Truxtun Hare

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Truxtun Hare
Hare in 1904
Penn Quakers
PositionGuard
Personal information
Born:(1878-10-12)October 12, 1878
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died:February 2, 1956(1956-02-02) (aged 77)
Radnor, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight198 lb (90 kg)
Career history
CollegePenn (1897–1900)
High schoolSt. Mark's
(Southborough, Massachusetts)
Career highlights and awards
  • 4× Consensus All-American (1897–1900)
  • National champion (1897)
  • Camp All-time All-America team
  • FWAA College Football All-Time team
    (1869–1919)
College Football Hall of Fame (1951)
Medal record
Representing United States
Men's athletics
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1900 Paris Hammer throw
Bronze medal – third place 1904 St Louis All-around

Thomas Truxtun Hare (October 12, 1878 – February 2, 1956) was an American Olympic medalist who competed in track and field and the hammer throw.[1][2] He also played football with the University of Pennsylvania and was selected first-team All-American all four years.[2] Sports Illustrated wrote, "Few early 20th Century players were as revered as Hare, who played every minute of every game."[3] He was selected as a charter member of the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.[2]

Early life and education[edit]

Hare was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[2][4] He was the son of Emily Power (née Beale) and Horace Binney Hare, a successful attorney.[5] He came from a long line of lawyers.[6] He attended St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1897.[2][4][5] There, he started in baseball, football, and track.[5]

In the fall of 1897, Hare enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a B.S. in 1901.[4] There, he was a member of the Fraternity of Delta Psi (St. Anthony Hall), the Ancient and Honorable Order of the Sons of Rest, and the Sphinx Senior Society.[2] He performed in plays with Mask and Wig, was vice president of the Cercle Francais and an assistant manager of the Musical Clubs.[2] He was freshman class president and was elected as the Spoon Man his senior year.[5][2]

At the University of Pennsylvania, Hare played on the varsity cricket team and the varsity track team, competing in jumper, runner, and weight thrower.[2][5] The track team won their collegiate championships during his time.[5] He also played on the Penn Quakers football team from 1897 to 1900 and served as team captain in his junior and senior years.[2] He also played "every minute of every game for four years," helping his team win 32 consecutive games.[7][4] He is one of only a handful of men to earn first-team All-American honors during all four years of college.[2][7] While primarily a guard, he also called signals, kicked off, punted, ran, and drop-kicked extra points.[7] Walter Camp said he could have been an All-American in any position.[7][5]

He then enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania Law School, graduating with a law degree in 1903.[2][4]

Olympics[edit]

He won the silver medal in the hammer throw in the 1900 Summer Olympics held in Paris, as well as placing eighth in the shot put and competing without making a legal mark in the discus throw.[2][1]

He competed for the United States in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St. Louis, Missouri, in the all-rounder which consisted of ten events: 100 yd run, shot put, high jump, 880 yd walk, hammer throw, pole vault, 120 yd hurdles, 56 lb weight throw, long jump, and 1-mile run, where he won the bronze medal.[1][5]

Career[edit]

After graduating from law school, he practiced corporate law in Philadelphia.[2] In 1913, he became an assistant solicitor for the United Gas Improvement Company, retaining this position until 1943.[2][4][5]

He became the managing director and board member of Bryn Mawr Hospital in 1943.[2][4][5] He replaced his brother, C. Willing Hare, who had died on December 6, 1942.[4] In 1946, he was named president of the hospital.[4] In this capacity, he oversaw the addition of a six-story wing, a $2.8 million project.[4]

Hare also served as a director of the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance Houses from Loss.[4]

Starting in 1908, he authored two series of books for boys.[2][5] His first series followed a journey from college football to coaching.[5] The second series, followed the same character through prep school.[8] He also published poetry books.[2]

Publications[edit]

Philip Kent, The College Athlete series[edit]

  • Making the Freshman Team. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, 1908.[9]
  • A Sophomore Half-Back. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, 1908.[10]
  • A Junior in the Line. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, 1909.[11]
  • A Senior Quarterback. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, 1910.[12]
  • A Graduate Coach. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, 1911.[13]

Philip Kent of Malvern series[edit]

  • Philip Kent. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, 1914.[14]
  • Philip Kent in the Lower School. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, 1916.[8]
  • Philip Kent in the Upper School. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, 1918.[15]
  • Kent of Malvern. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, 1919.[16]

