Sam Francis (American football)
![]() | |||||||||||||||||
No. 38, 50, 10 | |||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Position: | Halfback, fullback | ||||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
Born: | Dunbar, Nebraska, U.S. | October 26, 1913||||||||||||||||
Died: | April 23, 2002 Springfield, Missouri, U.S. | (aged 88)||||||||||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||||||
Weight: | 207 lb (94 kg) | ||||||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||||||
High school: | Decatur County HS (Oberlin, Kansas) | ||||||||||||||||
College: | Nebraska | ||||||||||||||||
NFL draft: | 1937 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||||||
As a player: | |||||||||||||||||
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||||||||
As a coach: | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Head coaching record | |||||||||||||||||
Regular season: | 0–10 (.000) | ||||||||||||||||
Military career | |||||||||||||||||
Allegiance | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||
Service/ | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||
Rank | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||
Player stats at PFR | |||||||||||||||||
Harrison Samuel Francis (October 26, 1913 – April 23, 2002) was an American football player and coach, Olympic shot putter, and Army officer.
Biography
[edit]Francis was born in Dunbar, Nebraska, and graduated from high school in Oberlin, Kansas.
He played college football at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where, in 1936, he was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.[1] Francis was also an exceptional athlete in track and field and placed fourth in the shot put at the 1936 Summer Olympics.[2]
Francis was the first overall selection in the 1937 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles.[3] His rights were traded to the Chicago Bears in exchange for Bill Hewitt and $4,000 in cash on February 15, 1937.[4] He played in the NFL for four years with the Bears, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Brooklyn Dodgers before leaving to get a master's degree at the University of Iowa and serve in the Army during World War II.
After gaining experience serving as head coach for the football team at Camp Lee during World War II, Francis was hired as the head football coach at Kansas State University for the 1947 season. Francis coached at Kansas State for one year, compiling a record of 0–10.
Francis remained in the Army, serving in Korea and Vietnam, and held the rank of lieutenant colonel upon retirement. He is buried in Springfield National Cemetery.
Coaching career
[edit]Francis served as the 21st head football coach at Kansas State University, helming the team for the 1947 season. He is the only Kansas State football coach to lose every game that he coached. The program's first coach, Ira Pratt, was winless in his one season in 1896, but tallied one tie for a record of 0–1–1. Francis' 1947 Kansas State squad was outscored 283 to 71, and was shut out on three occasions. Their closest contest was a two-point loss to New Mexico at home, and their most lopsided defeat was a 55–0 rout by rival Kansas.[5]
Head coaching record
[edit]Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kansas State Wildcats (Big Six Conference) (1945) | |||||||||
1947 | Kansas State | 0–10 | 0–5 | 6th | |||||
Kansas State: | 0–10 | 0–5 | |||||||
Total: | 0–10 |
Athletic honors
[edit]Francis was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.
References
[edit]- ^ College Football Hall of Fame Inductees
- ^ "2002 Notable Sports Deaths". CNN.
- ^ "1937 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
- ^ Lyons, 2010, p. 70.
- ^ DeLassus, David. "Kansas State Coaching Records game-by-game (1947)". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on May 25, 2011. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
Sources
[edit]- Lyons, Robert S. (2010). On Any Given Sunday, A Life of Bert Bell. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-59213-731-2
External links
[edit]- Nebraska profile
- Sam Francis at the College Football Hall of Fame
- Career statistics and player information from NFL.com · Pro Football Reference
- 1913 births
- 2002 deaths
- All-American college football players
- American football fullbacks
- American football halfbacks
- American male shot putters
- Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) players
- Chicago Bears players
- Kansas State Wildcats football coaches
- Nebraska Cornhuskers football players
- Nebraska Cornhuskers men's track and field athletes
- Pittsburgh Pirates (football) players
- College Football Hall of Fame inductees
- First overall NFL draft picks
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics
- Olympic track and field athletes for the United States
- United States Army officers
- United States Army personnel of the Korean War
- United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War
- United States Army personnel of World War II
- People from Oberlin, Kansas
- People from Otoe County, Nebraska
- Coaches of American football from Kansas
- Players of American football from Kansas
- Track and field athletes from Kansas
- NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners