Alan March
Dr. Harry A. March
Dr. Harry A March,
circa 1914
What do a physician, journalist, politician, theatrical impresario, soldier, and football mogul have in common?
They all come together in one man, Dr. Harry A. March. Alan is writing the full-length biography of this fascinating man. Here is a brief telling of Dr. March's life.
Harry Addison March was the last of six children born to Union Army veteran Henry Clay March and Sarah McLaughlin March. Harry was born in New Franklin, Ohio, near Canton on December 11, 1875.
Upon graduating from Alliance High School Harry attended nearby Mount Union College. His college career included membership in the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, playing flute and piccolo in the symphony and the Cadet Band, developing his debating and rhetorical skills in the Linnaean Literary Society, editing the school's yearbook his senior year, playing tennis and the newest game on campus, football. Harry was full back on Mount Union's very first varsity team in 1893.
Earning his degree in 1895, Harry became a newspaperman, covering the police beat and local politics. That included the 1896 presidential campaign of fellow Canton citizen, William McKinley, Jr.
Harry A March, 1895
McKinley was a friend of Harry's father and knew the young reporter. After the election, McKinley is said to have told Harry, "Journalists are lounge lizards!" Inspired by the president's quip, Harry followed in the footsteps of his two brothers and one sister and entered medical school.
Harry attended Columbian Medical School in Washington, D.C. (now George Washington University). While a med student Harry also worked as an assistant to Channing Pollock, the Drama Editor of the Washington Times, reviewing theatrical shows in our nation's capital. In his senior year, Harry was elected president of his medical school class.
While in Washington, Harry became friends with Don Marquis, who would go on to a successful career as a newspaper columnist, author, poet, and playwright. In his day, Marquis was often compared to Mark Twain for his philosophical wit and humor. Harry served as Don's family physician for years, standing at Don's bedside as Marquis passed away in 1937.
Graduating in 1901, Dr. March returned to Canton. His fiancée, Edith Martha Frease, was the "Social Editress" of the Canton Repository newspaper, which was owned by her brother, George B. Frease. Edith was active in church, social, and charitable functions throughout Canton. A talented singer, Edith performed at civic and church events, often side by side with her sister and close friend, Rachel Belden Frease. On Wednesday December 18, 1901, in a double wedding at the Frease home, Edith married Dr. Harry March and Rachel married Walter Green. Rachel went on to become an opera singer after studying in London, then toured the United States and Europe in the 1910s and 1920s. Rachel sang at President McKinley's funeral, and a few years later, at Mrs. McKinley's funeral.
Canton Repository, front page,
Dec 19, 1901
In addition to practicing medicine, Harry devoted time to his true love: football. In 1903, he coached the Canton High School football team, where his nephew, Chandos March, played. Canton's arch rival in all things, particularly sports, was Massillon, about ten miles west of Canton. Athletic clubs in both cities sponsored baseball, basketball, and football teams. It was an open secret that the teams were paying some of their players, creating some of the earliest professional football teams. Other "pro teams" began to arise in Ohio, playing in a loose association of teams known as the Ohio League. Doctor March was the team physician for the Canton Pro's (also known as the Bulldogs) as early as 1905, often treating opposing players as well as the Canton players. Harry came to know many of the players and coaches from the Ohio League as well as teams from Pennsylvania and Indiana.
One of Harry's 1903 coaching partners at Canton High was Stark County Coroner Dr. Charles Schiltz. When Dr. Schiltz resigned as coroner in 1905, Harry was appointed by the Stark County Republican Party to replace him. He was elected to the post twice after that. Coroner March investigated poisonings and explosions, train crashes and gun shots, and whatever else may have killed people in Stark County in the early 20th Century.
In 1906 Harry returned to the theater, not as a critic but as a producer and company owner. For the next 14 years, his troupes performed in the small and mid-sized cities of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and throughout the eastern half of the nation. Eventually, he assembled a troupe known as "March's Musical Merrymakers." That's Harry's face in the upper right corner of the ad. The caption reads "The Man Behind the Fun."
Amsterdam, New York, Evening Recorder,
August 18, 1917
Between inquests and dancing girls, Harry was also active in politics. Like his father before him, Harry was a Republican. He was elected to a seat on the Canton School Board in 1904, and as coroner in 1905 and 1908. By 1912, he was chairman of the Stark County Republican Party. In that presidential election year, Harry was an Ohio delegate to the Republican National Convention. Establishment Republicans were determined to nominate Ohioan William Howard Taft for a second term. However, Dr. March and his fellow progressives committed to former president Teddy Roosevelt. When it was clear Republicans would not nominate Roosevelt the progressives broke ranks and formed a caucus. Dr. March acted as the first secretary of the fledgling organization which eventually nominated "TR," for president. That caucus named itself the Progressive Party, but was better known as the Bull Moose Party.
