William Glenn Killinger (September 13, 1898 – July 25, 1988) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He graduated Harrisburg Technical High School and then lettered in three sports at Pennsylvania State University, where he was an All-American in football in 1921. Killinger then played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Canton Bulldogs and the New York Giants and for Philadelphia Quakers of the first American Football League in 1926. Killinger served as the head football coach at Dickinson College (1922), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1927–1931), Moravian College (1933), West Chester University (1934–1941, 1945–1959), and with the North Carolina Pre-Flight School (1944),[1] compiling a career college football head coaching record of 176–72–16. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1971.
 Killinger in 1922 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 13, 1898 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | July 25, 1988 (aged 89) Stanton, Delaware, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| Football | |
| 1918–1921 | Penn State |
| 1921 | Canton Bulldogs |
| 1926 | New York Giants |
| 1926 | Philadelphia Quakers |
| Basketball | |
| 1919–1921 | Penn State |
| Baseball | |
| 1919–1921 | Penn State |
| 1922 | Jersey City Skeeters |
| 1923 | Atlanta Crackers |
| 1924 | Harrisburg Senators |
| 1926 | Shamokin Indians |
| 1927–1928 | Harrisburg Senators |
| 1929–1932 | Williamsport Grays |
| Position(s) | Quarterback, halfback (football) |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football | |
| 1922 | Dickinson |
| 1923–1926 | Penn State (assistant) |
| 1927–1931 | RPI |
| 1933 | Moravian |
| 1934–1941 | West Chester |
| 1944 | North Carolina Pre-Flight |
| 1945–1959 | West Chester |
| Basketball | |
| 1935–1940 | West Chester |
| 1945–1946 | West Chester |
| Baseball | |
| 1924 | Harrisburg Senators |
| 1926 | Shamokin Indians |
| 1930 | Williamsport Grays |
| 1932 | Wilkes-Barre Barons |
| 1932 | Allentown Buffaloes |
| 1967–1970 | West Chester |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 176–72–16 (college football) 66–40 (college basketball) 59–29–2 (college baseball) |
| Bowls | 3–1 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| Football 7 PSTCC (1941, 1950, 1952–1954, 1956, 1959) | |
| Awards | |
| Football Consensus All-American (1921) | |
| College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1971 (profile) | |
Killinger was also a minor league baseball player from 1922 until 1932. During that time, he played for the Jersey City Skeeters (1922), Atlanta Crackers (1923), Harrisburg Senators (1924, 1927–1928), Shamokin Indians (1926) and the Williamsport Grays (1929–1932). He served as a manager for the Indians and the Senators, managing the latter to the Eastern League pennant in 1928.[2]
Head coaching record
editCollege football
edit| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | UPI# | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dickinson Red and White (Independent) (1922) | |||||||||
| 1922 | Dickinson | 6–3 | |||||||
| Dickinson: | 6–3 | ||||||||
| RPI Engineers (Independent) (1927–1931) | |||||||||
| 1927 | RPI | 1–7 | |||||||
| 1928 | RPI | 4–3–1 | |||||||
| 1929 | RPI | 3–5 | |||||||
| 1930 | RPI | 4–2–2 | |||||||
| 1931 | RPI | 2–7 | |||||||
| RPI: | 14–24–3 | ||||||||
| Moravian Greyhounds (Independent) (1933) | |||||||||
| 1933 | Moravian | 3–2 | |||||||
| Moravian: | 3–2 | ||||||||
| West Chester Golden Rams (Pennsylvania State Teachers Conference / Pennsylvania State Teachers College Conference) (1934–1941) | |||||||||
| 1934 | West Chester | 4–4 | 2–0 | 2nd | |||||
| 1935 | West Chester | 7–3 | 1–0 | 2nd | |||||
| 1936 | West Chester | 4–4–1 | 1–1 | T–6th | |||||
| 1937 | West Chester | 6–3–1 | 2–1 | T–5th | |||||
| 1938 | West Chester | 4–2–3 | 1–0–2 | 3rd | |||||
| 1939 | West Chester | 3–3–3 | 3–0 | 2nd | |||||
| 1940 | West Chester | 5–2–1 | 2–0 | 3rd | |||||
| 1941 | West Chester | 5–1–2 | 3–0 | T–1st | |||||
| North Carolina Pre-Flight Cloudbusters (Independent) (1944) | |||||||||
| 1944 | North Carolina Pre-Flight | 6–2–1 | |||||||
| North Carolina Pre-Flight: | 6–2–1 | ||||||||
| West Chester Golden Rams (Independent) (1945) | |||||||||
| 1945 | West Chester | 3–0–1 | |||||||
| West Chester Golden Rams (Pennsylvania State Teachers College Conference) (1946–1959) | |||||||||
| 1946 | West Chester | 9–1 | 2–1 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1947 | West Chester | 10–1 | 3–0 | 1st[n 1] | W Burley, L Cigar | ||||
| 1948 | West Chester | 7–1 | 3–0 | 3rd | W Burley | ||||
| 1949 | West Chester | 8–1 | 3–0 | 3rd | |||||
| 1950 | West Chester | 7–2 | 4–0 | 1st | |||||
| 1951 | West Chester | 8–2 | 3–1 | 4th | W Pretzel Bowl | ||||
| 1952 | West Chester | 7–0 | 5–0 | 1st | |||||
| 1953 | West Chester | 7–1 | 4–0 | 1st | |||||
| 1954 | West Chester | 5–4 | 3–1 | T–1st | |||||
| 1955 | West Chester | 6–3 | 3–1 | 2nd | |||||
| 1956 | West Chester | 7–1 | 4–0 | 1st | |||||
| 1957 | West Chester | 9–0 | 4–0 | 3rd | |||||
| 1958 | West Chester | 9–1 | 6–0 | 2nd | T–16 | ||||
| 1959 | West Chester | 7–1 | 5–1 | 1st | 10 | ||||
| West Chester: | 147–41–11 | 67–7–2 | |||||||
| Total: | 176–72–16 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Notes
edit- ^ West Chester finished the 1947 season tied with Slippery Rock for the best record in the conference, but neither team was eligible for the conference title as neither has played the required four conference games. Mansfield won the conference title.[3]
Further reading
editMealy, Todd M. (2018). Glenn Killinger, All-American: Penn State's World War I Era Sports Hero. (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.) ISBN 978-1476670515 Retrieved April 22, 2018
References
edit- ^ Jones, Wilbur D. (2009). "Football! Navy! War!": How Military "Lend-Lease" Players Saved the College Game and Helped Win World War II. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. pp. 124–126. ISBN 978-0-7864-4219-5. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
- ^ Beers, Paul (2011). City contented, city discontented : a history of modern Harrisburg. Midtown Scholar Press. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-9839571-0-2. OCLC 761221337.
- ^ Altschull, Herb (November 18, 1947). "Mansfield Wins Teachers Title Despite Loss". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. Associated Press. p. 17. Archived from the original on May 8, 2023. Retrieved May 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com
.
External links
edit
Media related to Glenn Killinger at Wikimedia Commons- Glenn Killinger at the College Football Hall of Fame
- Career statistics from NFL.com · Pro Football Reference
- Career statistics from Baseball Reference (Minors)
- Glenn Killinger at Find a Grave
