Franklin Cappon Franklin C . " Cappy " Cappon ( October 17 , 1900 – November 29 , 1961 ) was a college athlete and coach . He played football and basketball at Phillips University and the University of Michigan and coached basketball and football at Luther College ( 1923 – 1924 ) , the University of Kansas ( 1926 – 1927 ) , the University of Michigan ( 1925 , 1928 – 1938 ) , and Princeton University ( 1938 – 1961 ) . The son of a wealthy leather manufacturer in Holland , Michigan , Cappon was a star athlete in both basketball and football , and was named to All - Western football teams in 1920 , 1921 , and 1922 . Before accepting a position at Princeton , Cappon was an assistant athletic director and basketball coach at Michigan from 1928 to 1938 . In 23 years at Princeton , Cappon won five Ivy League championships , and his trademark " five - man weave " offense became closely identified with the program . He was a mentor at Princeton to a generation of student - athletes , including Butch van Breda Kolff , Bill Bradley and Frank Deford . Cappon died at age 61 of a heart attack in the showers at Princeton ' s Dillon Gymnasium after a basketball practice session . Youth in Holland , Michigan . Cappon was born and raised in Holland , Michigan . Cappon was the son of Mr . and Mrs . Isaac Cappon . His parents were both born in the Netherlands . His father , Isaac Cappon , came to Holland at age 17 and opened a tannery business that became one of Holland ' s largest companies , the Cappon - Bertsch Leather Co . His father was a leading citizen of the area and became Holland ' s first mayor , serving four terms . Cappon and his four sisters were raised in the family ' s stately house at 228 West 9th Street in Holland , built by Isaac Cappon in 1873 and considered one of the most beautiful homes in old Holland . Cappon was an excellent all - around athlete at Holland High School . He played four years of varsity football and basketball and was all - state in both sports . In 1916 , Cappon was the fullback on the Holland team that defeated rival Grand Haven 83 – 0 . Holland gained 755 yards of offense in the game , and Cappon alone gained 364 yards . As a senior , Cappon led the 1917 Holland High School team to a series of extraordinary wins , beating Fennville ( 127 – 0 ) , Kalamazoo High ( 60 – 0 ) , Grand Haven ( 81 – 0 ) , Benton Harbor ( 90 – 0 ) , Grand Rapids Union ( 32 – 3 ) , Traverse City ( 20 – 7 ) and Western State Normal ( 104 – 9 ) , but losing to Grand Rapids Central ( 20 – 0 ) . Cappon later spoke about his early memories of oyster stew banquets , players shoveling snow off the football field and then marking it out , " dinky basketball floors " and their individual hazards , and the first state basketball tournament in 1916 when 40 teams entered a " free for all . " Almost a half century after he graduated , the " Holland Evening Sentinel " called Cappon " Holland ' s most legendary high school athlete . " College athlete . Phillips University . In 1917 , former University of Michigan All - American John Maulbetsch married Cappon ' s sister and became the football coach at Phillips University in Enid , Oklahoma . When Cappon graduated from high school in 1918 , he was persuaded to join his brother - in - law at Phillips . Maulbetsch recruited other top athletes to Phillips , including future International Olympic Committee leader Doug Roby and future Pro Football Hall of Fame r Steve Owen , and turned Phillips briefly into one of the country ' s top football programs . Maulbetsch ' s team was undefeated in 1918 and lost only one game in 1919 . University of Michigan . After one or two years at Phillips , Cappon returned to his home state and enrolled at the University of Michigan . Cappon became a star athlete in both football and basketball at Michigan . He played seven games at left end for the 1920 Michigan football team , and was named to Walter Eckersall ' s All - Western team at the end of the 1920 season . In 1921 , Cappon played four games at left tackle , one game at left halfback , and two at right halfback . In recognition of his versatility on the line and in the backfield , one expert placed Cappon on his 1921 All - Western team as a tackle , and another named him as a second - team All - Western halfback . In 1922 , Cappon moved to fullback where he started all seven games for the undefeated Michigan team . He was named a second - team All - Western fullback , and Walter Eckersall named Cappon as " general utility man " for his All - Western team . One writer said of Cappon ' s performance in 1922 : " He ' s the boy who was given the ball whenever the team needed two or three yards , and he always got it . " Grand Rapids mayor , and former Cappon teammate , Paul G . Goebel , called Cappon " the greatest football player I ' ve seen in 35 years . " Goebel added : " If Cappy hadn ' t played all the positions he ' d a been an All - American in one or two of them . " Cappon also starred as a guard on the Michigan basketball team in 1921 and 1922 . As a senior , Cappon was awarded the Western Conference Medal , an honorary award from the conference for all - around excellence in both athletics and academics . College coach . Luther College . In the fall of 1923 , Cappon became the football coach for Luther College in Decorah , Iowa . After the football season , he returned to Michigan for the spring semester and received his degree in 1924 . He returned to Luther College in the fall of 1924 as the athletic director in charge of all sports . In Cappon ' s two seasons as the football coach , the Luther teams had a record of 8 – 4 – 3 . Assistant to Fielding H . Yost . In February 1925 , Cappon was hired by Fielding H . Yost to return to Michigan as part of the school ' s football coaching staff . Cappon was charged with coaching the ends and backs , a