Walter Francis "Jack" Crangle (June 8, 1899 – August 31, 1944) was an American football

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...

 fullback

Fullback (American football)

A fullback is a position in the offensive backfield in American and Canadian football, and is one of the two running back positions along with the halfback...

. He played college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 for the University of Illinois and was selected as an All-American in 1920 and 1921. He was a member of Illinois' Big Ten Conference

Big Ten Conference

The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...

 championship teams in 1919 and 1920. He played one season of professional football for the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. He was selected as a second-team All-NFL player by Collyers Eye Magazine in 1923. He also played minor league baseball in 1924 for Elgin in the Chicago League. Crangle later became a football and basketball coach at St. Viator College

St. Viator College

St. Viator College was a Catholic liberal arts college in Bourbonnais, Illinois. It is no longer in operation.-History:St. Viator's grew out of the original Bourbonnais village school, founded in 1865 by the Viatorians, to an academy for boys with the help of Father P...

, head baseball coach and assistant football coach under Gwinn Henry

Gwinn Henry

Gwinn Henry was an American football player, track athlete, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head coach at Howard Payne University , the College of Emporia , the University of Missouri , the University of New Mexico , and the University of Kansas , compiling...

 at the University of Missouri and assistant football coach at St. Louis University. In his later years, he worked for the Aluminum Company of America and operated a filling station north of Columbia, Missouri

Columbia, Missouri

Columbia is the fifth-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With a population of 108,500 as of the 2010 Census, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the...

. Crangle died at his home in Independence, Missouri

Independence, Missouri

Independence is the fourth largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri, and is contained within the counties of Jackson and Clay. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area...

 at age 45 in 1944. Following Crangle's death in 1944, Jack Ryan of the Chicago Daily News wrote that Crangle "rates high among the many good backs Bob Zuppke developed at the state university." Howard Millard of the Decatur Review wrote: "It doesn't seem possible that Jack Crangle, the big, easy going, likeable fellow, probably the greatest fullback in all Illinois University history, is dead." Crangle was survived by his widow, Marjorie.