Ralph Horween
A Harvard football star who led an undefeated team to Rose Bowl glory, then quietly shaped the game for decades as a coach and leather mogul.
1896–1997 (age 101)·American football player and coach·Birthday: August 3·The Lost Generation
Biography
Ralph Horween’s story is woven into the very leather of American football. Born in Chicago in 1896, he found his athletic destiny at Harvard, where his powerful running and precise kicking made him the engine of the Crimson’s fabled 1919 and 1920 squads. These teams didn’t just win; they dominated without a single loss, capping their run with a victory in the 1920 Rose Bowl, a game that helped cement the bowl’s national prestige. Voted an All-American, Horween could have rested on that glory. Instead, he pivoted, playing briefly in the early NFL before returning to his family’s business, the Horween Leather Company, which supplied leather for footballs. His passion for the game never faded; he served as a Harvard assistant coach for over twenty years, mentoring generations of players. His life was a rare double play: first a defining player in college football’s golden age, then a behind-the-scenes architect who helped maintain its traditions and its very equipment.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Ralph was born in 1896, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Ralph Was Born
The biggest hits of 1896
Ralph's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1896Born
First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
President: Grover Cleveland
1901Started school
Queen Victoria dies, ending the Victorian era
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1909Became a teenager
Robert Peary claims to reach the North Pole
President: William Howard Taft
1912Could drive
Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage
President: William Howard Taft
1914Could vote
World War I begins
President: Woodrow Wilson
1917Turned 21
Russian Revolution overthrows the tsar; US enters WWI
President: Woodrow Wilson
1926Turned 30
Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket
President: Calvin Coolidge"Baby Face" — Jan Garber
1936Turned 40
Jesse Owens wins four golds at the Berlin Olympics
Gas: $0.19/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"The Way You Look Tonight" — Fred AstaireBest Picture: The Great Ziegfeld
1946Turned 50
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
1956Turned 60
Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $10,050Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Heartbreak Hotel" — Elvis PresleyBest Picture: Around the World in 80 Days
1966Turned 70
Star Trek premieres on television
Gas: $0.32/galHome: $14,200Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"The Ballad of the Green Berets" — SSgt Barry SadlerBest Picture: A Man for All Seasons
1976Turned 80
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1997Died at 101
Princess Diana dies in Paris car crash; Harry Potter published
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $104,100Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Candle in the Wind 1997" — Elton JohnBest Picture: Titanic
Key Achievements
- Played fullback and halfback for the undefeated Harvard Crimson football teams of 1919 and 1920.
- Was a key player in Harvard's victory in the 1920 Rose Bowl, a landmark game for the event's prestige.
- Earned All-American honors for his collegiate football performance.
- Served as an assistant football coach at Harvard for more than two decades.
- Was part of the family-run Horween Leather Company, a historic supplier of leather for NFL footballs.
Did You Know?
He and his brother, Arnold Horween, both played for and later coached the Harvard football team.
The Horween family business, started by his father, is one of the oldest tannery companies in the United States.
He played professional football for the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals) in 1921 and 1923.
He lived to be 100 years old, witnessing nearly the entire 20th century of football.
“The game is won in the trenches, with fundamentals and force.”