group that included All - Americans Bennie Oosterbaan , Benny Friedman and Bo Molenda . Yost later called the 1925 Michigan squad the greatest team he ever coached . While at Michigan in 1925 and 1926 , Cappon was also an instructor in Michigan ' s coaching school and assisted Michigan basketball coach E . J . Mather . Kansas . In January 1926 , the University of Kansas announced that it had hired Cappon as its new football coach . Former Michigan football coach George Little , then at Wisconsin , recommended Cappon to the administrators at Kansas . Little said he had tried to take Cappon with him to Wisconsin and called Cappon " one of the most promising coaches of recent graduation in the United States . " On his first visit to Lawrence , Kansas , Cappon told reporters : " I always have heard of the clean , fine sportsmanship in the Missouri Valley conference , and I am glad to be coming out this way . . . . I hope we may turn out a football team that will be a credit to the Valley and in every way uphold Valley traditions for clean play and sportsmanship . " In two seasons as the football coach at Kansas , Cappon ' s record was 5 – 10 – 1 . According to a 1940 history of football at the University of Kansas , Cappon resigned after two years at Kansas as the result of a controversy over " scouting . " The Missouri Valley conference schools had agreed " not to ' scout ' each other in the belief that such a practice was unsportsmanlike . " After Kansas beat Missouri 14 – 7 with a new passing attack and " impregnable defense , " Missouri produced evidence to show that Kansas supporters , not part of the Kansas staff , had acted as " volunteer scouts " at Missouri games and had provided Cappon with " charts of the Tiger plays , " that enabled Cappon to develop new schemes to stop the Missouri offense . According to the 1940 account , the " upshot of the affair was Cappon ' s resignation . " Michigan basketball coach and assistant athletic director . In 1928 , Cappon returned to the University of Michigan as an assistant football and basketball coach . He also served as the assistant athletic director , and in 1931 accepted the additional responsibility as head coach of the basketball team . At the time , one columnist noted : " The Wolves have an excellent man on the campus right now in the person of Franklin ' Baldy ' Cappon , assistant athletic director . ' Cappy ' has scouted Big Ten basketball for the past few years , and has had something of the personnel and plays of the Michigan five . " From 1931 to 1938 , he was the head basketball coach and assistant athletic director at Michigan . Cappon ' s record in seven years as Michigan ' s head basketball coach was 78 – 57 . After the basketball team went 14 – 26 in two seasons from 1933 to 1935 , Cappon turned the program around . His best seasons at Michigan were from 1935 to 1937 , when the Wolverines were 31 – 9 over the course of two seasons . His top players in his best years at Michigan included brothers Earl and John Townsend from Indianapolis . In February 1938 , the University of Michigan hired Fritz Crisler from Princeton to replace Harry Kipke as football coach and Cappon as assistant athletic director . Although no formal announcement was made , appointment of Crisler as assistant athletic director " aroused some speculation as to the status of Franklin C . Cappon , " and it was reported that the tenure of Cappon as assistant athletic director had come to an end . The following month , Cappon accepted a position with Princeton as its head basketball coach and assistant football coach under Princeton ' s head coach Tad Wieman . Princeton basketball coach . In 1938 , Cappon was hired by Princeton University as its head basketball coach . With the exception of three years serving in the Navy during World War II , Cappon remained as Princeton ' s head basketball coach for the next 23 years until he died in the showers at Princeton ' s basketball field house . Cappon won five Ivy League basketball titles while at Princeton , and compiled a record of 262 - 185 . His best seasons at Princeton were 1941 – 42 ( 16 - 5 ) , 1942 – 43 ( 14 – 6 ) , 1950 – 51 ( 15 – 7 ) , 1957 – 58 ( 15 – 8 ) , and 1958 – 59 ( 19 – 5 ) . In the 1960 – 61 season , during which Cappon suffered his first heart attack , the team was 9 – 2 in games Cappon coached . One of the great players coached by Cappon was Butch van Breda Kolff , who succeeded Cappon as Princeton ' s coach in 1962 . While at Princeton , he was also an assistant football coach responsible at various times for the backs , the line , and the ends . In January 1943 , Cappon tendered his resignation as coach at Princeton in order to accept a commission with the U . S . Navy . He was assigned to St . Mary ' s Pre - Flight School in Moraga , California . Cappon missed the 1943 – 1944 through 1945 – 1946 basketball seasons while serving in the Navy . Cappon was a lieutenant in the Naval Aviation fitness program , where he wrote training texts and directed athletics for the fleet airwing on the West Coast . After returning to Princeton , Cappon was outspoken on the value of athletics as an equalizer in American society . In a 1952 speech , Cappon said : " There are some basic principles that we ' re gradually losing sight of in America , but we still have them in athletics . When you come out for an athletic team , your race , creed or color makes no difference . Nobody asks you who you know or how much money you ' ve got . The athletic field is one place where the merit system still takes precedence over the seniority system . " At Princeton , Cappon became known for two trademarks . The first was the " Iron Five , " his practice of picking the five best players and playing them without substitution in every game . The second was the " five - man weave " offense . Cappon once joked