Frank Wilton

College coach infobox
Name = Frank Wilton


Caption =
DateOfBirth = 17 Aug. 1905
Birthplace = Chicago, Ill
DateOfDeath = 1977
Sport = Football
College =
Title = Head Coach
CurrentRecord =
OverallRecord = 44-39-5
Awards =
Championships = Buckeye Conference
1932, 1933, 1936
CFbDWID = 2539
Player = Y
Years = 1926-28
Team = Stanford
Position = halfback
Coach = Y
CoachYears = 1928-1931
1932-41
CoachTeams = Berlingame H.S., Calif.
Miami University
FootballHOF =
BBallHOF =

Frank S. Wilton Jr. was an American football coach and player. He is best known for being head coach for Miami University in Oxford, Ohio from 1932-1941 with an overall record as a head coach is 44-39-5.

Player

Wilton lettered 3 years (1926-28) in football for Glenn Scobey "Pop" Warner at Stanford. In his three years Stanford went a combined 26-5-3 with two trips to the Rose Bowl. In 1927 against University of USC he caught a 74 yards touchdown pass from Biff Hoffmann. The Touchdown pass was at the time the longest in Stanford history. [ [http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/stan-m-footbl-mg05.html 2005 Stanford Cardinal Media Guide] ]

College Coach

Miami University

Wilton came to Miami from Stanford and installed a Pop Warner’s double wingback offensive system. [Kurz, Bob (1983) "Miami of Ohio, the Cradle of Coaches" p. 52 Library of Congress Catalog Card number 83-50645] In his first two years, 1932 and 1933, he led the Redskins to the Buckeye Conference Championships. In those two years he only lost three games, two were to Big Ten Conference schools Indiana University and University of Illinois. The next two years his teams won only five games each year, but returned to championship form in 1936 with a Conference Co-championships and a 7-2 record. The Redskins slid to a 4-4-1 record in 1937 but rebounded in 1938 with a 6-3 record. The last 3 years of Wilton’s tenure saw a drastic down turn in victories. The 1939, 1940 and 1941 seasons produced a total of 3 wins. After the 1941 season he was replaced by Stu Holcomb. Shortly after the Japanese’s attack on Pearl Harbor Frank Wilton resigned his duties at Miami (affective at the end of the school year) to join the Navy. [Kurz, Bob (1983) "Miami of Ohio, the Cradle of Coaches" p. 54 Library of Congress Catalog Card number 83-50645] He left Miami with the most wins in School History. A record he kept until Randy Walker broke it in 1997. Wilton’s 44 wins still are 3rd in Miami history in front of Hall of Fame coaches Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, George Little, Sid Gillman, and Bo Schembechler

"Miami University record"

After coaching

Wilton was commissioned Lieutenant, USNR. 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 programmes for aviators' R & R. After the War, Commander Wilton ran athletic programmes at NAS St. Mary's College, California. When he left the Navy, he became Training Co-ordinator, Neenah Mills, with the Kimberly Clark Corporation. In his early years there, he coached the Company football team for about 2 seasons. [Wilton, Glenn Warner Paul [son] Miami, class of 1955.]

External links

* [http://muredhawks.com Miami official site]
* [http://www.ncaa.org NCAA official site]

References

* [http://muredhawks.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/05-mediaguide.html Miami 2005 media guide]
* [http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=2539 season by season record]