Huntington Hardwick
Encyclopedia
Huntington Reed "Tack" Hardwick (October 15, 1892 – June 26, 1949) was an American football
player. He played at the halfback
and end positions for Harvard University
and was selected as a unanimous first-team All-American in 1914. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame
in 1954.
, Hardwick was the son of Charles Theodore Hardwick.
team, a shot put
ter, and the "strong man" of Harvard for two consecutive years. He gained his greatest fame, however, playing for Percy Haughton
's Harvard football teams from 1912 to 1914. During Hardwick's three years as a starter for Harvard, the football team did not lose a single game compiling records of 9–0 in 1912, 9–0 in 1913, and 7–0–2 in 1914.
As a sophomore in 1912, Hardwick had a 60-yard touchdown run against Amherst College
, scored a touchdown in Harvard's first victory over Princeton in 25 years, and caused a fumble that led to a game-winning touchdown against Yale. Hardwick was known as a fierce blocker. In naming Hardwick to Harvard's all-time team, one reporter later wrote: "Hardwick, known to his intimates as 'Tack,' was perhaps the hardest blocker American football has ever known. A vicious, tireless interferer, Hardwick was never happy as long as a single enemy remained standing." Columnist Grantland Rice
called Hardwick "dynamite on the football field" and selected him years later as one of the five greatest competitors he had ever seen, along with Ty Cobb
, Walter Hagen
and Jack Dempsey
.
As a junior in 1913, Hardwick was moved to the end position to allow Eddie Mahan
to play at halfback. Despite having to learn a new position, Hardwick was selected by Walter Camp
as a second-team All-American end in 1913.
As a senior in 1914, Hardwick split his playing time between the end and halfback positions. At the end of the 1914 season, Hardwick was the only player who was unanimously selected as a first-team All-American by all 26 selectors, including Collier's Weekly
(selected by Walter Camp), Vanity Fair
(selected based on the votes of 175 newspapermen), Walter Eckersall
of the Chicago Tribune
, and Frank G. Menke, the sporting editor of the International News Service.
, Hardwick served in the U.S. Army as a captain in the artillery. While stationed in France, he commanded a trench mortar unit.
Hardwick went on to have a successful career in business in Boston. In 1929, he helped found the Boston Garden
. He was also employed by the Boston advertising firm of Doremus & Co.
and served as a director of the Columbian Steamship Company, the Santander Navigation Company, and the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation.
In 1933, Hardwick's wife, Margaret Stone Hardick, filed for divorce in Reno, Nevada
, citing incompatibility as the ground for divorce. Hardwick told the press at the time that the breakup of the marriage was entirely his fault and that he regretted the action. In May 1947, his wife died and left an estate valued at $2.8 million to Hardwick and their daughter, Margaret Hardwick Simmons.
In September 1948, Hardwick married Manuela De Zanone-Poma, formerly of Barcelona
, Spain
, and Cannes, France.
off the coast of Massachusetts. A friend reported that Hardwick suddenly toppled into the water as they walked along the shore. Shortly after Hardwick's death, sports columnist Grantland Rice
wrote a column about Hardwick in which he observed:
Rice described Hardwick as "a big, fine-looking aristocrat from blue-blood stock," who "loved combat -- body contact at crushing force -- a fight to the finish." Rice closed his column by noting, "College football will bring us many stars. But college football will never bring us another Tack Hardwick -- the spirit of football."
Hardwick was posthumously elected to the College Football Hall of Fame as part of its second induction class in 1954.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player. He played at the halfback
Halfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...
and end positions for Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and was selected as a unanimous first-team All-American in 1914. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
in 1954.
Early years
A native of Quincy, MassachusettsQuincy, Massachusetts
Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...
, Hardwick was the son of Charles Theodore Hardwick.
Harvard University
He enrolled at Harvard University in 1911 at age 18. While attending Harvard, Hardwick was a varsity athlete in three sports. He was captain of Harvard's baseballBaseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
team, a shot put
Shot put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action....
ter, and the "strong man" of Harvard for two consecutive years. He gained his greatest fame, however, playing for Percy Haughton
Percy Haughton
Percy Duncan Haughton was an American football and baseball player and coach in the United States. He served as head football coach at Cornell University from 1899 to 1900, at Harvard University from 1908 to 1916, and at Columbia University from 1923 to 1924, compiling a career college football...
's Harvard football teams from 1912 to 1914. During Hardwick's three years as a starter for Harvard, the football team did not lose a single game compiling records of 9–0 in 1912, 9–0 in 1913, and 7–0–2 in 1914.
As a sophomore in 1912, Hardwick had a 60-yard touchdown run against Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
, scored a touchdown in Harvard's first victory over Princeton in 25 years, and caused a fumble that led to a game-winning touchdown against Yale. Hardwick was known as a fierce blocker. In naming Hardwick to Harvard's all-time team, one reporter later wrote: "Hardwick, known to his intimates as 'Tack,' was perhaps the hardest blocker American football has ever known. A vicious, tireless interferer, Hardwick was never happy as long as a single enemy remained standing." Columnist Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice was an early 20th century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio.-Biography:...
called Hardwick "dynamite on the football field" and selected him years later as one of the five greatest competitors he had ever seen, along with Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...
