Henry Schoellkopf

Henry Schoellkopf

Henry Schoellkopf c. 1907
Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	December 14, 1879 Buffalo, New York
Died	December 5, 1912(1912-12-05) (aged 36) Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Alma mater	Cascadilla School Cornell University Harvard Law School
Playing career
1900–1901	Cornell
1903	Harvard
Position(s)	Fullback, halfback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1907–1908	Cornell
Head coaching record
Overall	15–3–1

Henry Schoellkopf (December 14, 1879 – December 5, 1912) was an American football player and coach. He was selected as an All-American fullback while attending Harvard Law School in 1903. He was the head coach of the Cornell Big Red football team from 1907 to 1908, compiling a record of 15–3–1.

Henry Schoellkopf was born December 14, 1879 in Buffalo, New York to Henry Schoellkopf Sr. (1848–1880) and Emily Vogel. Henry Sr. was the oldest son of Buffalo, New York businessman Jacob F. Schoellkopf and his wife, Christiana T. (Duerr) Schoellkopf. Henry's father learned the tannery business and leather trade from Henry's grandfather, Jacob F. Schoellkopf, and later worked with Jacob's cousin and business partner, Frederick Vogel and his business partner, Guido Pfister, in Wisconsin. Henry Sr. married Vogel's daughter, Emily Vogel (Henry's mother) in 1875. Prior to his father's early death in 1880, he partnered with Vogel and Pfister and opened a tannery in northeast Wisconsin that eventually “became the largest in the world prior to World War I.” Henry would grow up to become the first of many Schoellkopfs to attend Cornell University when he enrolled in 1898. His sister, Paula Schoellkopf (b. 1876) married Gustav A. Reuss who had Henry Schoellkopf Reuss (1912–2002).

He attended Cornell University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1902. While at Cornell, he was president of both the Quill and Dagger society and the Zeta Psi Fraternity. Henry received a law degree from Harvard University, where he continued to play football. Returning to Cornell, he served as a graduate coach before leaving to enter a law firm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.