Arthur Mosse
 Mosse as seen in 1905 as head football coach of what is now the University of Pittsburgh | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 29, 1872 Queenstown, Ireland |
| Died | January 8, 1956 (aged 83) San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1895–1898 | Kansas |
| Position(s) | Midland |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 50–22–1 |
Arthur St. Leger "Texas" Mosse (March 29, 1872 – January 8, 1956) was an American football player and coach and the 9th head football coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers and the 13th head football coach for the
Homestead Library & Athletic Club in 1901.[1]
Early life and playing career
Mosse was the youngest of five children born to Arthur Wellesley Mosse and Sophia Mosse (née Palmer) in
Queenstown, Ireland. He emigrated with his family at the young age of 16 to Kansas City, Kansas, via New York City. He and his family soon moved on to Arkansas City, Kansas, where he went to high school. He quickly developed a strong interest in and started playing American football not long after arriving in Kansas. He moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, around 1890 where he lived and worked for several years in the furniture business. Mosse went on to play guard for the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, from 1895 to 1898, lettering all 4 years and was team captain his senior year in 1898. He met his wife, Ruth Stella Mosse (née Grover) (January 1877 – December 11, 1928), while attending the University of Kansas and they married on December 28, 1898, in St. Joseph, Missouri, during his last year at KU. After graduating from KU Mosse initially went back into the furniture business in Kansas City, Kansas, where his daughter Justine was born, before becoming a farmer in 1902 in his wife's native Kickapoo, Kansas, on the farm where she was born.[2] The farm had been initially acquired by her father, Charles H. Grover, a prominent politician and lawyer in the early days of the state of Kansas.[3]
Pittsburgh
Mosse was brought to Pittsburgh from Kansas to become head coach at the Western University of Pennsylvania, now known as the
Penn State and West Virginia, along with other regional schools, the university claimed the championship of the western part of the state and second place in the entire state behind the University of Pennsylvania, who with a 12-0 record, were considered the national champions that season.[7] Media attention and attendance also grew tremendously with multiple newspaper articles and attendance at some games around 13,000.[5]
The increased support and success of the football program under Mosse has been pin pointed as the start of "big football enterprise" at the University of Pittsburgh.[5] However, during the winter following the 1904 season, controversy and scandal erupted when Joe Thompson sought to acquire Mosse's job as coach, combined with apparent complications with the Dean.[8] However, things were settled in time for the 1905 season in which Mosse guided his team to a 10-2 record, outscoring opponents 405-36. However, by the 1906 E.R. Wingard had assumed coaching duties, and in 1908, Joe Thompson finally acquired the head coaching position he desired.[9]
In total, Mosse held the head coaching position at Pittsburgh from 1903 to 1905 compiling a 20-11-1 record.basketball teams at the university.[13]
Kansas
Mosse coached at his alma mater, the University of Kansas, for two seasons, from 1912 to 1913, compiling a record of 9–7.[14]
Later life
Mosse returned to farming his farm in Kickapoo, Kansas, in between his coaching jobs at Pitt and KU as well as later in 1914 when he retired from coaching. He came out of retirement for one year to coach at
San Diego, California, where Mosse died on January 8, 1956, at the home of his daughter. He was survived by his daughters Justine St. Leger Mosse (November 9, 1899 – May 11, 1986), Mrs. Marion Wellesley Russell (November 5, 1903 – November 22, 1994) and Ruth Grover Mosse (October 10, 1911 – 2003). Mosse was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery
in Lawrence, Kansas, next to his wife.
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warrensburg Teachers (Missouri-Kansas Inter-State Conference) (1899) | |||||||||
| 1899 | Warrensburg Teachers | 5–1 | |||||||
| Warrensburg Teachers (Missouri-Kansas Inter-State Conference) (1902) | |||||||||
| 1902 | Warrensburg Teachers | 6–3 | |||||||
| Warrensburg Teachers: | 11–4 | ||||||||
| Western University of Pennsylvania (Independent) (1903–1905) | |||||||||
| 1903 | Western University of Pennsylvania | 0–9–1 | |||||||
| 1904 | Western University of Pennsylvania | 10–0 | |||||||
| 1905 | Western University of Pennsylvania | 10–2 | |||||||
| Western University of Pennsylvania: | 20–11–1 | ||||||||
| Kansas Jayhawks (Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1912–1913) | |||||||||
| 1912 | Kansas | 4–4 | 1–2 | 5th | |||||
| 1913 | Kansas | 5–3 | 3–2 | 3rd | |||||
| Kansas: | 9–7 | ||||||||
| Total: | 50–22–1 | ||||||||
References
- ^ "And Yet Again" (PDF). Professional Football Researchers Association. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 29, 2010.
- ^ Reliable Directory of Leavenworth, Wyandotte, and Johnson Counties. Topeka, Kansas: KANSAS FARMER and MAIL AND BREEZE. 1921. p. 81.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-178-11545-1.
- ISBN 0-8229-1150-7.
- ^ ISBN 0-8229-1150-7.
- ^ Various sources list the score of the 1904 Penn State win as 24-5, 23-5, and 22-5. The score of 22-5 from the Courant, a monthly student journal of the Western University of Pennsylvania, which is also how the score is listed at College Football Data Warehouse, is used to calculate the total season points scored in the article's text above.
A"2008 Pitt Football Media Guide, pg. 148" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 23, 2011. Retrieved February 18, 2009.
BRobert C. Alberts, Pitt: The Story of the University of Pittsburgh 1787-1987, pg. 65. University of Pittsburgh Press. 1986.ISBN 0-8229-1150-7. Retrieved February 18, 2009.
CCourant, Vol. 20, No. 3, Western University of Pennsylvania, pg. 21, date=1904-12, accessdate=2009-02-19
DCollege Football Data Warehouse: Coaching Records Game by Game: 1904, accessdate=2009-02-18 Archived May 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "College Football Date Warehouse, Yearly National Championship Selections: 1904". Archived from the original on February 11, 2010. Retrieved February 18, 2009.
- ISBN 0-8229-1150-7.
- ^ "2008 Pitt Football Media Guide, University of Pittsburgh, pg. 148" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 23, 2011. Retrieved February 18, 2009.
- ^ The University of Pittsburgh's football media guide does not list a 10-6 loss to Duquesne University for the 1903 season, although it appears in the Duquesne football media guide and on College Football Data Warehouse. Therefore, the Pitt football media guide lists the record for the 1903 season as 0-8-1, and Mosse's overall record at the university as 20-10-1. College Football Data Warehouse, whose numbers are used in this article, lists Mosse's 1903 record as 0-9-1, and his overall Pitt record as 20-11-1.
A Duquesne Football 2008 Media Guide, pg. 45, accessdate=2009-02-18 Archived May 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
B 2008 Pitt Football Media Guide, pg. 148, accessdate=2009-02-18 Archived May 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
C College Football Data Warehouse: Coaching Records Game by Game: Arthur St. L. "Texas" Mosse: 1903, accessdate=2009-02-18 Archived May 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine - ^ The Owl (1907), junior class of the Western University of Pennsylvania, 1907, pg. 265, accessdate=2009-02-18
- ^ Alumni directory, University of Pittsburgh, Vol. 2, 1787-1916: issued by the General Alumni Association, 1916, University of Pittsburgh General Alumni Association, pg. 39, accessdate=2009-02-18
- ^ Courant, Vol. 20, No. 3, date=1904-12, Western University of Pennsylvania, pg. 22, accessdate=2009-02-18
- ^ Kansas Coaching Records Archived September 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Midland Gets Famous Coach". Atchison Weekly Globe. September 26, 1918. Retrieved June 29, 2023.