about the Iron Five tradition , saying , " If you start five men , they should be your best men , and if they ' re in shape , and play the way they should , there should be no need to substitute . " After a pause , Cappon then added , " but more important than all that , I haven ' t got anybody worth a damn on the bench . " Cappon did not believe in recruiting , and Princeton did not offer athletic scholarships . Accordingly , Cappon worked with whatever talent showed up . One former Princeton player later wrote : " It was short , white basketball at its best . Cappy ' s teams and best players were tough , gritty , aggressive , and smart . " Cappon ' s Princeton teams ran his trademark five - man weave offense from his arrival in the 1930s until he died in 1961 . The scheme kept all five players " in constant motion , running from one corner of the floor to the other , along the arc of what now is the three - point line . " While operating in Cappon ’ s weave , players dribbled with their outside hand , and passed to the approaching player , who ran outside the passer to receive the ball . The players had to be in great physical condition , because they were constantly on the move and were " expected to run the other guys into the ground . " Cappon was known for his conservatism as a coach . In 23 years at Princeton , the uniforms never changed , having small sewn - on numbers and no player names . He considered a fast break as a lack of discipline and would not allow his players to shoot before five or ten passes had been completed . In 1995 , former Princeton player Selden Edwards wrote an article on Cappon ' s influence at Princeton . Edwards , a junior varsity player in the Cappon era , wrote that " Cappy " was " Princeton basketball to anyone even vaguely familiar with the teams of that era . " Edwards described Cappon ' s physical appearance this way : " In 1959 , the fall I arrived at Princeton , Cappy was in peak form , a character who knew he was a character . He was in his early sixties , and his body looked as if it had been sculpted in ice cream and left in the sun . He was bald , the skin on his face drooped , he had deep shadows under his eyes . His voice was gravelly , and he enunciated as if he had wads of Kleenex in his mouth . He always said exactly what he meant , and his language was delightfully salty . Legend had it that he had been a great athlete at Michigan , but by the 1960s no one could imagine that . He was grumpily personable and totally without pretension . " Another famous Princeton alum who played for Cappon is " Sports Illustrated " writer Frank Deford . Deford played on Princeton ' s practice squad while covering the varsity team for the campus newspaper . Cappon once set Deford straight about his talents , telling him , " Deford , you write basketball better than you play it . " Deford later wrote the following about Cappon : " In a profession in which men are renowned for their behavior during a basketball game , Cappy Cappon stood quite by himself among coaches . Until the game was over , the man never did anything but frown . There were degrees of frowning , of course , but his gamut of expression seldom ventured too far from that of a basic frown . A mournful frown , a disinterested frown , and if it was possible - - and it was - - a frown of satisfaction . . . . And when something happened that there wasn ' t a frown to express completely , Cappy would cup his hands or rise to his feet and bellow the words : ` What ' rya doin ' out there ? ' When the game was over , the frown would stay quite in place if Princeton lost . But if they won , he would finally smile just a bit , a smile that looked both modest and embarrassed . " In 1957 , Cappon was inducted into the Helms Foundation College Basketball Hall of Fame . In 1960 , Cappon was part of the committee that selected the U . S . basketball team to compete in the 1960 Summer Olympics . He was also a past president of the National Basketball Coaches Association . Family and death . Cappon married Henrietta Van Putten of Holland , Michigan , and they had their first child , Franklin C . Cappon , Jr . , in 1925 . They also had a daughter , Mary L . Cappon . In January 1961 , Cappon suffered a mild heart attack , and he was hospitalized again for two weeks in the summer of 1961 with an occlusion in an artery of his left arm . Cappon returned to work at Princeton despite the stress that coaching would put on his heart . On November 29 , 1961 , Cappon suffered a second heart attack while showering after a basketball practice at Princeton ' s Dillon Gymnasium . Junior varsity coach , Edward J . Donovan , was in the shower with Cappon at the time , saw Cappon falling and lowered him to the ground . Donovan called for help , and when Cappon ' s doctor arrived ten minutes later , he found Cappon dead on the floor . As word of Cappon ' s death spread around the Princeton campus , it became " one of the saddest days in the lives of anyone connected with Princeton sports in those years , " a moment which some compared to the day two years later when President John F . Kennedy was assassinated . Future U . S . Senator Bill Bradley was a freshman basketball player at the time . One of his teammates found Bradley sitting alone at the Princeton Student Center eating a pint of ice cream after learning of Cappon ' s death . With a dazed look of grief , Bradley noted , " The two people who brought me here are gone , " referring to Cappon and Princeton ' s director of admissions who had recently retired . In his profile of Cappon , Selden Edwards noted that he ' d " never been able to get that image from my mind , of the two naked old men on the tile floor , Silent Ed cradling Cappy Cappon in his arms . Something out of Michelangelo . " Cappon ' s funeral was held at Princeton University Chapel .