 Arnold Horween (right) with his brotherRalph (left) as members of theHarvard Crimson football team, circa 1919. | |
| Profile | |
|---|---|
| Positions | Fullback,halfback,quarterback |
| Personal information | |
| Born | (1898-07-07)July 7, 1898 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | August 5, 1985(1985-08-05) (aged 87) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Height | 5 ft 11.5 in (1.82 m) |
| Weight | 206 lb (93 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Francis W. Parker |
| College | Harvard |
| Career history | |
Playing | |
| 1921 | Racine Cardinals |
| 1921–1924 | Chicago Cardinals |
Coaching | |
| 1923–1924 | Chicago Cardinals |
| 1926–1930 | Harvard |
| Awards and highlights | |
| |
| Coaching profile at Pro Football Reference | |
Stats atPro Football Reference  | |
| Other information | |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  U.S. Navy |
| Years of service | 1917–19 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant |
| Battles / wars | World War I |
Arnold Horween (originallyArnold Horwitz; also known asA. McMahon; July 7, 1898 – August 5, 1985) was an Americanfootball player and coach. He played and coached bothcollegiately forHarvard University and professionally in theNational Football League (NFL).
Horween played lefthalfback, right halfback,fullback, andcenter for the unbeatenHarvard Crimson football teams of 1919, which won the1920 Rose Bowl, and 1920. He was voted anAll-American.
Horween also played four seasons in the NFL, as a fullback, halfback, andblocking back (quarterback) for theRacine Cardinals and theChicago Cardinals. He was a player-coach for the Cardinals. Later, he was Harvard's head football coach, from 1925 to 1930.
His brotherRalph Horween was also an All-American football player for Harvard, and also played and coached in the NFL for the Cardinals. They were the last Jewish brothers to play in the NFL untilGeoff Schwartz andMitchell Schwartz, in the 2000s. After retiring from football, Horween and his brother inherited and ran the family leather tannery business,Horween Leather Company.
Horween's parents, Isidore and Rose (Rabinoff), immigrated to Chicago fromUkraine in theRussian Empire in 1892.[1][2][3] During his youth the family changed its name to Horween from its original name, which was either Horwitz or Horowitz.[4][5][6][7]
Horween was Jewish, and was born in Chicago, Illinois.[7][8][9][10][11][12] He was the brother ofRalph Horween, who was two years older.[13] They were the last Jewish brothers to play in the NFL untiloffensive tacklesGeoff Schwartz andMitchell Schwartz in the 2000s.[14][15]
He played high school football atcenter andfullback for four years atFrancis W. Parker School. He was captain of the football team in his senior year.[9]
Horween was 5 ft 11.5 in (1.816 m), and weighed 206 pounds (93 kg).[8][16] In 1928, he married Marion Eisendrath, daughter of leather tycoon William Eisendrath.[17]
Horween followed his older brother toHarvard University, where they played together on theHarvard Crimson football team, in 1916.[13] In his freshman year, he played both football (as a fullback) and baseball (as a pitcher), and was a member of the track team as ashotputter.[8][9][13]
The next year, he enlisted in theUnited States Navy during World War I, in April 1917.[13][18][19] He was promoted toensign in October 1917, eventually reaching the rank oflieutenant. He served on adestroyer in the Atlantic and was discharged in 1919, when he returned to Harvard.[13]
Horween played left halfback, right halfback, fullback, and center for the Harvard Crimson, and was a First-teamAll-American, from 1919 to 1920.[9][11][12][20] In both 1919 and 1920 Harvard was undefeated (9–0–1 and 8–0–1, respectively).[12][21] In 1919, Donald Grant Herring ranked him the Second-team fullback on the Princeton-Yale-Harvard composite team.[22]
