Frank Howard (football coach)
Encyclopedia
For other people with this name, see Frank Howard
Frank Howard
Frank Howard may refer to:*Frank A. Howard , Louisiana state representative*Frank Howard , American college football player and coach*Frankie Howerd , English comedian...

.


Frank J. Howard (March 25, 1909 – January 26, 1996) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 player and coach. He played college football for Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....

. After a career-ending injury, Howard joined the staff at Clemson College
Clemson University
Clemson University is an American public, coeducational, land-grant, sea-grant, research university located in Clemson, South Carolina, United States....

 and became head coach in 1939. Howard would coach the Clemson Tigers for 30 years, amassing the 15th most wins of any college football coach. He led Clemson to ten bowl games, an undefeated season in 1949, and several Top-20 rankings during his tenure as head coach. During his stay at Clemson, Howard also oversaw the athletic department, ticket sales, and was an assistant coach for the baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 team. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...

, the South Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, and the Clemson Ring of Honor. The playing surface at Clemson's Memorial Stadium
Memorial Stadium, Clemson
Frank Howard Field at Memorial Stadium, popularly known as Death Valley, is home to the Clemson University Tigers, a NCAA Division I-A football team, located in Clemson, South Carolina...

 is named after him.

Early life and playing career

Howard was born at Barlow Bend, Alabama ("three wagon greasin's from Mobile
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...

"). He spent his early days on the farm playing mostly cow pasture baseball because there were not enough boys around the community for a football team. Howard said he left Barlow Bend walking barefoot on a barbed wire fence with a wildcat under each arm.

He graduated from Murphy High School in Mobile where he played football, baseball and basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 and served as president of both the junior and senior classes.

After finishing at Murphy, Howard entered the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....

 on an academic scholarship provided by the Birmingham News in the fall of 1927, and the 185-pounder played reserve guard his sophomore year. During his junior year he started every game but two, as an ankle injury sidelined him for the two games he missed. Again his senior year he was a regular.

Howard was president of the freshman class at Alabama, was member of Blue Key and president of the "A" Club.

Coaching career

Howard stepped onto the rolling hills of Clemson in 1931 fresh from the varsity football ranks at Alabama where he was a first stringer on Wallace Wade's 1930 team that drubbed Washington State
Washington State University
Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...

 24–0 in the 1931 Rose Bowl Howard was known as the "Little Giant' of the Tide's "Herd of Red Elephants."

The bald veteran came to his first coaching post under Jess Neely as a line tutor. "At least that was my title," Howard recalls. "Actually, I also coached track, was ticket manager, recruited players and had charge of football equipment. In my spare time I cut grass, lined tennis courts and operated the canteen while the regular man was out to lunch:' Howard was not only track coach from 1931–39, but served as baseball coach in 1943 and his 12–3 record that year is still among the best percentages for a season in Clemson history.

Howard held the line coaching post until Neely went to Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

 as head coach in 1940. When the Clemson Athletic Council met to name a successor to Neely, Prof. Sam Rhodes, a council member, nominated Howard to be the new head coach. Howard, standing in the back of the room listening to the discussion, said; "I second the nomination." He got the job and never left. When he retired as head coach following the 1969 season, he was the nation's dean of coaches, having been a head football coach at a major institution longer than anyone else in the United States. When he retired, he was one of five active coaches with 150 or more victories.

While line coach in 1939, the Tigers' record (8–1) was good enough to merit a trip to Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

 where Clemson met undefeated Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...

 under Frank Leahy
Frank Leahy
Francis William Leahy was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and professional sports executive...

 in the 1940 Cotton Bowl Classic. The 1948 mark of 10–0 carried Clemson to the 1949 Gator Bowl and two years later, a 9–0–1 record sent the Tigers to Miami's Orange Bowl (1950). The Country Gentlemen were champions on their first three bowl ventures. Boston College fell 6–3, Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...

 was nipped in the Gator, 24–23 (Howard said this is the best football game he ever witnessed), and Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...

 felt the Tiger claws, 15–14. The total point spread in these three bowl wins was five points.

