Jack Forsythe

James Adger "Jack" Forsythe Jr. (August 4, 1882 – April 3, 1957),[1] nicknamed "Pee Wee" Forsythe, was an American college football player and coach. Forsythe has an important place in the history of college athletics in the U.S. state of Florida as the first head coach of the team now known as the University of Florida Gators. He had previously been the last football coach at Florida State College, now Florida State University, before it was reorganized as a school for women.

Jack Forsythe
Forsythe cropped from Florida's 1907 team picture
Biographical details
Born(1882-08-04)August 4, 1882
Brevard, North Carolina
DiedApril 3, 1957(1957-04-03) (aged 74)
Charlotte, North Carolina
Playing career
1901–1903Clemson
1904Florida State College
1906–1908Florida
Position(s)Guard, fullback, end
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1904Florida State College
1906–1908Florida
Head coaching record
Overall14–6–2

Early years

Forsythe was born in Brevard, North Carolina. He claimed to have been at the first instance of the "Big Thursday" Clemson–South Carolina rivalry in Columbia, South Carolina in 1896.[2]

College playing career

Forsythe was a standout football player at right guard for Clemson Agricultural College (now Clemson University) in Clemson, South Carolina, playing for three years under coach John Heisman, from 1901 to 1903.[3][4] Heisman's Clemson Tigers football teams finished 3–1–1, 6–1 and 4–1–1 during those seasons,[5] claiming southern championships in the latter two, and Forsythe started in each of those games.[3] Moreover, he played every minute of those eighteen games, providing a remarkable example of athletic stamina and resilience.[6] As was typical in the early 1900s, Forsythe played both offense and defense. Teammates on the line included Vet Sitton, Hope Sadler, and O. L. Derrick.

Coaching career

Forsythe became an assistant coach for the fledgling football team of Florida State College (now Florida State University) in 1903.[7] Florida State College's head coach, W. W. Hughes, planned to use Forsythe as a fullback in a game against the University of Florida in Lake City (one of the predecessor institutions of the modern University of Florida, previously known as Florida Agricultural College), creating a controversy between the teams.[8] For the 1904 season, the third and last for FSC's football team, Hughes transferred all coaching duties to Forsythe. The reason for this is unknown, but Hughes, who was also a Latin professor, may have taken on increased academic duties.[7] Forsythe played on top of his coaching duties, and was probably paid.[7] Under Forsythe, the FSC football team defeated the University of Florida at Lake City, and after defeating Stetson College (now Stetson University), FSC was declared "champion of Florida" by The Florida Times-Union newspaper of Jacksonville.[7]

In 1905 the Florida Legislature passed the Buckman Act, which reorganized higher education in Florida. The University of Florida in Lake City was merged with three other institutions to form the new "University of the State of Florida", a school for men in Gainesville. Florida State College became the Florida Female College, a school for women, and a number of its former male students transferred to the new men's university.[9] With the ending of FSC's football program, Forsythe coached the University School for Boys prep team in Stone Mountain, Georgia for a year.[10]

The University of the State of Florida opened in Gainesville in 1906, and in May, Forsythe was hired to be the school's first football coach and director of athletics.[10][11] Forsythe coached at Florida for three seasons from 1906 to 1908, and he compiled a 14–6–2 overall win-loss record.[12][13] As measured by his winning percentage (.682), he is currently the eighth winningest football coach in team history.[13][14] In addition to his coaching duties for which he was paid $500, Forsythe also played on the team as a fullback and was purportedly paid an additional $500.[15] Forsythe's most successful season at Florida came in 1907, when the Orange and Blue posted a 4–1–1 record behind star back William Shands, who later was elected as a state senator and helped found the University of Florida College of Medicine.[16]

Head coaching record
Year Team Overall ConferenceStanding Bowl/playoffs
Florida State College (Independent) (1904)
1904 Florida State College 2–3
Florida State College: 2–3
Florida[17] (Independent) (1906–1908)
1906 Florida 5–3
1907 Florida 4–1–1
1908 Florida 5–2–1
Florida: 14–6–2[12]
Total:16–9–2

See also

References
  1. Certificate of Death, North Carolina Board of Health (April 4, 1957). Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  2. J. A. Forsythe (October 19, 1906). "The Game Of Foot-Ball". The University News. p. 7. Retrieved March 11, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. Clemson Tigers Football, All-Time Starters, 1896–1905. Retrieved March 23, 2010.
  4. 2008 Clemson Football Media Guide, Former Head Coaches, Clemson Athletic Department, Clemson, South Carolina, p. 170 (2008). Retrieved September 10, 2010.
  5. College Football Data Warehouse, All-Time Records, John W. Heisman Records by Year. Retrieved March 23, 2010.
  6. Wiley Lee Umphlett, Creating the Big Game: John W. Heisman and the Invention of American Football, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, p. 67 (1992).
  7. Ric A. Kabat, "Before the Seminoles: Football at Florida State College, 1902–1904," Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. LXX, no. 1, p. 35 (July 1991).
  8. Kabat, "Before the Seminoles," p. 34.
  9. Kabat, "Before the Seminoles," p. 37.
  10. ""Coaching Job For Forsythe; He Will Have Charge of All Athletics at Florida". Atlanta Constitution. May 24, 1906. p. 9. Retrieved March 11, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Florida Agricultural College in Lake City, Florida and the East Florida Seminary in Ocala were two of the four predecessor institutions of the modern University of Florida, and both fielded football teams as early as 1899. Although the modern University of Florida traces its lineage to these college, it does not recognize the football games played by its predecessor schools as part of its football record. Forsythe's 1906 team is the first one officially recognized by UF. Kevin M. McCarthy, Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football, Arcadia Publishing, pp. 1–12 (2000).
  12. College Football Data Warehouse, All-Time Coaching Records, Jack Forsythe Archived 2011-09-26 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
  13. 2012 Florida Football Media Guide Archived 2013-05-27 at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 107, 115, 116 (2012). Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  14. College Football Data Warehouse, Florida Coaching Records Archived 2015-09-05 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
  15. Antonya English, "100 things about 100 years of Gator football," St. Petersburg Times (August 27, 2006). Retrieved March 1, 2010.
  16. McCarthy, Fightin' Gators, p. 13.
  17. The University of Florida football team did not adopt the "Gators" nickname until 1911.

Bibliography
  • 2012 Florida Football Media Guide, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida (2012).
  • Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). ISBN 0-7948-2298-3.
  • Golenbock, Peter, Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory, Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). ISBN 0-9650782-1-3.
  • Kabat, Ric A., "Before the Seminoles: Football at Florida State College, 1902–1904," Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. LXX, no. 1 (July 1991).
  • McCarthy, Kevin M., Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football, Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). ISBN 978-0-7385-0559-6.
  • McEwen, Tom, The Gators: A Story of Florida Football, The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama (1974). ISBN 0-87397-025-X.
  • Nash, Noel, ed., The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football, Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). ISBN 1-57167-196-X.
  • Proctor, Samuel, & Wright Langley, Gator History: A Pictorial History of the University of Florida, South Star Publishing Company, Gainesville, Florida (1986). ISBN 0-938637-00-2.
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