Fran Welch

Fran Welch
Biographical details
Born	August 21, 1895; Hartford, Kansas, U.S.
Died	June 19, 1970 (aged 74); Kansas City, Kansas, U.S.
Playing career
Football
1914–1917	Kansas State Normal
Position(s)	Quarterback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1928–1942	Emporia Teachers / Emporia State
1943	Fort Riley
1946–1954	Emporia State
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1927–1962	Emporia Teachers / Emporia State
Head coaching record
Overall	122–83–16
Bowls	1–0
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
	Kansas Sports Hall of Fame; NAIA Track & Field Hall of Fame

Francis George Welch (August 21, 1895 – June 19, 1970) was an American football player and coach, track and field coach, and college athletics administrator. He was of the first three coaches to be selected for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Track and Field Hall of Fame and is a member of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.^[1]

In 1960, Emporia State University named the football stadium Francis G. Welch Stadium to honor his legacy.^[2]

Playing career

Welch enrolled in Kansas State Normal School (now Emporia State University) in 1914. Head football coach Homer Woodson Hargiss put him at quarterback where he remained until graduation four years later. He also displayed skill in baseball and basketball, earning 11 varsity letters before his graduation in 1918.^[3]

Coaching career

Football

Welch was the 13th head football coach for Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas and he held that position for 24 seasons, from 1928 until 1954. Emporia State, like many schools, did not play football during World War II. His overall coaching record at Emporia State was 115–82–15.^[4]

Welch led his team to a victory in the Missouri-Kansas Bowl with a 34–20 victory over Missouri State University on December 4, 1948 in Kansas City, Missouri. It was the only year the bowl game was played.^[5] It was Emporia's first post-season football game.^[4]

Welch (along with Washburn University coach Dick Godlove) also coached an "all-star" team made up of Kansas players to play a similar squad from Missouri^[6] in the "Mo-Kan Bowl" all-star exhibition game.^[7]

Track and field

Welch coached the track and field teams at Emporia as well. His teams were conference champs ten times, won four NAIA championships and placed second three times in 13 years of competition. Fran developed three NCAA individual champions and 13 individual NAIA champs.^[3]

In 1960, Welch was selected to coach field event participants of the United States Women's Track and Field Team for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

Personal life

Welch was awarded a Bachelor of Science in education in 1918 from Kansas Normal, then completed requirements for a degree in agriculture at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. He served as a United States Army lieutenant in World War I^[8] and took a leave of absence from teaching to serve in World War II as a captain and special services officer at Fort Riley.^[9]

Head coaching record


Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs
Emporia Teachers/State Hornets (Central Intercollegiate Conference) (1927–1942)
1928	Emporia Teachers	6–1–1	4–1–1	2nd
1929	Emporia Teachers	6–2	5–1	1st
1930	Emporia Teachers	4–2–3	2–1–3	3rd
1931	Emporia Teachers	4–4	4–2	3rd
1932	Emporia Teachers	2–5–1	0–5–1	7th
1933	Emporia Teachers	3–5–1	2–4	5th
1934	Emporia Teachers	7–2	3–2	T–2nd
1935	Emporia Teachers	4–4	1–3	4th
1936	Emporia Teachers	6–4	2–2	3rd
1937	Emporia State	5–2–2	3–1	2nd
1938	Emporia State	3–6	1–3	4th
1939	Emporia State	6–3	3–2	T–2nd
1940	Emporia State	6–2	3–1	2nd
1941	Emporia State	4–3–2	2–1–1	T–2nd
1942	Emporia State	3–4–1	2–2–1	T–3rd
Fort Riley Centaurs (Independent) (1943)
1943	Fort Riley	6–2–1
Fort Riley:		6–2–1
Emporia State Hornets (Central Intercollegiate Conference) (1946–1954)
1946	Emporia State	4–5	1–4	6th
1947	Emporia State	7–1–1	4–0–1	1st
1948	Emporia State	8–2	5–0	1st	W Missouri-Kansas Bowl
1949	Emporia State	6–4	4–2	T–3rd
1950	Emporia State	6–2–1	5–0	1st
1951	Emporia State	5–3–1	5–0	T–1st
1952	Emporia State	7–3	5–1	1st
1953	Emporia State	2–5–1	2–3	5th
1954	Emporia State	2–7	2–3	T–4th
Emporia Teachers / Emporia State:		116–81–15	70–44–8
Total:		122–83–16
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth

