Dick Harlow

Upon graduation from Penn State, Harlow remained with the Nittany Lions football team as an assistant coach for three seasons and was named head coach in 1915. After compiling a 20–8 record in three seasons, Harlow entered the military in 1918. During the fall of 1918, he was stationed at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where he coached the football team. After an honorable discharge from the United States Army, Harlow returned to Penn State in 1919 to assistant Hugo Bezdek with the football team. Harlow also took charge of boxing at Penn State.[1]

Harlow went on to become the 20th head coach at Colgate University from 1922 to 1925. His overall coaching record at Colgate was 24–9–3. At Colgate, he coached his team to a 55–0 victory over Niagara, where for a period of time the opposing team refused to tackle any Colgate ball carrier and Colgate scored several times in a row.[2]

Harlow was the head football coach at Western Maryland College, now known as McDaniel College, from 1926 to 1934.[3] At Western Maryland, then of only 500 students, Harlow coached the Green Terror to a 60–13–7 record with three undefeated seasons.[4][5] In 1934 Western Maryland was invited to play in the inguinal Orange Bowl. Seeing it as not much of a challenge; Harlow declined to have his players play in then more prestigious East–West Shrine Game. In Orange Bowl, Bucknell, who lost to the Green Terror early that season, beat the Miami Hurricanes.[6]

Harlow had many great players such as Eugene "Stoney" Willis, who threw the first shovel pass against Boston College in 1932, and Bill Shepherd, who was considered to be one of the best running backs in the country in the early 1930s, starring the East West shrine game in 1934 behind Michigan center Gerald Ford. At Western Maryland, Harlow also coached Rip Engle. He had a great influence on Engle's career, and they remained good friends for many years.

Harlow said that his "biggest thrill" came from those games where he beat Bosten College and Bucknell by such a lopsided margin.[6]

In 1935, Harlow became the first non-alumnus ever to coach at Harvard. It was there Harlow was voted Coach-of-the-Year in 1936 and a year later was chosen as the Ivy League Coach-of-the-Year. He retired in 1947 with a lifetime record of 149–69–17, and was named to the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.