noted for bringing Notre Dame's Fighting Irish footb ...

, and was a member of the

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American social Fraternities and sororities, fraternities. The fraternity has 244 active undergraduate chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has ...

fraternity. After a serving a tour as a Navy submariner, Pont played professional football in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. He and several of his "Cradle of Coaches" compatriots are the subject of the book ''Fields of Honor'', written by Pont's niece, Sally Pont.

Career

Playing

After playing college football at

, Pont went to Canada and played with Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers of the

Ontario Rugby Football Union The Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) was an early amateur Canadian football league comprising teams in the Canadian province of Ontario. The ORFU was founded on Saturday, January 6, 1883, and in 1903 it became the first major competition to ado ...

, where he won the Imperial Oil Trophy as league MVP in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

Coaching

He was the only Indiana University coach to take a team to the Rose Bowl. Later in his career, Pont was recruited to start a football program at Cincinnati's College of Mount St. Joseph. He later served as coach and consultant in creating a semi-professional football league in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He was honored as

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. ...

Division I-A coach of the year in 1967, the year his Hoosiers appeared in the Rose Bowl. He was a member of the Cradle of Coaches and the Miami and Indiana Athletic Halls of Fame as well as

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

Hall of Fame and the Indiana Football Hall of Fame. He went 6-4 in 1968. It would be the last winning season he had as a college coach, with Pont having just two winning seasons at Indiana. Despite rumors that he would stay at Indiana, Pont signed a five-year contract to succeed Alex Agase at

on December 23, 1972. He announced on November 14, 1977, that he would remain as athletic director while relinquishing his head coaching duties effective at the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. Rick Venturi succeeded him seventeen days later on December 1. Both Pont and Venturi were dismissed on November 18, 1980, after the Wildcats went 1–31–1 within a three-year span culminating with a 0–11 campaign and a twenty-game losing streak. Additionally, all but one of the

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

players on the football team had protested against the unequal treatment of African-American

student athlete Student athlete (or student–athlete) is a term used principally in universities in the United States and Canada to describe students enrolled at postsecondary educational institutions, principally colleges and universities, but also at sec ...

s within the program.

Personal life and death

Pont died at his home in

, on July 1, 2008. Pont's grandson, also named John Pont, is the head football coach for

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

, a position he has held since 2023.

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

*
Cradle of Coaches Archive: A Legacy of Excellence - John Pont
Miami University Libraries
John Pont Collection, Cradle of Coaches Archive
Miami University Libraries {{DEFAULTSORT:Pont, John 1927 births 2008 deaths American football halfbacks Indiana Hoosiers football coaches Miami RedHawks football coaches Miami RedHawks football players Mount St. Joseph Lions football coaches Northwestern Wildcats athletic directors Northwestern Wildcats football coaches Ontario Rugby Football Union players Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers players Yale Bulldogs football coaches High school football coaches in Ohio Burials at Oxford Cemetery, Oxford, Ohio Players of American football from Canton, Ohio