 | |
| Yale Bulldogs | |
|---|---|
| Position | Halfback |
| Class | Graduate |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | (1870-03-26)March 26, 1870 Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died: | December 19, 1914(1914-12-19) (aged 44) London, England |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Weight | 165 lb (75 kg) |
| Career history | |
| College |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| College Football Hall of Fame(1963) | |
| 22nd Treasurer of the United States | |
| In office November 1, 1909 – November 21, 1912 | |
| President | William Howard Taft |
| Preceded by | Charles H. Treat |
| Succeeded by | Carmi A. Thompson |
Thomas Lee "Bum"McClung (March 26, 1870 – December 19, 1914) was an Americancollege football player and coach who later served as the 22ndTreasurer of the United States.
McClung was born inKnoxville, Tennessee. His father was Frank H. McClung, a merchant, and he was related toAlbert Sidney Johnston andJohn Marshall. McClung graduated fromPhillips Exeter Academy.
He continued his education atYale University, where he was a member of theYale Bulldogs football team. McClung, who was always known as Lee from his college days onward, was perhaps the best-known football player in the country while playing for the Yale Bulldogs. He is thought to have designed thecutback play. In his athletic prime, he stood 5'10", weighed between 165 and 180 lbs., was on the varsitybaseball team, and played in every football season from1888 to1891 on teams that compiled a 54–2 record and a 2,269–49 point total.[n 1] McClung by himself was credited with scoring 176 points in1889 and 494 in his career. He was captain of the unscored-upon Yale football team of 1891 (13–0 record, 488–0 point record), graduating the following year with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He never left a game during injury, despite football being considerably rougher at the time. On November 21, 1891, his famous team of elevendefeatedHarvard 10–0, avenging their hard-fought loss of the year before. He played his last college game againstPrinceton five days later, onThanksgiving, with the very same eleven Yale players defeating the Tigers 19–0.
He was also a class leader, received the largest number of votes as its most popular member in his senior year, and was a member of theSkull and Bones secret society.[1] He was chairman of his class's Junior Promenade Committee.
McClung returned to New Haven in the fall for many years to assist in coaching. His reputation was long-lasting on the gridiron, and in 1941, evenTime magazine was still referring to "a turtlenecked Yale man of the Bum McClung era."[2] He was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1963.
McClung spent the year after graduation traveling in Europe and California, where he became the second coach at theUniversity of California. He then entered the service of theSt. Paul & Duluth Railroad Company atSt. Paul, Minnesota. In 1899 he joined theSouthern Railway Company and remained with it until 1901, when he became assistant to the second vice president of the company. McClung became assistant freight traffic manager of the company in 1902, and retained this position until 1904, when he was appointed treasurer of Yale University, assuming that office on December 15, 1904. While in this position, he drew fire for writing satirically about the sale of the defunctIngham University, having called it "a defunct college that we should be very pleased to sell on very low terms to any one making due application... If it may prove an incentive to the consummation of the deal I should be very much pleased to throw in a cemetery which is located on the grounds."[3] He also modernized treasury and accounting methods at the university.
On September 23, 1909, PresidentWilliam Howard Taft appointed McClung, a SouthernRepublican, as Treasurer of the United States. He took office on November 1 of that year. He was paid$8,000 annually. On January 8, 1910, he handed his predecessor a check for $1,260,134,946.88 ⅔, an acknowledgment of the money and securities in the department as of the day McClung took office; it took a little over two months to count all the assets, as is customary when a Treasurer departs. This was said to have been the largest financial transaction from man to man in world history at the time.[4] During his time in office, he urged that worn, dirty banknotes be withdrawn at a higher rate in order to establish a sanitary currency.[5] McClung served until his resignation of November 14, 1912 became effective a week later. He resigned his post because of a dispute in theTreasury Department, a so-called "mutiny" led byA. Piatt Andrew, then Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, who had troubles with SecretaryFranklin MacVeagh which involved McClung. Andrew, who resigned on July 3 of that year, criticized MacVeagh's lax business methods and poor administrative skills, naming several Treasury officials as agreeing with him, including McClung. MacVeagh asked McClung to repudiate Andrew's statement concerning him, but he refused, and relations between them became strained. However, President Taft called a truce at the Treasury until after theelection that year, with McClung announcing his resignation nine days after Taft's decisive defeat.[6]
After McClung left office, his successor,Carmi A. Thompson, gave him an even bigger check on December 4, 1912, amounting to $1,519,285,908.57 ⅔.[7] The day before, he had made a speech in Pittsburgh claiming that "It is physically possible to steal $100,000,000 from the Treasury of the United States."[8]
McClung was a director of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company ofHartford, Connecticut, a director of theMarion Institute of Alabama, a national councilman of theBoy Scouts of America, and treasurer of the American Association for Highway Improvement. He was a member of the Metropolitan, Riding, and Chevy Chase Clubs ofWashington, the University Club ofNew York City, and the Graduates and New Haven Lawn Clubs of New Haven. He was also elected president of the Yale Alumni Association of Washington on December 22, 1910. McClung never married. He had two brothers who went to Yale.
McClung died in a private hospital inLondon after a three-months' illness oftyphoid fever contracted atFrankfurt.[9] His brother C. M. was with him when he died. His body was returned to the United States on board the steamerSt. Paul, which left Liverpool on December 26, 1914. His funeral service took place atSt. Thomas Episcopal Church, New York on January 4, 1915; he was buried in Knoxville'sOld Gray Cemetery two days later following additional services at his sister's home.
One of his obituaries reminisced: "Ah! A remarkable athlete, a wonderful football player, a lovable classmate, a diligent student, a manly man–a type Yale men idealize for emulation. Such was Lee McClung."[10]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California Golden Bears(Independent)(1892) | |||||||||
| 1892 | California | 2–1–1 | |||||||
| California: | 2–1–1 | ||||||||
| Total: | 2–1–1 | ||||||||
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| International | |
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| Other | |
