Forrest Eugene "Cap" Craver Sr. (September 24, 1875 – October 18, 1958) was an American college football player and coach and athletic director who helped to pioneer physical education programs at the collegiate level including the introduction of intramural sports.Dickinson Chronicles "Forrest E. Craver 1875–1958" by Cynthia Mackey
Coaching career Football Craver served as the fifth and fourteenth head football coach at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania."The History of Football at Dickinson College, 1885-1969." Gobrecht, Wilbur J., Chambersburg, PA: Kerr Printing Co., 1971. He held that position for a total of five seasons, first coaching the team for the 1904 season and then returning to coach the team from 1918 until 1921.Centennial Conference "2008 Centennial Conference Football Prospectus" His overall coaching record at Dickinson was 21 wins, 18 losses, and 6 ties.Dickinson College: A History by Charles Coleman Sellers, Middletown, CT. Wesleyan University Press, 1973 This ranks him seventh at Dickinson in terms of total wins and tenth at Dickinson in terms of winning percentage.
Craver was the first graduate of Dickinson to coach football at Dickinson.Chronicles of Dickinson College Forrest Eugene Craver (1875–1958) His teams would often scrimmage against the cross-town rivals Carlisle Indians coached by Pop Warner.New York Times "Dickinson Plays with Indians" October 2, 1913
Craver was also a delegate to the 1909 Intercollegiate Athletic Association meeting. This meeting brought about serious reforms for safety and rules changes in the sport of American football."West Point Leads in Football Reform" New York Times, December 28, 1909
For the 1917 season, he worked as head coach and director of sports at the Tome School in Maryland.
Track and field Besides coaching football, Craver coached track as well. He led the Dickinson track team to ten undefeated seasons in 1912, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1929, and 1934. Craver was the organizer and early president of the Old Middle Atlantic Collegiate Track and Field Association"Craver, Forrest E." DropFile, Dickinson College Special Collections, Dickinson College.
Athletic director While serving as athletic director in 1904–05, Craver was sued by Ralph O. Hall, a Dickinson College junior, and varsity baseball pitcher, for breach of contract for offering Hall money to attend Dickinson and play baseball, rather than attending Cornell. The court awarded judgment of $217 to Hall. Craver resigned his position with the college, and left for several years, before returning for a long and successful coaching career.The Washington Times "College Athlete Awarded Salary", June 8, 190, p. 7.
Academics Craver was a long-standing faculty member at DickinsonThe Newark Advocate Monday, October 20, 1958 as instructor of mathematics, Latin, and physical education.The Microcosm 1911 Dickinson College Yearbook The school has honored his memory by annually awarding "The Forrest E. Craver Mathematics Prize" to selected graduates.Dickinson College Other Honors He was a long-standing member of the Phi Beta Kappa organization at DickinsonPhi Beta Kappa Handbook and General Address Catalogue of the United Chapters By Phi Beta Kappa, Eben Burt Parsons, Published by Walden & Crawley, 1900 and was the local chapter's treasurer from 1910 until 1939.Dickinson College Chronicles Alpah of Pennsylvania Centennial History (1887–1986)
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