, Walter Hagen
Walter Hagen
Walter Charles Hagen was a major figure in golf in the first half of the 20th century. His tally of eleven professional majors is third behind Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods . He won the U.S. Open twice, and in 1922 he became the first native-born American to win the British Open, which he went on...
and Jack Dempsey
Jack Dempsey
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first...
.
As a junior in 1913, Hardwick was moved to the end position to allow Eddie Mahan
Eddie Mahan
Edward William "Eddie" Mahan was an American football player. While playing halfback for Harvard, Mahan was selected as a first-team All-American three consecutive years from 1913–1915...
to play at halfback. Despite having to learn a new position, Hardwick was selected by Walter Camp
Walter Camp
Walter Chauncey Camp was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". With John Heisman, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pop Warner, Fielding H. Yost, and George Halas, Camp was one of the most accomplished persons in the early history of American football...
as a second-team All-American end in 1913.
As a senior in 1914, Hardwick split his playing time between the end and halfback positions. At the end of the 1914 season, Hardwick was the only player who was unanimously selected as a first-team All-American by all 26 selectors, including Collier's Weekly
Collier's Weekly
Collier's Weekly was an American magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957. With the passage of decades, the title was shortened to Collier's....
(selected by Walter Camp), Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (American magazine 1913-1936)
Vanity Fair was an American society magazine published from 1913-1936. It was highly successful until the Great Depression led to it becoming unprofitable, and it was merged into Vogue magazine in 1936.-History:...
(selected based on the votes of 175 newspapermen), Walter Eckersall
Walter Eckersall
Walter "Eckie" Eckersall was an American football player, official, and sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.-Early life:...
of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, and Frank G. Menke, the sporting editor of the International News Service.
World War I and business career
During World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Hardwick served in the U.S. Army as a captain in the artillery. While stationed in France, he commanded a trench mortar unit.
Hardwick went on to have a successful career in business in Boston. In 1929, he helped found the Boston Garden
Boston Garden
The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928 as "Boston Madison Square Garden" and outlived its original namesake by some 30 years...
. He was also employed by the Boston advertising firm of Doremus & Co.
Doremus & Co.
Doremus & Co., more commonly referred to as Doremus, is a medium-sized advertising agency and Omnicom's sole BtoB communications specialist. Recently, Doremus has been named BtoB Magazine's 2010 Mid-sized Top Agency-Timeline:...
and served as a director of the Columbian Steamship Company, the Santander Navigation Company, and the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation.
Family
In December 1913, Hardwick was engaged to Margaret Stone, the daughter of financier Galen Stone of the brokerage firm of Hayden Stone & Co. Stone was a debutante in 1913 and an "enthusiastic follower" of Harvard football. The couple married in 1915, and their wedding, attended by 1,000 guests, was described as "a brilliant social event," and "the most sumptuous bridal that ever graced the Buzzard's Bay shore." After a wedding breakfast, the couple left in an automobile for a honeymoon trip. The couple had one child, Margaret, born in 1917.In 1933, Hardwick's wife, Margaret Stone Hardick, filed for divorce in Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, citing incompatibility as the ground for divorce. Hardwick told the press at the time that the breakup of the marriage was entirely his fault and that he regretted the action. In May 1947, his wife died and left an estate valued at $2.8 million to Hardwick and their daughter, Margaret Hardwick Simmons.
In September 1948, Hardwick married Manuela De Zanone-Poma, formerly of Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and Cannes, France.
Death and tributes
In June 1949, Hardwick died of a heart attack while clamming at Church's Beach on Cuttyhunk IslandCuttyhunk
Cuttyhunk Island is the outermost of the Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts. It was the first site of English settlement in New England. It is located between Buzzards Bay to the north and Vineyard Sound to the south...
off the coast of Massachusetts. A friend reported that Hardwick suddenly toppled into the water as they walked along the shore. Shortly after Hardwick's death, sports columnist Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice was an early 20th century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio.-Biography:...
wrote a column about Hardwick in which he observed:
"Tack Hardwick has been a close friend of mine for 35 years. Of all the college football players I've ever known since 1900, I would say he was top man in the matter of flaming spirit. He loved football with an intensity beyond belief. Tack was a great halfback and a great end. But above all, as a real tribute, he was a greater blocker and a greater tackler. He told me once that he would rather block or tackle than carry the ball to a touchdown. ... If football had a weakness for Hardwick it was that the game was not quite rough enough."
Rice described Hardwick as "a big, fine-looking aristocrat from blue-blood stock," who "loved combat -- body contact at crushing force -- a fight to the finish." Rice closed his column by noting, "College football will bring us many stars. But college football will never bring us another Tack Hardwick -- the spirit of football."
Hardwick was posthumously elected to the College Football Hall of Fame as part of its second induction class in 1954.