Bob Folwell Robert Cook " Bob " Folwell , Jr . ( February 17 , 1885 – January 8 , 1928 ) was an American football player and coach . He served as the head coach at Lafayette College ( 1909 – 1911 ) , Washington & Jefferson College ( 1912 – 1915 ) , the University of Pennsylvania ( 1916 – 1919 ) , and the United States Naval Academy ( 1920 – 1924 ) , compiling a career college football record of 109 – 31 – 9 . Folwell then moved to the professional ranks , coaching the NFL ' s New York Giants ( 1925 ) , the Philadelphia Quakers of the American Football League ( 1926 ) , and the Atlantic City Roses of the Eastern League of Professional Football ( 1927 ) . Early life and playing career . Folwell was born Mullica Hill , New Jersey in 1885 . He attended Haverford Grammar School , where he made prep football All - American . He married Elizabeth Pennock in 1913 and had three sons : Robert III , George P . and William Nathan . He attended the University of Pennsylvania , where he set several school football records that stand to this day . He also starred as a wrestler . He won the Intercollegiate Wrestling Association ' s 175 - pound title in 1907 . College coaching career . Lafayette Maroons . Folwell coached Lafayette College from 1908 through 1911 , amassing a 22 – 4 – 1 record . Washington & Jefferson Presidents . After hearing rumors that Folwell was unhappy at Lafayette , Robert " Mother " Murphy personally recruited him to coach for Washington & Jefferson College , where he coached from 1912 to 1915 and post a 36 – 5 – 3 record and was named coach of the year in 1913 . In Folwell ' s first season , Washington & Jefferson held the legendary scorer Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indians to a scoreless tie . In 1913 , the team posted a 10 – 0 – 1 record and were the highest scoring team in the nation . That season featured a scoreless tie of Yale , a 100 – 0 defeat of Grove City College , and a 17 – 0 victory over Penn State that broke the Nittany Lions ' 19 - game winning streak , earning the entire school a day off to celebrate . Sportswriter Walter S . Trumbull of the " The New York Sun " suggested that the Michigan Aggies , Washington & Jefferson , Chicago University , and Notre Dame were the new " Big 4 of College Football " instead of the traditional grouping of Princeton , Yale , Harvard , and Penn . Folwell ' s 1914 squad lost at Harvard in front of 15 , 000 fans by a score of 10 – 9 . If not for an errant kick that hit the crossbar , W & J would have won the same and at least a share of the mythical national championship . That squad saved face by becoming only the seventh team to ever defeat Yale , with a decisive 13 – 7 victory . The game received national press coverage , and the team received a personal note of congratulations by Theodore Roosevelt . Penn Quakers . Folwell then coached at University of Pennsylvania from 1916 to 1919 , where he posted a 27 – 10 – 2 record . Navy Midshipmen . Folwell was the 17th head football coach at the United States Naval Academy and he held that position for five seasons , from 1920 until 1924 . His coaching record with Navy was 24 – 12 – 3 . Professional coaching career . Folwell was the first head coach of the New York Giants in 1925 . The following season he took the same position for the Philadelphia Quakers of the first American Football League and led the team to the championship of the short - lived league . He coached the Atlantic City Roses of the Eastern League of Professional Football in 1927 , but was forced to retire to his farm in New Jersey after one season . A hip infection , which began while he was coaching the Philadelphia Quakers , worsened , forcing him to walk with a cane . In January 1928 , he had a hip operation at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia . The surgery was initially successful , but he took a turn for the worse and died January 8 , 1928 .