Anson Harrold

Anson Forney Harrold (March 10, 1870 – April 18, 1907) was an American football player and coach. He served as the first head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh, then known as Western University of Pennsylvania. He led the school to a 1–4 record in 1893. Aside from coaching, Harrold also played football for Franklin & Marshall College, from which he graduated from in 1889 and Princeton University, where he attended from 1890 until graduating in 1893. He played in 1894 for the Allegheny Athletic Association.^[1]

Anson Harrold

Biographical details
Born	(1870-03-10)March 10, 1870 Manor, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	April 18, 1907(1907-04-18) (aged 37) Barrington, Rhode Island, U.S.
Playing career
1888–1889	Franklin & Marshall
1891–1892	Princeton
1894	Allegheny Athletic Association
Position(s)	Tackle
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1893	Western U. of Pennsylvania
Head coaching record
Overall	1–4

Work outside football

Outside football he worked as a design engineer for 15 years at Westinghouse Electric. He also helped organize the Pittsburgh Transformer Company and worked there for three years. He also became the President of the American Transformer Company, based in Newark, New Jersey.

Family

On September 12, 1893, he married Maude Hubley of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The couple had one daughter, Elisabeth. Elisabeth married Jesse Gearing Johnson of Bridgton, NJ and they settled in Norfolk, Va.

Death

Harrold died on April 18, 1907, from tuberculosis.^[2] He spent the last year of his life trying to regain his health, spending his last summer and fall in the woods of Maine and his last winter in Camden, South Carolina.

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs
Western University of Pennsylvania (Independent) (1893)
1893	Western University of Pennsylvania	1–4
Western University of Pennsylvania:		1–4
Total:		1–4

References

1. PFRA Research. "The A's Have It: The 3A's Triumph: 1894" (PDF). Professional Football Researchers Association. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
2. "Anson F. Harrold" (PDF). The New York Times. April 19, 1907. Retrieved March 23, 2011.

Additional sources

• The Quin-Decennial Record of the Class of '93 of Princeton University. Princeton University. 1908.