Francis William Leahy (August 27, 1908–June 21, 1973) was an American collegiate football coach. He was born in O'Neill, Nebraska and died in Portland, Oregon.
Leahy was a tackle on Knute Rockne's last three teams, graduating from Notre Dame in 1931. He went to Georgetown as line coach in 1931 and went to Michigan State the following year to take a similar position. He learned a lot about coaching at MSU. Leahy took over as line coach at Fordham ...
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Francis William Leahy (August 27, 1908–June 21, 1973) was an American collegiate football coach. He was born in O'Neill, Nebraska and died in Portland, Oregon.
Leahy was a tackle on Knute Rockne's last three teams, graduating from Notre Dame in 1931. He went to Georgetown as line coach in 1931 and went to Michigan State the following year to take a similar position. He learned a lot about coaching at MSU. Leahy took over as line coach at Fordham in 1933 and stayed until 1938 under Jim Crowley, coaching the famed Seven Blocks of Granite from 1935-37 when the Rams lost only two combined games. (The undersized right guard on the 1935 and 1936 teams was future coaching legend Vince Lombardi). In 1939, he went to Boston College as head coach, guiding the Eagles to a 20-2 record including an undefeated 1940 season capped off by a Sugar Bowl victory and a share of the national championship. At Boston College he tried relentlessly to recruit future beat author Jack Kerouac.
Although he had...
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