Tuss McLaughry | |
Birth Date: | 19 May 1893 |
Birth Place: | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
Death Place: | Norwich, Vermont, U.S. |
Player Sport1: | Football |
Player Years2: | 1912–1914 |
Player Team2: | Westminster (PA) |
Player Years3: | ? |
Player Team3: | Massillon Tigers |
Player Positions: | Tackle |
Coach Sport1: | Football |
Coach Years2: | 1915–1916 |
Coach Team2: | Westminster (PA) |
Coach Years3: | 1918 |
Coach Team3: | Westminster (PA) |
Coach Years4: | 1921 |
Coach Team4: | Westminster (PA) |
Coach Years5: | 1922–1925 |
Coach Team5: | Amherst |
Coach Years6: | 1926–1940 |
Coach Team6: | Brown |
Coach Years7: | 1941–1942 |
Coach Team7: | Dartmouth |
Coach Years8: | 1945–1954 |
Coach Team8: | Dartmouth |
Coach Sport9: | Basketball |
Coach Years10: | 1921–1922 |
Coach Team10: | Westminster (PA) |
Coach Years11: | 1922–1926 |
Coach Team11: | Amherst |
Coach Years12: | 1926–1929 |
Coach Team12: | Brown |
Overall Record: | 143–149–13 (football) 17–32 (basketball) |
Awards: | Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (1951) |
Cfbhof Year: | 1962 |
Cfbhof Id: | 1597 |
DeOrmond "Tuss" McLaughry (May 19, 1893 – November 26, 1974) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania (1915–1916, 1918, 1921), Amherst College (1922–1925), Brown University (1926–1940), and Dartmouth College (1941–1942, 1945–1954), compiling a career college football record of 143–149–13. McLaughry was also the head basketball coach at Brown from 1926 to 1929, tallying a mark of 17–32. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as coach in 1962. Of all coaches inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, McLaughry is the only one with a winning percentage under .500.
Born on May 19, 1893, in Chicago, McLaughry was the son of James Alexander McLaughry Sr. (1860–1942) and his wife, Mary Graham McLaughry (1874–1952). He had at least seven siblings. He grew up in Sharon, Pennsylvania and attended Michigan State University for a year before transferring to Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania.
McLaughry's coaching career at Dartmouth College was interrupted after two years due to World War II, where McLaughry served as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Marine Corps.
Twenty years after graduating from high school, McLaughry attended night and summer classes to earn his law degree from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. While and after coaching at Dartmouth, McLaughry was also the chairman of the Physical Education Department there until 1960.
McLaughry was instrumental in developing the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) during his lifetime, even serving a one-year term as President in 1936, and then remaining active with the organization as a volunteer secretary-treasurer from 1940 to 1960. It was after 1960 that McLaughry earned compensation for this position, and retired from the organization in 1965.
On August 21, 1911 in Detroit, McLaughry married Florence Marguerite Jackson (July 20, 1892 – June 1, 1985), daughter of John Llouington Jackson (1849-1924) and Ella Adele (nee Lovett) Jackson (1856-1911). Together, they had three children:[1]
McLaughry died on November 26, 1974, at his home in Norwich, Vermont.[2]