Frank Wilton

Frank S. Wilton, Jr. (August 17, 1905 – December 1977) was an American football player and coach of football and baseball. He served as the head football coach for Miami University in Oxford, Ohio from 1932 to 1941, compiling a record of 44–39–5. Wilton was also the head baseball coach at Miami from 1933 to 1942, tallying a mark of 74–47.

Playing career

Wilton lettered three seasons (1926–1928) in football for Glenn Scobey "Pop" Warner at Stanford University. In his three years the Stanford football team went a combined 26–5–3 with two trips to the Rose Bowl. In 1927 against USC he caught a 74-yard touchdown pass from Biff Hoffman, which was at the time the longest in Stanford history.^[1]

Coaching career

Wilton came to Miami University from Stanford and installed Pop Warner's double wingback offensive system.^[2] In his first two years, 1932 and 1933, he led the Redskins to Buckeye Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships. In those two years he only lost three games, two to Big Ten Conference teams Indiana and Illinois. The next two years his teams won only five games each year, but returned to championship form in 1936 with a 7–2 record and a share of the conference title. The Redskins slid to a 4–4–1 record in 1937, but rebounded in 1938 with a 6–3 record. The last three years of Wilton's tenure saw a drastic downturn in victories. The 1939, 1940, and 1941 seasons produced a total of three wins. After the 1941 season he was replaced by Stu Holcomb. Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Wilton resigned his duties at Miami, effective at the end of the school year, to join the United States Navy.^[3] He left Miami with the most football wins in school history, a record he retained until Randy Walker surpsed him in 1997. Wilton's 44 wins remain third in Miami football history, more than those tallied by Hall of Fame coaches George Little, Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, and Bo Schembechler.

Military service and later life

Wilton was commissioned as a Lieutenant in United States Navy Reserve. During World War II he was based at NRAB/NAS Millington, a pre-flight cadet training base in Memphis, Tennessee. As a Lieutenant Commander with ComAir 7th Fleet in the Pacific theater, he ran athletic programs for aviators' R&R. After the war, Wilton ran athletic programs at NAS Saint Mary's College of California. When he left the Navy, he became a training coordinator with the Kimberly-Clark Corporation. In his early years there, he coached the company football team for two seasons.^[4]

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

• Frank Wilton at the College Football Data Warehouse