The Gator Bowl beckoned the Tigers again in January 1952, and by being conference champions in 1956, Clemson played in the '57 Orange Bowl classic again. Miami downed Clemson 14–0 in the second Gator Bowl trip, and Colorado
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...

 led Clemson 20–0, then trailed 21–20 before finally defeating the Tigers 27–21 in the second Orange Bowl. The Tigers then played in the 1959 Sugar Bowl
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009...

 and held the #1-ranked LSU Tigers
LSU Tigers football
The LSU Tigers football team, also known as the Fighting Tigers or Bayou Bengals, represents Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States in NCAA Division I FBS college football. Current head coach Les Miles has led the team since 2005. Since 1999 when Nick Saban took over as...

 to a standstill before losing 7–0, leading to an LSU National Championship.

The invitation to play in the first Bluebonnet Bowl
Bluebonnet Bowl
The Bluebonnet Bowl was an annual college football bowl game played in Houston, Texas. A civic group was appointed by the Houston Chamber of Commerce Athletics Committee in 1959 to organize the bowl game. It was held at Rice Stadium from 1959 through 1967, and again in 1985 and 1986. The game was...

 in Houston in December 1959 was the eighth bowl that Howard had been a part of either as a player, assistant coach or head coach. It was the seventh bowl trip for a Clemson team and the sixth in 12 years. Howard said that Clemson's 23–7 triumph over seventh ranked Texas Christian
Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University is a private, coeducational university located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States and founded in 1873. TCU is affiliated with, but not governed by, the Disciples of Christ...

 in the Bluebonnet Bowl was the best performance he had ever witnessed by a Clemson team. Clemson was the first school to play in two bowls in the same calendar year.

The Tigers' victory over TCU was their fourth success in seven post-season appearances. In all seven Clemson was the established underdog.

Howard served on the coaching staff of the Blue-Gray game in Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...

 in 1941, 1952, 1959, and 1966; was on the East staff of the annual East-West game in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 in December 1960, and again in December 1962; and was named coach of the South squad in Miami's 196l and 1969 North-South game. He coached in the 1970 Hula Bowl
Hula Bowl
The Hula Bowl was an independently administered post-season invitational college football game held each year in Hawaii from 1947 to 2008. The game was last played at Aloha Stadium in the Hālawa district of Honolulu, Hawaii. At one point the longest-running sporting event in Hawaii, it had been...

, which was his ninth postseason all-star game. While still in active coaching Howard served as one of the rules committee members for A period of three years.

A Single Wing expert for 22 seasons (including nine as a line coach), Howard changed to the T-formation and its many variations in 1953. Still another major change in the offense was installed in 1965 with the "I" and pro-type set. In his 13 seasons as head coach using the single wing, Clemson won 69, lost 47 and tied 7. In 12 years of "T" teams, the Tigers won 71, lost 47 and tied 4. While using the "I" in his last five years of coaching, Clemson recorded a 25–24–1 record.

The year 1958 was a red letter one for Howard. During halftime of the Spring Game, Howard, his staff and secretaries were given an appreciation day. Howard received a 1958 car while other staff members were presented gifts. That summer Howard and three members of his staff were given a trip to Europe by the Department of Defense to conduct clinics for the Armed Forces in Germany.

Then came the football season and the Tigers presented Howard an 8–2 season, which led to the Sugar Bowl invitation. One of these 1958 wins was the l00th of Howard's coaching career. That came against Jim Tatum of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...

, a coach Howard had never beaten. And, the Tigers had to come from behind three times to win, 26–21.

Howard was named Southern Conference Coach-of-the-Year in 1948. In 1959 he was named Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...

 Coach-of-the-Year and was accorded the honor again in 1966. His teams won ACC championships six times (1956–58–59–65–66–67) in the first 15 years of the conference. The Tigers were co-champions in 1965. He guided Clemson to the Southern Conference crown in 1940 and 1948.

In his 30 years of coaching, Howard won 165, lost 118 and tied 12. That victory total is still among the top 40 coaches in the history of the game.

In addition to heading up the Clemson football program Howard also had the job of directing Clemson's entire athletic program, and at the same time raising all the required scholarship funds. The athletic department was always on a sound financial footing under the guidance of Howard.

Later life and family

Howard retired from coaching on December 10, 1969, after 39 years on the Clemson coaching staff, 30 of which were as head coach. He was also athletic director during this time and he kept this position until February 4, 1971, when he was named assistant to the vice president at the university, the post he held when the mandatory retirement age of 65 rolled around.