Horween was unanimously elected the Harvard Crimson's first Jewish captain in 1920.[8][9][10][11][12] That year, he kicked a 42-yard (38 m) field goal againstYale in a 9–0 victory, and a 37-yard (34 m) field goal against theCentre Colonels.[13] He was part of the unbeaten 1919 team that won the1920 Rose Bowl against theOregon, 7–6, as he kicked theextra point that decided the game, and Harvard relied in part on his running game.[21][23][24] It remains the onlybowl game appearance in Harvard history.[25]
TheNew York Times wrote: "The way he smashed through the line was considerable... there were even some protests that this dark-haired, sturdily built Crimson fullback was a little too rough."[21]
In 1920 he was chosenWalter Camp third-team All-American and selected by a number of newspapers to the All-America first-team.[21] He graduated from Harvard in 1921.[26]
Horween played fullback, tailback, and blocking back (quarterback) in theNational Football League for four years, in 32 games, for theRacine Cardinals (in theAmerican Professional Football Association, the predecessor to the NFL) in 1921 and theChicago Cardinals (as the Cardinals changed their name) from 1922 to 1924.[16][21][27] He was a player–coach for the Cardinals from 1923 to 1924.[21]
In 1922–23, Horween appeared in all 11 games and scored 4 rushingtouchdowns as the Cardinals were 8–3–0. In 1923–24, the team was 8–4–0.[21] On October 7, 1923, he and his brother both scored in the same game, as he kicked two extra points and his brother ran for a touchdown as the Cardinals beat theRochester Jeffersons 60–0 atNormal Park in Chicago.[28] On November 12, 1922, he made a long pass toPaddy Driscoll for the game's only touchdown, in a 7–0 victory over theAkron Pros.[29] On December 2, 1923, he kicked a 35-yard (32 m) field goal and his brother ran for a touchdown as the Cardinals beat theOorang Indians, 22–19.[28]
His brotherRalph Horween also played for the Chicago Cardinals. Horween and his brother played for the Cardinals under the alias McMahon (he played as A. McMahon) to protect their family's social status.[5][7][29] He kept that name until 1923.[7][29]
Horween returned to Harvard as the school's head football coach from 1925 to 1930, compiling a record of 21–17–3.[7] TheNew York Sun reported:
The boys are for him unreservedly. It is no, secret, however, that Horween's appointment didn't please theBeacon Street–Park Avenue element among the grads. The clique that supported the old regime would prefer to see aCabot or a Wendell, we use the names as symbols, in the saddle...[21]
Charlie Devens, who later played baseball for the New York Yankees, played football under Horween at Harvard. He recalled thatanti-Semitic posters aimed at Coach Horween were displayed at a game inAnn Arbor, Michigan.[30]
Horween married Marion Eisendrath in November 1928. The couple had a long engagement, as they had agreed to postpone the wedding until the Harvard football team defeated Yale. The requisite victory took place on Saturday, November 24, and the wedding on the following Thursday.[31] He resigned following the 1930 season.[21]
After retiring from football, Horween returned to Chicago in 1930, and he and his brother inherited the family leather tannery business,Horween Leather Company, which had been founded by their father in Chicago in 1905.[32][33] He operated the business, a successful company that supplied (and still supplies) the leather for Wilson's NFL official football, from 1949 to 1984.[3][16][25][33][34][35][36]
In 1945, he coached the football team of his former high school, Francis Parker.[37]
In 1952, he was vice president of theChicago Symphony Orchestra.[38] He also served as a trustee of the Chicago Symphony, and on the Harvard University board of overseers.[16]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvard Crimson(Independent)(1926–1930) | |||||||||
| 1926 | Harvard | 3–5 | |||||||
| 1927 | Harvard | 4–4 | |||||||
| 1928 | Harvard | 5–2–1 | |||||||
| 1929 | Harvard | 5–2–1 | |||||||
| 1930 | Harvard | 3–4–1 | |||||||
| Harvard: | 20–17–3 | ||||||||
| Total: | 20–17–3 | ||||||||
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Media related toArnold Horween at Wikimedia Commons