Eddie Mahan

Edward William Mahan (January 19, 1892 – July 22, 1975) was an American football player. While playing halfback for Harvard, Mahan was selected as a first-team All-American three consecutive years from 1913 to 1915. He was widely regarded as one of the greatest football players in the first 50 years of the sport and was named by Jim Thorpe as the greatest football player of all time. In 1951, he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame as part of the first group of inductees.

Early life Mahan was a native of Natick, Massachusetts. He was of Irish ancestry and reportedly spoke with "the brogue of a full-blooded native of Erin." Mahan was selected as a first-team All-American in each of those years, leading Harvard to a three-year record of 24–1–2.

Mahan later described his technique for evading tacklers as follows: "I simply give them the foot—right or left—and then take it away."

Recognition as one of the greatest football players of all time When Jim Thorpe was asked to choose the greatest football player of all time, he selected Mahan.

In his book about the early days of football, Bill Edwards wrote the following about Mahan: "If the future football generals develop a better all-around man than Eddie Mahan, captain of the great Harvard team of 1915, whose playing brought not only victory to Harvard but was accompanied by great admiration throughout the football world, they may well congratulate themselves."

In November 1925, football writer W.B. Hanna compared Red Grange to Mahan:"In the writer's opinion, Grange and Mahan are the greatest backs he ever saw, from the standpoint of advancing the ball. Grange seems to run with more power than Mahan and a trifle more laboriously, because he is not quite so light-footed. It may be doubted whether he is as fast, but that is mere guesswork. Football, carrying the ball, seemed play to Mahan. Grange does not do his work in quite that effortless manner." Mahan was frequently mentioned among the greats of the game. In 1927, George Trevor of the New York Sun selected an all-time backfield made up of Mahan, Walter Eckersall, Jim Thorpe, and Willie Heston of Michigan.

Coaching and military service Mahan received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard in the spring of 1916, with a major in political science and economy. After one season at Berkeley, Mahan returned to the East. Press accounts at the end of the 1916 season reported that Mahan and Cal's head coach (an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania) had vastly different styles of coaching, and Mahan was never given an opportunity to play an active role in coaching the team.

During World War I, Mahan served as a first lieutenant with the U.S. Marine Corps and was captain of the League Island Marines football team. He was named to Paul Purman's 1917 All-Service football team. At the end of the war, Mahan remained in Europe for a time working for Herbert Hoover's Food Administration.

After the war, Mahan returned to Harvard as the coach of the team's halfbacks. In August 1924, he was also appointed head coach of the Harvard baseball team.

Later life In 1926, Mahan went to Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut. He also served as director of athletics at the Newman School in Lakewood, New Jersey. He also served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

In 1975, after a long illness, Mahan died of cancer at Glover Memorial Hospital in Needham, Massachusetts. At the time of his death, Mahan was a resident of his hometown, Natick, Massachusetts. He was survived by his wife, Beryl Boardman Mahan, two daughters, and six grandchildren.