Awards and honors[edit]

  • He was selected as a charter member of the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 and was inducted in 1953.[2][4]
  • In an attempt to name retroactive Heisman Trophy winners before the first one was awarded in 1935, Hare was awarded the mythical 1900 trophy.[3]
  • He was named to the Helms Athletic Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame.[5]
  • The Helms Athletic Foundation named Hare the player of the year for 1900.[5]
  • In 1969, in honor of the centennial of collegiate football, the Football Writers Association of America named two "College Football All-Time Teams" of eleven players — an "early" team consisting of players who played prior to 1920, and a "modern" team who played in 1920 and after.[17] Hare was chosen as one of two guards on the pre-1920 squad.[17]

Personal life[edit]

He married Katherine Sargent Smith, a Philadelphia socialite, in 1906.[4][6][5] They had four children: Truxtun Jr., Tristan, Robert, Martha and Mrs. Frederic McLaughlin.[4] They lived in Radnor, Pennsylvania, on a sixty-acre farm known as Limehouse.[4][18][5]

During the 1930s, Hare chaired the University of Pennsylvania Athletic Advisory Board.[5] He was also a member of the University of Pennsylvania Scholarship Committee.[5] He was a vestryman and senior warden at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Radnor.[2][4]

He was president of the United Bowmen of America and a member of the Merian Cricket Club, the Philadelphia Club, the Racquet Club of Philadelphia, the St. Anthony Club of Philadelphia, and the University Barge Club.[2][4][6] He was also a member of the Authors' League of America and the Pegasus Club.[2] He was the founding president of the Business Men's Art Club in 1927, and his paintings and pottery was shown in exhibitions with the Art Club of Philadelphia.[2][6]

In 1956, he died at his home on Weadley Road in Radnor at the age of 77 years.[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Thomas Truxton Hare". Olympics.com. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w "Thomas Truxtun Hare 1878-1956". University of Pennsylvania Archives. February 17, 2013. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Who would have won the Heisman from 1900-1934". Sports Illustrated. December 12, 2008. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "T. Truxtun Hare Dies; Penn Grid Iron Hero Was 77". The Philadelphia Inquirer. February 4, 1956. p. 11. Retrieved June 3, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Gems, Gerald R. 2000. "Hare, Thomas Truxtun." In American National Biography Online. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. via EBSCO, accessed June 4, 2022 doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1900802.
  6. ^ a b c d "Ex-Football Star Will Take a Bride". The Philadelphia Inquirer. April 30, 1906. p. 2. Retrieved June 3, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b c d "Inductee | Thomas Truxton Hare 1951 | College Football Hall of Fame". College Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  8. ^ a b Hare, T. Truxtun. Philip Kent in the Lower School. Philadelphia, The Penn publishing company, 1916. Pdf. via Library of Congress
  9. ^ Hare, Thomas Truxton. 1928. Making the freshman team. Philadelphia: Penn Pub. Co. via WorldCat
  10. ^ Hare, T. Truxtun. 1910. A sophomore half-back. Philadelphia: Penn Pub. Co. via WorldCat
  11. ^ Hare, T. Truxtun. A Junior in the Line. Philadelphia, The Penn publishing company, 1909. Pdf. via Library of Congress
  12. ^ Hare, T. Truxtun. 1910. A senior quarter-back. Philadelphia: Penn Pub. Co. via WorldCat
  13. ^ Hare, T. Truxtun. A Graduate Coach. Philadelphia, The Penn publishing company, 1911. Pdf. via Library of Congress
  14. ^ Hare, Thomas Truxtun. 1914. Philip Kent. Penn Press. via World Cat.
  15. ^ Hare, T. Truxtun, and Ralph L. Boyer. 1918. Philip Kent in the upper school. Philadelphia: Penn Pub. Co. via WorldCat
  16. ^ Hare, T. Truxtun, and Ralph L. Boyer. 1919. Kent of Malvern. Philadelphia, Pa: Penn Pub. Co. via WorldCat
  17. ^ a b National Collegiate Athletic Association, The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide, 1970. Phoenix, AZ: College Athletics Publishing Service, 1970; p. 161.
  18. ^ Gossip vol. 1, no. 10, September 9, 1921. p. 4. via Google Books.

External links[edit]

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