Frank Mount Pleasant

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Frank Mount Pleasant
Mount Pleasant pictured in Instano 1912, Indiana Normal yearbook
Sport(s)	Football, baseball, track and field
Biographical details
Born	1884 Tuscarora Reservation
Died	April 12, 1937 (aged 52–53) Buffalo, New York
Playing career
Football 1905–1907 1909	Carlisle Indian Dickinson
Position(s)	Quarterback, halfback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football 1910 1911–1913 1914 1915 Baseball 1911	Franklin & Marshall Indiana Normal West Virginia Wesleyan Buffalo Franklin & Marshall
Head coaching record
Overall	5–7–1 (baseball)
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse

Franklin P. Mount Pleasant (1884 – April 12, 1937) was an American football player, track and field athlete, and college athletics coach. He played college football at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and at Dickinson College and competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics.^[1] Mount Pleasant served as the head football coach at Franklin & Marshall College (1910), Indiana Normal School, now Indiana University of Pennsylvania, (1911–1913), West Virginia Wesleyan College (1914), and the University at Buffalo (1915).

Early life and athletic career

Separated from his parents, Chief John (aka Frank Senior) and Rachael, Mount Pleasant was sent to attend Indian Boarding Schools at a young age. He eventually attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School from 1905 to 1909, where he competed as both a long jumper on the track team and as a quarterback and halfback on the football team.^[2] The 1907 Carlisle Indian team, coached by Glenn Scobey Warner, went 10–1 with a 26–6 victory over perennial powerhouse, Harvard. The team's only loss of the season came against Princeton in a game in which Mount Pleasant did not play. Mount Pleasant's teammates included future Pro Football Hall of Famer, Jim Thorpe, and future College Football Hall of Fame inductee, Albert Exendine. Despite being a second-team All-American, Mount Pleasant never played professional football. It is said that Mount Pleasant invented the spiral pass.

During college, Mount Pleasant tried out for the Olympics and became the first Carlisle student to qualify making both the 1904 and 1908 U.S. Olympic track teams. At the 1908 Olympics in London, Mount Pleasant finished sixth in both the triple jump and the long jump competitions. This ended his track and field career, leaving him with career bests of 23 feet 2 ¹⁄₄ inches (7.068 meters) for the long jump and 45 feet 10 inches (13.97 meters) for the triple jump.

Coaching career

Upon his return home, Mount Pleasant became the first Native American to graduate from Dickinson College. For three years thereafter, he coached football at the Indiana Normal School. His last two teams won state championships.

Mt. Pleasant was the head coach for the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats football team located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He held that position for the 1910 season. His coaching record at Franklin & Marshall was 4 wins, 3 losses and 2 ties. As of the conclusion of the 2010 season, this ranks him #25 at Franklin & Marshall in total wins and #16 at the school in winning percentage (.556).^[3] In 1915, he coached the University of Buffalo football team to a 3 wins, 4 loss season.^[4] Mount Pleasant's coaching career was cut short by World War I, where he served his country as a first lieutenant.

Later life, death, and honors

After the war, Mount Pleasant settled in Buffalo, New York, near his ancestral home and worked odd jobs throughout the remainder of his life. He enjoyed playing the piano. His death is a mystery. In 1937, policemen found him unconscious on a Buffalo sidewalk. He died three days later at Emergency Hospital. Initial reports indicated that Mount Pleasant sustained a fractured skull, "possibly by violence."^[5] But Francis M. Kujawa, the Buffalo medical examiner, ultimately ruled the death the effects of an accidental fall.^[6]

Several Hall of Fames have inducted Mount Pleasant, including the Indiana Normal School, Dickinson College, and the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame (1973).^[7] Chapman University in Southern California named a library after Mount Pleasant.^[8]

References

↑ Sports Reference: Olympic Sports. Frank Mount Pleasant.
↑ Sally Jenkins. The Team That Invented Football. Sports Illustrated April 19, 2007.
↑ DeLassus, David. "Franklin & Marshall Coaching Records". College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
↑ "1915 Buffalo Football," University at Buffalo Digital Collections - May 29, 2013.
↑ AP (April 13, 1937). "Indian Gridiron Star Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved February 8, 2011.
↑ "Mt. Pleasant Death Is Ascribed To Fall.," Lockport (N.Y.) Union-Sun and Journal - April 14, 1937.
↑ American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame.
↑ Chapman University: "Culture of the Haudenosaunee" Colloquium April 13, 2007

