Уилбур "Пит" Генри: Легенда американского футбола

American football player (1897–1952)

Wilbur Francis "Pete" Henry (October 31, 1897 – February 7, 1952) was an American football player, coach, and athletic administrator. He was a charter inductee into both the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963. A native of Mansfield, Ohio, Henry attended Washington & Jefferson College where he played at the tackle position from 1915 to 1919. He was selected as a consensus All American in 1918 and again in 1919. He next played professional football in the National Football League (NFL) for the Canton Bulldogs (1920–1923, 1925–1926), New York Giants (1927), and Pottsville Maroons (1927–1928). He helped lead Canton to consecutive NFL championships in 1922 and 1923 and was selected as a first team All Pro four consecutive years from 1920 to 1923. He also served as head coach with Canton in 1926 and with Pottsville in 1928. In 1929, Henry returned to Washington & Jefferson as an assistant football coach. He became athletic director in 1932 and held that position until his death in 1952. He was also the head coach of the Washington & Jefferson football team in 1942 and 1945.

Henry was born in 1897 in Mansfield, Ohio. He was the only child of Ulysses Sherman Henry (1865 1938), an Ohio native who worked for 32 years as a guard in a reformatory, and Bertha Frank Henry, an immigrant from Germany. Henry attended Mansfield Senior High School where he played football both as a lineman and fullback from 1911 to 1914. As the team captain and starting fullback in 1914, Henry was effective as a lead blocker and passer out of a single wing offense and led the team to an 8 1 record. That year, he also returned a fumble 50 yards for a touchdown and scored three touchdowns in one game. During Henry's time with Washington & Jefferson, the football team compiled a 31–10–1 record. Washington & Jefferson head coach Bob Folwell switched Henry in 1915 from a fullback to a tackle, the position he played for his entire college and professional career. The 1915 Washington & Jefferson football team compiled an 8–1–1 record, defeated Yale (which had won the national championship as recently as 1909) by a 17–0 score, and outscored all opponents, 219–45. Henry became known as one of the best punt blockers in the game while playing for Washington & Jefferson. Henry was recognized by the Frank Menke Syndicate as a first term All American at tackle in 1917. In both 1918 and 1919, he was recognized as a consensus first team All American. In 1919, Pitt argued that Henry was ineligible to play a fifth year. In 1920, Pop Warner, who had coached against Henry at Pitt, selected Henry as one of the two tackles on his greatest collegiate eleven of all time and said: "Henry was the fastest and most aggressive big man I ever saw." Henry also played basketball for W&J and competed in weights events for the Washington & Jefferson track team.

Upon graduating from college in 1920, Henry was 5 feet, 11 inches and weighed 235 pounds, but was "considered a fast man, able to do the hundred in close to 11 seconds." He signed with Canton in September 1920, saying he wished to play with Jim Thorpe. In 1921, Henry again played every game for the Bulldogs team that compiled an 8–3–3 record. Henry was selected as a first team All Pro team compiled by the Buffalo Evening News. In 1922, Guy Chamberlin joined the Canton team as player, coach, and part owner and built the Bulldogs into one of the NFL's first powerhouse teams. The 1922 Bulldogs team included Pro Football Hall of Famers (Henry, Chamberlin, and Link Lyman), compiled a 10–0–2 record, shut out nine of twelve opponents, outscored all opponents 184–15, and won the 1922 NFL championship. The following year, the 1923 Canton Bulldogs with Henry and Chamberlin compiled another undefeated season (11–0–1), shut out eight of twelve opponents, outscored all opponents by a combined total of 246–19, and won its second consecutive NFL championship. Henry led the 1923 team with 58 points on nine field goals, 25 extra points, and a touchdown reception. At the end of the 1923 season, Henry was selected by Collyer's Eye magazine, the Green Bay Press Gazette, and the Canton Daily News as a first team player on the 1923 All Pro Team.

In August 1924, Cleveland jeweler Samuel Deutsch bought the Canton Bulldogs and moved the team to Cleveland where they became the Cleveland Bulldogs during the 1924 NFL season. Henry did not join the Bulldogs in Cleveland, instead playing for the 1924 Pottsville Maroons of the Anthracite League. (Pottsville in the 1920s was a city with a population of approximately 22,000 located 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia.) Henry led Pottsville to a 12–1–1 record and the Anthracite League championship and was named to the All Anthracite team at the end of the 1924 season.

In January 1925, Henry was reinstated to good standing with the NFL, having been subjected to sanctions the previous year when he refused to join the Bulldogs when the team moved to Cleveland. In the summer of 1925, Henry and four other Canton alumni (Link Lyman, Rudy Comstock, Ben Jones, and Harry Robb) bought the Cleveland Bulldogs for $3,500 and moved the team back to Canton. Henry appeared in only six games for the 1925 Canton team, missing much of the season due to injury. The following year, he appeared in all 13 games and served as co head coach with Harry Robb of the 1926 Canton team that compiled a 1–9–3 record.

Before the 1927 season, the NFL dropped 12 teams, including Canton. In September 1927, Henry signed to play with the New York Giants. He appeared in only four games for the Giants. He remained with Pottsville through the 1928 season.

In June 1929, Henry was hired by his alma mater W&J as an advisory coach to the football team and head coach of the basketball and track teams. In the fall of 1929, Henry also coached W&J's freshman football team. He was promoted in July 1930 to assistant coach for W&J's varsity football team. Henry became the school's athletic director in April 1932 while retaining his duties as line coach for the football team. When Stu Holcomb resigned as W&J's head football coach in early 1942, Henry added the responsibility to his duties as athletic director. W&J President Ralph Cooper Hutchinson said at the time: "At this time, when football, along with other college activities, faces a crisis due to war conditions, the college has turned to Director Henry to serve in the emergency." W&J withdrew from intercollegiate for the 1943 and 1944 seasons due to wartime conditions. When football resumed in 1945, Henry again served as the team's head coach. In January 1946, Henry stepped down as head coach with the hiring of Henry Leucht to take over those responsibilities. Henry continued to serve as W&J's athletic director until his death in 1952.

Henry was married in September 1927 to Marie M. Floding of Canton, Ohio. He met his wife after he was hospitalized with a football injury, and she was assigned as his nurse. He died in 1952 at age 54 at his home in Washington, Pennsylvania. The cause of death was sepsis due to gangrene in his left foot and diabetes mellitus. He was buried at Mansfield Cemetery in Mansfield, Ohio. Henry was eulogized in Washington & Jefferson's college newspaper, the Red & Black, as "capturing the very spirit of Wash Jeff and, for many people was the College."