Maurice F. Daly

Maurice F. "Moe" Daly was and American football player and United States Army Air Forces colonel. A star athlete at Connecticut Agricultural College (today known as the "University of Connecticut") and at the United States Military Academy, he played for both schools' football teams and subsequently coached Army's team. Daly was captured as a prisoner of war by the Japanese at the end of the Battle of Bataan. Daly died as a prisoner on 21 January 1945.

Early life Daly grew up in Hartford, Connecticut. He had two brothers and a sister. His brother John J. Daly was, like him, an athletic star at Connecticut Agricultural College (the University of Connecticut). His other brother, James M. Daly, was a graduate of United States Naval Academy.

College sports

Connecticut Daly had a noteworthy college football career in the early 1920s on the Connecticut Agricultural College football team, During the with the team's 1924 season, he played halfback and was regarded to be one of the best players on any Eastern United States college team. During the team's 1926 season, Daly played center.

Daly was Army's center for the entirety of the 1926 Army–Navy Game, a game which is considered the greatest Army–Navy Game and one of the greatest in the history of college football.

While at West Point, Daly was also a star player for the Army's basketball, ice hockey, and lacrosse teams.

Daly was stationed at Clark Air Base in The Philippines when it was attacked by Japanese forces on 8 December, 1941 (one day after the Attack on Pearl Harbor). He participated in the defense of the base that day. However, he was taken prisoner in April 1942 when the American forces lost the Battle of Bataan.

Daly died in captivity. Per the account of the Japanese military, Daly died of acute colitis on 21 January 1945 while a prisoner of war aboard a Japanese prison ship. World of his death was not received by his family until September. He was 44 years old.