Dick Rauch

Dick Rauch
	Penn State
Career history
As coach
1921–1922	Penn State (assistant)
1923	Colgate (assistant)
1924–1926	Pottsville Maroons
1928	New York Yankees
1929	Boston Bulldogs
As player
1924–1926	Pottsville Maroons
1928	New York Yankees
1929	Boston Bulldogs
As scout
1921–1922	Penn State
1923	Colgate
Career highlights and awards
	Anthracite League champion (1924); Disputed NFL champion (1925); NFL head coaching record: 33–24–3; First NFL coach to institute daily practices; Last Head coach of the Pottsville Maroons- Boston Bulldogs franchise; Last Head coach of the New York Yankees (NFL) franchise;
Military career
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	U.S. Army
Years of service	1917–1919
Battles/wars	World War I

Richard Harvie Rauch (July 15, 1893 – October 9, 1970) was an

Boston Bulldogs, New York Yankees and the Maroons over the course of his five-year career. Rauch made his professional debut in the National Football League (NFL) in 1925 with the Pottsville Maroons

. He was also the first NFL coach to institute daily practices.

Early career

Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Rauch attended high school at Harrisburg Tech in 1906. He did not make the football team until his senior year, in 1909. He played center on that team. After high school, he went to work in the Pennsylvania Steel Mills outside of Harrisburg for six years. Rauch decided to continue his education. In 1916 he entered Bethlehem Prep, located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to brush up his mathematics and obtain sufficient credits to enter Penn State. At Bethlehem Prep, Rauch lettered in three sports, football, basketball and track.

Penn State and the Army

In 1916 Rauch entered State College and he soon captained and played

U.S. Army and was placed in the ordinance department and was stationed in Virginia

.

He was discharged from the Army in August 1919, and returned to Penn State. By that time Rauch started at

offensive tackle

. After graduating Penn State retained him as assistant coach in 1921. He excelled in scouting. He performed the scouting duties for every college he served.

Colgate

In 1923, Rauch went to Colgate University as the team's offensive line coach. Colgate soon gave him a contract for the following year in 1924. However, he accepted an offer by the Pottsville Maroons as serve as head coach of their professional football team.

Pro football

Maroons owner Dr. John Striegel hired Rauch, because he was a

protégé of the strict discipline philosophy instituted by Penn State coach, Hugo Bezdek. During Rauch's first season with the Maroons, the team won the Anthracite League championship. The very next season the Maroon joined the NFL, and in just their first year in league, the franchise won the NFL championship before having it stripped away from them by the league in a controversial move

.

The

Boston

and renamed the team the Boston Bulldogs.

The 1929 season was Rauch's last season coaching in the NFL. After a 4–4 record, the Maroons-Bulldogs franchise folded.

Outside football

Besides being a football player and coach, Rauch also worked as an

ornithologist, a steel worker, an electrician and a graduate electrical engineer. Dick spent his off-seasons writing poetry and traveled as far west as the Yukon to study the nesting habits of birds. He later put his knowledge of birds to use by exploring the Antarctic for the U.S. government.^[1]

References

Pottsville Maroons, Ghosts of the Gridiron
Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (
ISBN 0-06-270174-6
)

1925 Pottsville Maroons, Professional Football Reference (URL last accessed September 30, 2006)
"1925 Pottsville Maroons 'World Champions' Football Team" Set of 18 cards, Produced by Russell Zacko, 1977
Ongoing Research Project NFL Uniform Numbers

Notes

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