Henry Hobbs

Henry Hobbs
Sport(s) Football
Biographical details
Born May 10, 1887
Slatersville, Rhode Island
Died June 28, 1931 (aged 44)
New York City, New York
Playing career
1906 Dartmouth
1907-1909 Yale
Position(s) Tackle
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1910–1913 Amherst
Head coaching record
Overall 13–17–2

Henry Homer Hobbs (May 10, 1887 – June 28, 1931) was an American football player and coach. He played college football at Yale University and was selected as a consensus All-American at the tackle position in 1909. He also served as the head coach at Amherst College from 1910 to 1913, compiling a 13–17–2 record with the Lord Jeffs.

During World War I, Hobbs was active with the Commission for Relief in Belgium and the American Field Service. When the United States entered the war, he served in the United States Army and was put in charge of the procurement, storage, and distribution of lubricating oils for the American Expeditionary Forces.

Early years

Hobbs was born in 1887 in Slatersville, Rhode Island.[1] His father, Charles Henry Hobbs, owned a knitting mill in Palmer, Massachusetts.[2] Hobbs attended preparatory school at Andover and was captain of the Andover football team in 1905.[3]

College football player

Hobbs enrolled at Dartmouth College during the 1906-1907 academic year and played on the Dartmouth Big Green football team in 1906. He subsequently transferred to Yale and joined Yale's football team in 1907.[4] He was selected as a consensus All-American at the tackle position in 1909.[5] Hobbs was also a "star hammer thrower" for Yale.[6] He was also a member of The Colony and Berzelus while at Yale.[2]

Football coach at Amherst

Hobbs was hired as the head football coach at Amherst in January 1910.[7][8] He was the head coach at Amherst from 1910 to 1913, compiling a 13–17–2 record.[9][10] In January 1914, Hobbs announced that he would not return as Amherst's football coach in the fall of 1914. Hobss stated that he intended to focus on his business duties.[11]

Business career and military service

While coaching the Amherst football team, Hobbs was employed in a department store in Springfield, Massachusetts, from 1910 to 1911 and in the bond department of Hayden, Stone & Company in Boston from 1911 to 1913.[2] From 1913 to 1914, he was employed with Logan & Bryan, commission merchants in Chicago.[2]

In 1915, 15 months before the United States entered World War I, Hobbs sailed to France to serve with the French Ambulance Corps and later with the French Intelligence Corps.[12] He was also a member of the organization department of the Commission for Relief in Belgium in 1915.[2] He also worked with the American Field Service where he was attached to the 1st French Army from 1915 to 1916.[2] In 1917, when the United States entered the war, he served in the United States Army with the rank of captain.[13] He was responsible for procurement, storage, and distribution of lubricating oils for the American Expeditionary Forces. After he was discharged from the military in January 1919, he remained engaged in the oil business. He later became a stone engineer for the Fuller Construction Company of New York.[2]

Family and death

John Emory Andrus

In January 1911, Hobbs married Helen Whittier Andrus, the daughter of John Emory Andrus, a U.S. Congressman. The marriage was opposed by Congressman Andrus, reported to be a millionaire and the "richest man in Congress". The wedding occurred in secret and resulted in extensive coverage in newspapers from Boston to Baltimore.[14][15][16][17] Congressman Andrus was reported to be "disonsolate" over the decision of his "favorite daughter" to marry a man who was "at present 'aisle manager' for a department store in Springfield, Mass."[6] Hobbs replied in the press that he had $100,000 of his own and that he intended to go into business for himself.[18]

Hobbs and his wife had a daughter, Eleanore Bourne Hobbs, born in August 1912. The couple divorced in 1916, and Hobbs was not permitted to see his daughter for 13 years. In 1929, Hobbs won a habeas corpus action requiring his ex-wife to allow him to see his 17-year-old daughter.[19]

Hobbs was married in 1928 to Edna Shirk.[2] In June 1931, he died from heart disease at his home in New York City. He was 44 years old at the time of his death. Hobbs was buried in Palmer, Massachusetts.[2][12][13]

References

  1. ↑ "Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Year 1930-1931" (PDF). Bulletin of Yale University. December 1, 1931.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Year 1932-1933" (PDF). Bulletin of Yale University. October 15, 1933.
  3. ↑ "In Their Annual Football Game: Exeter and Andover Will Meet Today, and a Lively Contest Is Expected". Daily Boston Globe. November 11, 1905.
  4. ↑ "Hobb's [sic] Long Run". The Meriden Daily Journal. October 24, 1907.
  5. ↑ "Award Winners" (PDF). NCAA. 2012. p. 4.
  6. 1 2 "Daughter Angers Andrus: "Richest Congressman" Disconsolate Over Elopment". The Daily Star, Fredericksburg, Virginia. June 12, 1911.
  7. ↑ "Hobbs of Yale Made Coach of Amherst Eleven". The Evening Tribune, Providence, R.I. January 26, 1910.
  8. ↑ "Hobbs To Coach At Amherst". The Christian Science Monitor. January 25, 1910.
  9. ↑ "Amherst Coaching Records". College Football Data Warehouse.
  10. ↑ "Hobbs To Coach Amherst". The Milwaukee Journal. December 16, 1912.
  11. ↑ "Hobbs Will Not Coach Amherst". The Hartford Courant. January 28, 1914.
  12. 1 2 "Henry Homer Hobbs Yale Football Hero Dead in New York". Syracuse Herald. June 30, 1931.
  13. 1 2 "Former Yale Star Passes: Henry Homer Hobbs of 1909 Dies in New York". Lowell Sun. June 30, 1931.
  14. ↑ "Miss Andrus Weds Yale Man Secretly: Yonkers Congressman Opposed His Daughter's Marriage to Henry H. Hobbs; Was Star Left Tackle; Bride's Family Learn Too Late of the License Being Issued to Prevent Ceremony in St. George's Church". The New York Times. June 9, 1911.
  15. ↑ "Hobbs and His Eloping Bride Will Sail Today: Off to Italy to Give Her Angry Father Long Time to Think Case Over; Yale Football Star and Yonkers Girl Begin Honeymoon Here". Boston Daily Globe. June 10, 1911. p. 1.
  16. ↑ "Football Star and Bride Sail: Leave for Italy Without Congressman Andrus' Forgiveness". The Sun, Baltimore, Maryland. June 11, 1911. p. 1.
  17. ↑ "Daughter of Millionaire Andrus Elopes". The Evening News, Providence, R.I. June 9, 1911.
  18. ↑ "Hobbs Has $100,000of Own, It Is Said: Friends Say Couple Won't Live in Springfield. Understood That He Will Go Into Business for Himself". Boston Daily Globe. June 12, 1911. p. 1.
  19. ↑ "Hobbs To See Daughter: Yale Athlete Wins Right to Meet Girl in Court After 13 Years". The New York Times. October 2, 1929.
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