Cincinnati Enquirer, June 25, 1912
"To my boys and my girl, with all my love, Harry A. March, Aug 20, 1929." A gift to his wife Edith, their son Kenneth and Kenneth's two year old son, Harry V. March.
Following the Progressive loss to the conservative Republicans, Harry left politics and moved his theatrical business to New York City, with an office looking over Times Square. Harry remained a New Yorker for the next 25 years.
As if investigating deaths, promoting musical comedy shows, and politics wasn't enough, Doc March did his patriotic duty and enlisted in the army in September 1918. Dr. March served for only a few months in the US Army's Medical Corps, being discharged December 18, 1918. However, he continued to serve in the New York National Guard through 1929 rising to the rank of major.
With all that going on in his life, Harry never forgot about football. He attended games where ever and whenever he could, often on the road with his theatrical companies. His gregarious nature helped him connect to sportswriters, coaches, team managers, and players, across the country. As he did so, he became one of the most knowledgeable men about football talent in the United States.
In Canton, several men met in 1920 and organized an association of professional football teams. Though comprised of mostly small-city teams, the organization adopted the name, "National Football League," within two years. To become truly national in scope, the league sought to expand to the big markets as professional baseball had done decades before. The prize was New York City. Harry was determined to start a pro team in his adopted home town. By 1925, Joe Carr, president of the NFL, authorized his friend and fellow Ohioan, Dr. March, to sell a franchise in New York City.
Harry offered the franchise to Billy Gibson, a well-known boxing promoter and agent. Gibson was not enthusiastic about the deal, but his friend, Tim Mara made the $500 investment without ever having seen a football game. Mara hired Dr. March as his football expert and the New York Football Giants were born.
Harry's knowledge of football talent helped him assemble a team of men who within three years won the league championship. In 1926, Harry convinced Mara to sign Steve Owen as a lineman. Owen became team captain after his first year. A few years after that he became the Giants' head coach and held that post for decades. In 1966, Steve Owen was inducted into the pro football hall of fame. In his autobiography, My Kind of Football, Owen wrote, "Great in all ways was (Doc March's) contribution to the success of professional football in New York City in those early days."
New York Football Giants at Polo Grounds, 1929. Dr. March in heavy coat, left of center, without hat. Tim Mara in back in light colored hat, looking right.
Harry attended the NFL's twice-annual meetings from 1925 through 1934. He immediately became active in the meetings. Team owners elected him to the three-man Executive Committee for several years, working side-by-side with George Halas, Curley Lambeau, and other greats of the pro game.
In 1932, Giants' owner Tim Mara handed-over management of the team to his son, John, aged 22 and a new graduate of Fordham Law School. Harry retained his connections to the team and continued working on the NFL's executive committee.
To promote the league and professional football in general, Dr. March wrote the first history of the game, titled, Pro Football: Its Ups and Downs. He described the book as a "Light-Hearted Look at the Post Graduate Game." Published in 1934, the league bought 100 copies, which owners gave as gifts to build support for the game. Teams sold copies of the book at their ball parks, too.
In his introduction to the book, the legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice dubbed Harry, "The Father of Professional Football."
Dr. Harry A. March
1934
In 1934 Harry left the NFL. Still loving the game, he began organizing the American Professional Football League. Vowing not to be an "outlaw league" which would poach talent from the National League, "The Americans" were to bring healthy competition to the NFL. Doc March was relying upon his ability to spot and recruit talent the National League would overlook, specializing in the great un-heralded players at small colleges. Within less than two years, however, Harry resigned from the presidency of new league over "policy disagreements." Those disagreements were about recruiting players already under contract to the National League. Less than a year after Harry's resignation, the upstart league folded.
Doc March published a second, updated edition of Pro Football: Its Ups and Downs, in 1939. In that edition he eulogized his late friend, Joe Carr, who had died just months before the second edition was released. Harry praised Carr for his strong leadership in building the NFL and for the friendship the two men shared through the years.
Dr. Harry Addison March died in his Canton home, June 10, 1940, at the age of 64. Harry lived a full life with careers in several fields. His legacy is not only in pro football, but in theater, politics, and military service. His dynamism, creativity, and patriotism made him an All-American off the field. Harry was not just a dreamer, but a doer. Everybody loved Harry. After all, he was "The Man Behind the Fun."
Headstone of Dr. Harry A. March at Westlawn Cemetery, Canton, Ohio. It sums up his life in less than twenty words:
HARRY A MARCH
1875 - 1940
PHYSICIAN, AUTHOR,
SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN.
"LEARN TO LAUGH AND DO NOT WORRY"
Listen to a podcast about Dr. March's life on the "Pigskin Dispatch" website here: https://pigskindispatch.com/home/Game-Changers/Dr-Harry-March