References

^ Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, Francis Welch
^ ESU Facilities -- Welch Stadium
^ ^a ^b H. W. "Bill" Hargiss, notes on Fran Welch
^ ^a ^b Emporia State University Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine 2007 Football Media Guide
^ College Football Data Warehouse Archived October 20, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Missouri-Kansas Bowl Games
^ Barr scores lone touchdown as Missouri stars win 10-0, Southeast Missourian, December 9, 1946
^ Stuber to help with Missouri, Southeast Missourian, November 29, 1946
^ Emporia State University Spotlight, "A soldier in two wars, a teacher for five decades" (Summer 2003)
^ Emporia Gazette, "F.G. (Fran) Welch Dies Following a Brief Sickness", 1970

[1] Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, Francis Welch

[Emporia_State_Facilities-2] ESU Facilities -- Welch Stadium

[H._W._Bill_Hargiss-3] H. W. "Bill" Hargiss, notes on Fran Welch

[Emporia_State_University-4] Emporia State University Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine 2007 Football Media Guide

[5] College Football Data Warehouse Archived October 20, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Missouri-Kansas Bowl Games

[6] Barr scores lone touchdown as Missouri stars win 10-0, Southeast Missourian, December 9, 1946

[7] Stuber to help with Missouri, Southeast Missourian, November 29, 1946

[Emporia_State_University_Spotlight-8] Emporia State University Spotlight, "A soldier in two wars, a teacher for five decades" (Summer 2003)

[9] Emporia Gazette, "F.G. (Fran) Welch Dies Following a Brief Sickness", 1970

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v t e 1960 USA Olympic track and field team
Men's track and road athletes	John Allen Jim Beatty Alex Breckenridge Frank Budd Dyrol Burleson Lee Calhoun Les Carney Pete Close Phil Coleman Ernie Cunliffe Cliff Cushman Glenn Davis Otis Davis Bill Dellinger Jim Grelle Rudy Haluza Dick Howard Stone Johnson Deacon Jones Hayes Jones John J. Kelley Ron Laird Bruce MacDonald Willie May Gordon McKenzie Bob Mimm Tom Murphy Ray Norton Jerry Siebert Dave Sime Bob Soth Max Truex Jack Yerman Earl Young George Young Ron Zinn
Men's field athletes	Bill Alley Rink Babka Ed Bagdonas Terry Beucher Ralph Boston Don Bragg Al Cantello Dave Clark Dick Cochran Hal Connolly Ira Davis Charles Dumas Dave Edstrom Joe Faust Al Hall Rafer Johnson Dallas Long Ron Morris Phil Mulkey Bill Nieder Parry O'Brien Al Oerter Bo Roberson Bill Sharpe Herman Stokes John Thomas Anthony Watson
Women's track athletes	Shirley Crowder Pat Daniels Martha Hudson Barbara Jones Ernestine Pollards Irene Robertson Wilma Rudolph Jo Ann Terry Lucinda Williams
Women's field athletes	Karen Anderson Barbara Brown Earlene Brown Olga Connolly Jean Gaertner Pamela Kurrell Neomia Rogers Annie Smith Willye White
Coaches	Larry Snyder (head coach) George Eastment (assistant coach) Ralph Higgins (assistant coach) Lloyd "Bud" Winter (assistant coach) Ed Temple (women's head coach) Fran Welch (women's field event coach)