An era at Clemson University ended June 30, 1974, when Frank Howard officially retired from the payroll. Another era ended January 26, 1996, when Howard died at the age of 86 and forever silenced a voice that had been synonymous with Clemson for nearly 65 years. He was the school's best known ambassador.

Although he retired from all official duties in 1974, he never quit coming to the office and he never stopped representing Clemson in a manner which continued to win friends for the place that was so dear to his heart.

Shortly after his retirement the Clemson Board of Trustees named the playing surface of Memorial Stadium as "Frank Howard Field" in honor of his long service to the university. It was only the third time that a building or installation had been named by the trustees for a living person. Over the years, Howard has been inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame and the Clemson Hall of Fame (charter member in both), as well as the Helms Athletic Hall of Fame and the State of Alabama Hall of Fame. On December 5, 1989 he joined an elite group in the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame. The ceremonies took place in the Waldorf-Astoria
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
The Waldorf-Astoria is a luxury hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings in New York City. The first, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the Empire State Building. The present building at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan is a...

 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. He joined former Clemson mentors John Heisman
John Heisman
John William Heisman was an American player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College , Buchtel College, now known as the University of Akron , Auburn University , Clemson University , Georgia Tech , the...

 and Jess Neely
Jess Neely
Jess C. Neely was an American football player and coach of football and baseball. He served as the head football coach at Southwestern University, now Rhodes College , Clemson University , and Rice University , compiling a career college football record of 207–176–19...

 in the membership.

Howard was also honored in December 1981, when he was inducted into the Orange Bowl Hall of Honor along with former Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, and Tommy McDonald, a former Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...

 star. In the summer of 1990 he was inducted into the Gator Bowl
Gator Bowl
The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. Held continuously since 1946, it is the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised nationally...

 Hall of Fame.

For over three decades Howard was in great demand both as a banquet speaker and a clinic lecturer. Few states escaped his homespun oratory, which brought the house down on many occasions.

After his retirement, Howard was active in other endeavors. He served as state chairman of the South Carolina Heart Fund drive, was roasted several times on behalf of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, and was active in selling the Kickoff Publication out of Knoxville, TN.

Howard kept his hands in football as he served as the chief recruiter for the Gray squad in the annual Blue-Gray game in Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...

. The Blue squad recruiter was Don Faurot
Don Faurot
Donald Burrows Faurot was an American football and basketball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, now Truman State University, from 1926 to 1934 and at the University of Missouri from 1935 to 1942 and again from 1946 to 1956...

, who opposed Howard in the 1949 Gator Bowl.

Howard has also been inducted into the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame in San Francisco, was an honorary member of the National Athletic Trainers Association, and is a member of the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. Clemson University has also honored Howard once more with the presentation of the Clemson Medallion, which is the highest public honor bestowed by the university to a living person who exemplifies the dedication and foresight of its founders. He was a charter member of Clemson's Ring of Honor at Memorial Stadium in 1994.

After coming to Clemson, Howard married the former Anna Tribble of Anderson, South Carolina
Anderson, South Carolina
Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, South Carolina, United States. The population was estimated at 26,242 in 2006, and the city was the center of an urbanized area of 70,530...

 (who died May 15, 1996) on August 23, 1933. They were the parents of a daughter, Alice (Mrs. Robert McClure of Gastonia, North Carolina
Gastonia, North Carolina
Gastonia is the largest city and county seat of Gaston County, North Carolina, United States. It is also the third largest suburb of the Charlotte Area, behind Concord and Rock Hill. The population was 71,226 as of Gastonia is the largest city and county seat of Gaston County, North Carolina,...

) and a son, Jimmy, of Pendleton. The Howards also had three grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Jimmy followed in his dad's footsteps as a football player, only at a different position. The son was regular fullback on the local high school (Daniel) team for three years and was a halfback-fullback for three years on the Clemson varsity. Jimmy gained over 1,400 yards his senior year in high school and scored over 100 points. He graduated from Clemson in June 1964 with honors, and earned his masters degree in horticulture from Clemson in 1967. Today he is district entomologist with the Plant Pest Regulatory Service at Clemson.

Football

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK