Pete Henry

Henry was born in 1897 in Mansfield, Ohio.[1] 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,[2] and Bertha Frank Henry, an immigrant from Germany.[3]

Henry attended Mansfield Senior High School where he played football both as a lineman and fullback from 1911 to 1914.[4][5] 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.[4]

In 1915, Henry enrolled at Washington & Jefferson College located approximately 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. He played football for the Washington & Jefferson Presidents football team for five years from 1915 to 1919 (the 1918 season was not counted against Henry's four years of eligibility due to his military service).[6] During Henry's time with Washington & Jefferson, the football team compiled a 31–10–1 record.[7]

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 to 45.[8]

Henry became known as one of the best punt blockers in the game while playing for Washington & Jefferson.[9] Years later, he cited a blocked punt in 1916 as his greatest thrill as a player. Taking the ball off the punter's toe and running it back 40 yards for a touchdown, Henry recalled: "The ball plopped right against my stomach and never bounced as I threw my arms around it."[10]

Henry was recognized by the Frank Menke Syndicate as a first-term All-American at tackle in 1917.[11] In both 1918 and 1919, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American.[12]

In 1919, Pitt argued that Henry was ineligible to play a fifth year.[13] A gentleman's agreement among all college teams generally allowed players whose 1918 seasons were cut short to play.[13] In fact, Pitt played several other teams with similarly situated players without complaint.[13] Henry agreed to sit out the game, and Pitt won, 7–6. Washington & Jefferson fans circulated flyers at the game that said, "Who Scared Pitt?" on the front with a mug shot and one word, "Henry", on the back.[4] In his later years, Henry was not one to keep souvenirs, but he did keep the program from that game.[13]

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."[14]

Henry also played basketball for W&J and competed in weights events for the Washington & Jefferson track team.[15] He also later played professional basketball for the Warren Trumbull Steels, Canton Sinclair Oils, and Dover All-Stars.[16]

Henry received multiple honors and awards arising out of his accomplishments as a football player, including the following:

• In November 1928, John Heisman selected Henry for "Heisman's Hundred in Hall of Football Fame". Heisman cited Henry's "extraordinary" speed and called Henry "[b]eyond all question . . . the greatest punt blocker the game has ever known."[9]
• In November 1931, a jury consisting of many of football's leading figures, including Pop Warner, Robert Zuppke, Gil Dobie, Hugo Bezdek, and Bill Roper, was tasked with selecting "Football's Greatest Player." Henry finished 16th in the voting.[37]
• In November 1939, Grantland Rice included Henry as one of two tackles and eleven players on the All-Time All-America team he selected for Collier's magazine.[38]
• In October 1951, Henry was inducted into the Helms Athletic Foundation's Professional Football Hall of Fame. He had previously been inducted into the Helms College Football Hall of Fame in 1949 and was the eighth player to be inducted into both the pro and college football hall of fame established by the Helms Foundation.[39]
• In November 1951, Henry was one of 52 inaugural inductees into the National Football Foundation's Football Hall of Fame (later renamed the College Football Hall of Fame).[40][41]
• In January 1963, Henry was selected as one of the 17 inaugural inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.[42]
• In August 1969, Henry was named to the NFL 1920s All-Decade Team.[43]
• In February 1971, Washington & Jefferson College dedicated its new multipurpose sports complex as the Henry Physical Education Center (later renamed Henry Memorial Center) in his honor.[44]

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.[45] In the fall of 1929, Henry also coached W&J's freshman football team.[46] He was promoted in July 1930 to assistant coach for W&J's varsity football team.[47]

Henry became the school's athletic director in April 1932 while retaining his duties as line coach for the football team.[48]

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."[49] 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.[50] In January 1946, Henry stepped down as head coach with the hiring of Henry Leucht to take over those responsibilities.[51]

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.[52] He met his wife after he was hospitalized with a football injury, and she was assigned as his nurse.[53][5]

In his later years, Henry developed diabetes which limited his circulation. In January 1949, he had his right leg amputated to treat a gangrenous infection that developed in a toe.[54] He died in 1952 at age 54 at his home in Washington, Pennsylvania.[1][55] The cause of death was sepsis due to gangrene in his left foot and diabetes mellitus.[56] 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."[57]

• Pete Henry at the Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Pete Henry at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Pete Henry at Find a Grave