Abraham Barr Snively

Abraham Barr Snively II (February 9, 1899 – April 15, 1964) was an American football player and coach of lacrosse, football, and ice hockey. He played football for Princeton University from 1921 to 1923 and was captain of the 1923 team. He held coaching positions at Williams College in lacrosse, football and hockey from 1928 to 1948 and at the University of New Hampshire from 1953 to 1964.

Early years Snively was a native of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. He was the son of A. Barr Snively I (c. 1869 – October 1944), a prominent physician and surgeon in Waynesboro, and Mary Carlisle Snively. Snively played football at Waynesboro High School on a team that The Daily News (Frederick, Maryland) called "the best foot ball team ever representing the Waynesboro High School."

Snively served in the U.S. military during World War I. He subsequently attended Princeton University from which he graduated in 1924. He played as a guard for the Princeton Tigers football team from 1921 to 1923. Throughout his athletic career as a player and coach, Snively was known by the nickname "Whoop" (sometimes "Whoops").

Coaching career In 1925, Snively became the head coach of the Rumford High School football team in Rumford, Maine. Snively also coached lacrosse at Brown.

Snively took a leave of absence from Williams in 1942 to serve with the Red Cross in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.

Snively returned to Williams in September 1945 and resumed his posts as football line coach and head coach for the hockey and lacrosse team. In January 1946, he became the head football coach at Williams; he held that position for the 1946 and 1947 seasons.

In the fall of 1948, Snively served as an assistant football coach at the University of Maine under head coach Eck Allen.

From 1949 through the 1951, Snively was the head football coach at Clarkson University. When Clarkson discontinued football in 1952, Snively became the school's director of intramural athletics.

In March 1953, Snively was hired by the University of New Hampshire as the line coach for its football team and as the head coach for its lacrosse team. He was also the men's ice hockey coach at New Hampshire from 1962 to 1964. He was survived by his wife, Eva (Owen) Snively; a son, A. Barr Snively III, and a daughter, Virginia O. Snively.

In December 1964, the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association posthumously voted Snively its Coach of the Year award. Snively's lacrosse teams accumulated 116 victories, including his 85–47 record at New Hampshire. He had also coached lacrosse at Brown, Williams, Clarkson and Maine. In February 1965, the University of New Hampshire dedicated Snively Arena, named after Coach Snively, to be used by the institution's hockey team and for other athletic events. The A. Barr "Whoop" Snively Scholarship Fund was established in 1966. It provides scholarship support to a third-year student who has participated in hockey, lacrosse, or football.

Head coaching record Ice hockey