Franklin Morse
Franklin Morse, 1894 Mayo's Cut Plug card
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| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born |
May 4, 1873 Kobe, Japan |
| Died | May 27, 1929 (aged 56) Forest Knolls, California |
| Alma mater | Princeton |
| Playing career | |
| 1893 | Princeton |
| Position(s) | Halfback |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1896 | Princeton |
Franklin Blake Morse (May 4, 1873 – May 27, 1929) was an All-American football player. Morse played halfback for Princeton University and was selected as an All-American in 1893. He also served as coach of Princeton's football team in 1896. Morse worked as a sports writer from 1904 to 1929, serving as a sports editor for the Associated Press and a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. He was also the model for Charles Dana Gibson's popular drawing, "The Halfback."
Morse was born at the American Consulate in Kobe, Japan where his family owned a large factory and "an immense amount of property."
Morse attended Princeton University where he played for the football team from 1891 to 1894.
Prior to the 1893 season, Morse's father, William Horace Morse, was opposed to having his son play and petitioned the school to have him removed from the team. In November 1893, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported:
"Princetonians are greatly elated over the return Frank Morse, half-back on last year's team. Frank's father is at present opposed to his playing, and unless he retracts the faculty will prohibit him from so doing, as one college rule states that no student will play with a 'Varsity organization without the consent of his parents. ... Morse played quarter-back in the '91 team and won laurels at half-back in the Thanksgiving game last year."
Though press accounts do not indicate how his father's objections were overcome, Morse was the starting halfback for the 1893 Princeton football team and was named an All-American at the end of the season. The 1893 Princeton team was known as the "perfect team" and filled five of eleven spots on the 1893 All-American team—Morse at halfback, Philip King at quarterback, Art "Beef" Wheeler at guard, Langdon "Biffy" Lea at tackle, and Thomas "Doggie" Trenchard at end. Three of those players, Wheeler, Lea and King have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. In November 1893, The World of New York published a full-page profile on the physical conditioning of the Princeton and Yale football teams. The paper noted that Morse was known for his ability to avoid serious injury despite his "daring and reckless" somersaults:
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