External links

Franklin & Marshall Diplomats head football coaches

Miles O. Noll (1887)
W. M. Irvin (1889)
W. D. Irvine (1890)
B. Griffith (1891–1892)
N. H. Skyles (1893)
G. M. Hartman (1894)
W. W. Reese (1895)
Alfred E. Bull (1896–1897)
M. Delmar Ritchie (1898)
Harry Shindle Wingert (1899)
John H. Outland (1900)
John C. Hedges (1901)
John Chalmers (1902)
D. R. Brown (1903)
W. P. Bates (1904–1905)
Samuel L. Moyer (1906)
Vere Triechler (1907)
Jack Hollenback (1908–1909)
Frank Mount Pleasant (1910)
Dexter W. Draper (1911–1912)
Charles Mayser (1913–1914)
John Reed (1915)
O. Webster Saylor (1916)
Arthur S. Herman (1917)
Harry D. Weller (1918)
Byron W. Dickson (1919)
John B. Price (1920–1923)
Ken Shroyer (1924–1925)
Charles Mayser (1926–1927)
Jonathan K. Miller (1928–1930)
Alan M. Holman (1931–1941)
Richard W. Barker (1942–1943)
Charles R. Soleau (1944–1945)
Charles Mayser (1946–1947)
S. Woodrow Sponaugle (1948–1962)
George H. Storck (1963–1967)
David Pooley (1968–1970)
Robert Curtis (1971–1974)
Tom Gilburg (1975–2002)
Shawn Halloran (2003–2005)
John Troxell (2006– )

v t e IUP Indians / Crimson Hawks head football coaches

Frank Mount Pleasant (1911–1913) George Miller (1927–1947) Peck McKnight (1947–1948) Sam Smith (1949–1961) Chuck Mills (1962–1963) Chuck Klausing (1964–1969) Bill Neal (1970–1978) Owen Dougherty (1979–1981) George Chaump (1982–1985) Frank Cignetti, Sr. (1986–2005) Lou Tepper (2006–2010) Curt Cignetti (2011– )

West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats head football coaches

Henry White (1898)
No team (1899)
No coach (1900–1901)
Edward Kenna (1902)
Bull Smith (1903)
Homer Roy Waugh (1904–1906)
Paul Martin (1907)
O. Kerr Price (1908–1909)
Howard Edwards (1910–1911)
John Felton & Mont McIntire (1912–1913)
Frank Mount Pleasant (1914)
William Garlow (1915)
Greasy Neale (1916–1917)
Don Drumm (1919)
Bob Higgins (1920)
John Felton (1921)
Bob Higgins (1922–1924)
Cecil B. Ross (1925–1941)
No team (1942–1945)
Cecil B. Ross (1946–1950)
No team (1951–1952)
David E. Reemsnyder (1953–1957)
Samuel Ross (1958–1961)
William Pugh (1962–1968)
Ralph Bouch (1969–1972)
Kent Carpenter (1973–1982)
Bill Struble (1983–2008)
Dennis Creehan (2009–2010)
Jonas Jackson (2011– )

Buffalo Bulls head football coaches

No coach (1894–1896)
C. W. Dibble (1897)
No coach (1898–1902)
Ray Turnbull (1903)
No team (1904–1914)
Frank Mount Pleasant (1915)
Art Powell (1916–1921)
Dim Batterson (1922)
James Bond (1923)
Russell Carrick (1924–1928)
Jay Lee (1929–1930)
William Pritchard (1931)
James B. Wilson (1932–1933)
George Van Bibber (1934–1935)
Jim Peelle (1936–1942)
No team (1943–1945)
Jim Peelle (1946–1947)
Frank Clair (1948–1949)
James B. Wilson (1950–1951)
Fritz Febel (1952–1954)
Dick Offenhamer (1955–1965)
Doc Urich (1966–1968)
Bob Deming (1969–1970)
No team (1971–1976)
Bill Dando (1977–1989)
Sam Sanders (1990–1991)
Jim Ward (1992–1994)
Craig Cirbus (1995–2000)
Jim Hofher (2001–2005)
Turner Gill (2006–2009)
Jeff Quinn (2010– )

Persondata
Name	Mount Pleasant, Frank
Alternative names	Mount Pleasant, Franklin P.; Mt. Pleasant, Frank
Short description	American football player, track and field athlete, college athletics coach
Date of birth	1884
Place of birth	Tuscarora Reservation
Date of death	April 12, 1937
Place of death	Buffalo, New York

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