Frank Crawford

After graduating from Yale, Crawford enrolled at the University of Michigan School of Law, receiving his law degree in 1893. As a first-year law student, Crawford was both the unpaid coach and a substitute player for the 1891 Michigan Wolverines football team.[7][8] He helped lead the team to a 4–5 record. He has been identified by several sources as the first football coach in University of Michigan history.[9][10] Other sources indicate that Crawford and Mike Murphy were the joint head coaches of the 1891 Michigan football team.[6] Others state that Murphy relinquished the coaching duties to Crawford midway through the season to allow him to focus on his duties as trainer.[5] The Chicago Daily Tribune reported in November 1891 that the Michigan team was "coached systematically" by Murphy, Crawford, Horace Greely Prettyman and James Duffy.[11]

While attending Michigan, Crawford also played for the Michigan Wolverines baseball team in 1892 and 1893. He led the team with a .976 fielding average in 1892.[12] Crawford appeared in 17 games at catcher and left field for the Wolverines in 1892 and was among the team's leaders in runs (tied for 2nd with 20), stolen bases (tied for 2nd with 13) and putouts (2nd with 115).[13] He was also selected as the captain of the 1893 baseball team.[12][14]

In his history of the University of Michigan, Wilfred Byron Shaw cites Crawford's hiring as a watershed moment in the history of the school's football program: "A new era in the history of football at Michigan began in 1891, when with a fair schedule and an experienced coach, Frank Crawford (Yale, '91), '93l, the systematic development of a team began ..."[15] Although football had been played at Michigan without a coaching staff since 1879, the Associated Press noted at the time of Crawford's death that Crawford "is credited with introducing football at the University of Michigan in 1891."[16]

In 1892, he coached at University of Wisconsin and compiled a 4–3 record.[17][18]

In November 1892, Crawford served as "a paid coach-captain player" for the football team at Baker University at Baldwin, Kansas.[19] Crawford reportedly "brought many innovations," including the training table, to Baker's football program.[19] He led Baker to the Kansas state championship and a 2–1 record in "the triangular league," including victories over Washburn (44–0) and Kansas (18–0). In December 1892, the Leavenworth Times reported that Crawford had "succeeded in instilling sufficient foot ball lore into the western farmers to accomplish the defeat of the University of Kansas team by the Baker eleven last week."[20] In May 1893, The Baker Beacon reported: "The Baker team was ably coached and captained by Frank Crawford who had learned the game at Yale and by the close of the season the team ... was in excellent condition."[21]

In 1893, Crawford was hired as the head football coach at the University of Nebraska. He was the school's first paid head football coach with a salary of approximately $500. He was Nebraska's head football coach during the 1893 and 1894 seasons and compiled a 9–4–1 record. After starting the 1893 season with a 2–2–1 record, Crawford's team defeated Iowa, 20–18, in a match played in near-blizzard conditions and considered the "first major victory" in Nebraska history. Crawford reportedly also played right halfback and kicked the field goals for Nebraska during the 1893 Iowa game; he was identified in the record book as "Frank." In 1894, Crawford's team defeated Iowa, 36–0. The 1895 team finished the season with five consecutive victories for a 7–2 record and the school's first ever conference championship. During Crawford's tenure at Nebraska, George Flippin played for Crawford and became the first African-American athlete in Nebraska history.[5] However, in 1893, Flippin was voted team captain by the team, but this decision was vetoed by Crawford, stating: "It takes a man with brains to be a captain; all there is to Flippin is brute force." Flippin went on to be a well-respected physician in Polk County, Nebraska and the first African-American inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame.[22][23]

In 1894, the University of Texas football team suffered its first loss in school history, a 28–0 home loss to Missouri. The previous head coach was fired, and a lengthy search was conducted for a replacement. In October 1895, Texas hired Crawford. At Texas, he was known as "Little" Crawford and reportedly "taught the Yale system of play and stressed conditioning."[24] Crawford led the 1895 Longhorns to a perfect 5–0 record, as the team outscored its opponents by a combined 96–0 margin After a Thanksgiving Day victory over San Antonio by a score of 38–0, Crawford reportedly left for Mexico to watch bullfights and then returned to his home in Nebraska.[24] The 1895 season was Crawford's last as a football coach.