Clinton L . Hare Clinton Larue " Clint " Hare ( November 7 , 1864 – June 4 , 1909 ) was a manager , organizer , and coach of American football , and a lawyer and grocer . He served as the head football coach at Purdue University for one season in 1890 and at DePauw University for one season in 1891 , compiling a career record of 6 – 4 . Hare graduated from Yale University in 1887 , where he was a member of Skull and Bones . He was the manager of the Yale football team in 1885 and 1886 . The 1886 Yale team went 9 – 0 – 1 , outscored their opponents by a cumulative total of 687 – 4 , and was later recognized as national co - champions with the Princeton team that they played to a scoreless tie in the season finale . Hare later worked as an attorney , and owned and managed a wholesale grocery in his hometown of Indianapolis . Early life and college years . Hare was born at his grandfather ' s house in Noblesville , Indiana on November 7 , 1864 . His parents were Marcus L . Hare and Julia A . ( Haines ) Hare , who resided in Indianapolis . Hare was raised in Indianapolis and attended the city ' s public schools including Shortridge High School . Hare entered Yale University in the fall of 1883 . At Yale , he participated in a number of athletic pursuits . He played on his class baseball team in the fall of his first two years in New Haven , rowed with his class crews as a sophomore and junior , and was a member of his class lacrosse team in his junior year . As a junior and senior , in the falls of 1885 and 1886 , Hare was the manager of the varsity football team . As senior , he was also president of the University Football Association . In addition to athletics , Hare was a member of the Second Glee Club , the Chapel Choir , the Yale University Club , the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity , and Skull and Bones , a secret society founded at Yale in 1832 . He graduated from Yale with the class of 1887 . In 1886 , Hare and three others — Merrill Moores , Pirtle Harrod , and William Bradshaw — formed the Indianapolis Athletic Association ( IAA ) to introduce football in Indiana . The IAA sponsored intercollegiate games involving teams from Butler University , Hanover College , Wabash College , and Franklin College in 1886 and 1887 , and supplied players with train tickets for games played in Indianapolis . Coaching career . After graduating from Yale , Hare returned to Indianapolis in 1887 and became a football coach at Butler , where his teams won two successive state championships . In 1890 , Hare became the third head football coach at Purdue University in West Lafayette , Indiana . He coached the Purdue football team that season to a record of 3 – 3 . Purdue won each of its two home games in convincing fashion , shutting out Wabash , 54 – 0 , on October 24 and Illinois , 62 – 0 , on November 22 . They also shut out DePauw in Greencastle , Indiana , 32 – 0 . Purdue suffered its worst loss of the season on November 1 in Ann Arbor , falling to Michigan by a score of 34 to six . Hare ' s squad also dropped their season opener in Chicago on October 18 to the Chicago University Football Club , 10 – 6 , and their season finale on November 27 against Hare ' s former team , Butler , by a score of 12 to 10 . With their wins over DePauw and Wabash and their loss to Butler , Purdue tallied a 2 – 1 mark against their opponents from within the state of Indiana . Hare ' s team finished second place in the Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association to Butler , who beat all three of their in - state foes and was awarded the state championship . The following year , in 1891 , Hare moved to DePauw University to coach the football team there . In his one season with DePauw , he guided his team to a record of 3 – 1 . DePauw opened the season with strong wins over Butler and Indiana , but lost on November 7 to Hare ' s former team , Purdue , in West Lafayette , by a score of 30 to zero . The season concluded with DePauw ' s acceptance of a forfeit from Wabash . Legal and business career . Hare began his legal career in March 1888 when he entered the Indianapolis law firm of Harrison , Miller & Elam as a student . He was admitted to the bar two years later , in 1890 . In November 1888 , the firm ' s titular partner and senior member , Benjamin Harrison , was elected as President of the United States . Harrison appointed his advisor and fellow partner in the firm , William H . H . Miller to the post of United States Attorney General . At this time Hare became the attorney for the Board of Children ' s Guardians , a body created by the Indiana General Assembly in 1889 to investigate and manage cases of child neglect . A fellow member of the Indianapolis Bar remarked on Hare ' s accumen in serving his client : " In the trial of cases for the board he showed high ability as a lawyer . His mind acted quickly . He was always thoroughly prepared . He handled his evidence well . He was a ready speaker and spoke with clearness and force . " In November 1894 , Hare was appointed as cashier to the clerk of the Indiana Circuit Court . He held the post for eight years . In 1899 , Hare purchased a controlling interest in J . C . Perry & Company , a wholesale grocer in Indianapolis . Shortly thereafter , he joined the executive committee of Indiana ' s Wholesale Grocer ' s Association , and later became president of the organization . Family , personal life , and death . Hare married Marea Fletcher on October 14 , 1891 . She was the daughter of John B . Fletcher and Myla F . Ritzinger of Indianapolis . Hare and his wife had six children : Helen ( born February 5 , 1894 ) , John Maurice ( born February 2 , 1897 ) , Clinton Larue , Jr . ( born July 18 , 1898 ) , Robert Ritzinger ( born October 15 , 1899 ) , Myla ( born March 3 , 1903 ) , and Laura ( born January 9 , 1906 ) . In 1905 , their home in Indianapolis was robbed of diamonds valuing over $ 3000 . Marea was a friend of Pulitzer Prize - winning novelist Booth Tarkington . In 1923 , she sold a house she had had built in 1911 on North Meridian Street in Indianapolis to Tarkington for $ 37 , 000 . Hare was a Presbyterian and , as a member of the Republican Party , he was active in local political affairs . After a period of illness lasting more than one year , Hare died of throat cancer at his home in Indianapolis on June 4 , 1909 .