Percy Duncan Haughton (July 11, 1876 – October 27, 1924) 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 ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player and coach. He served as head football coach at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

from 1899 to 1900, at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

from 1908 to 1916, and at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

from 1923 to 1924, 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 ...

record of 97–17–6. The

Harvard Crimson The Harvard Crimson is the nickname of the college sports teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate Varsity team, varsity sports teams for women and men at Harva ...

claimed national champions for three of the seasons that Haughton coached: 1910, 1912, and 1913. Haughton was also Harvard's head baseball coach in 1915 and part owner of the

Boston Braves The Boston Braves were a Major League Baseball club that originated in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved to History of the Atlanta Braves#Milwaukee, Milwaukee (and became the Milwaukee Braves). ...

from 1916 to 1918. He was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

as a coach in 1951.

Biography

Haughton was born on July 11, 1876. Haughton attended

Groton School Groton School is a Private school, private, college-preparatory school, college-preparatory, day school, day and boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts, United States. It is affiliated with the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcop ...

, graduating in 1895, and then went on to

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

, graduating in 1899. Haughton and his wife owned Gould Island in Rhode Island where Haughton trained the Harvard football team. Apocryphal tales assert that before the 1908 Harvard–Yale Game, Haughton strangled a bulldog in the locker room to motivate his players. He bought the

with Arthur Chamberlin Wise in 1916. Haughton served as club president until the team was purchased by George Washington Grant in 1919. Haughton served as the head coach of Camp Devens football team in 1917. In 1918 he was commissioned as a major in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Chemical Warfare Service The Chemical Corps is the branch of the United States Army tasked with defending against and using chemical weapon, chemical, biological agent, biological, radiological weapon, radiological, and nuclear weapon, nuclear (Chemical, biological, r ...

. After Haughton's military service ended, he announced he would not return to Harvard, instead focusing on his work with White Weld & Co. Haughton became Columbia's football coach in spring 1923 as the school re-established a team that had been dissolved in 1905 following allegations that football had become too violent. To alleviate concerns that the game was still too violent, Haughton promised to instil discipline in his players, saying: "It will be my purpose to teach the men what they should learn in order to better prepare for life after the university. If I can do that, if I can contribute toward qualifying them for the finest type of citizenship, I will be satisfied." Haughton died at age 48 on October 27, 1924, after becoming ill on the Columbia football field. The cause of death was classified as acute indigestion.

Head coaching record

Football

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Haughton, Percy 1876 births 1924 deaths 19th-century players of American football American football tackles Boston Braves executives Boston Braves owners College Football Hall of Fame inductees Columbia Lions football coaches Cornell Big Red football coaches Harvard Crimson baseball coaches Harvard Crimson baseball players Harvard Crimson football coaches Harvard Crimson football players Players of American football from Staten Island Baseball players from Staten Island United States Army officers United States Army personnel of World War I