John A. Moorehead

John Moorehead

Moorhead from The Owl, 1908
Date of birth	(1882-02-19)February 19, 1882
Place of birth	Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania
Date of death	August 18, 1931(1931-08-18) (aged 49)
Place of death	Sewickley, Pennsylvania
Career information
Position(s)	Halfback
Career history
As coach
1906	Pittsburgh (assistant)
1907–1908	Pittsburgh
As player
1903–1904	Yale
Career highlights and awards
Coaching record: 16–5

John Alston Moorehead (February 19, 1882 – August 18, 1931) was a college football head coach for Western University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh) during the 1907 and 1908 seasons. He applied for the coaching job after being cut off by his father for eloping with his mother's French maid. Prior to coaching at Pittsburgh, Moorehead played halfback while attending Yale University. He graduated from the school in 1904.

Some historical records from refer to him as John A. Moorhead and as James A. Moorehead. He was also referred to as "Jim".

In 1906 John A. Moorehead took on assistant coaching duties for the Western University of Pennsylvania's (now the University of Pittsburgh) football team under then head coach Edgar Wingard. In 1907, he was hired as the head coach of the team, guiding it to an 8–2 record, with the team's only losses coming at the hands of Cornell University and Washington & Jefferson College. Highlighting the season was a 6–0 win over Penn State, which at the time was particularly noteworthy as it had been only the second time that the university's football team had defeated the Nittany Lions in the burgeoning rivalry between the two schools. Moorehead was retained as head coach in 1908, and guided the team to an 8–3 record. During that season, he helped to facilitate the implementation of the first known use of numbers on the uniforms of football players. In 1909, Moorehead withdrew his name from the candidacy for that season's coaching position at the urging of his father who wanted him to have a more direct role in the family's business interests. However, John A. did use his influence to help elect Joseph H. Thompson as his successor to the head coaching position at Pittsburgh.