Billy Crawford (American football)

William Randall Crawford (November 11, 1864 – September 6, 1933) was an American football player and coach, lawyer, and railroad executive. He played college football at Yale University and served as the head football coach at Butler University from 1890 to 1891 and the University of Wisconsin—now known as the University of Wisconsin–Madison—in 1892.

Crawford was born on November 11, 1864, in New Albany, Indiana. He was the son of Henry Crawford, a prominent lawyer in Chicago and an officer of the Wabash Railroad.^[1][2] Crawford played football at Yale University as a quarterback and halfback, lettering on the 1885 Yale Bulldogs football team.^[3] He was the lightest player in the history of the Yale Bulldogs football program.^[2] On November 17, 1885, he was injured during a practice when he collided with a member of the freshman team named Bishop.^[4] Crawford graduated from Yale in 1886 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.^[5]

In 1890, Crawford played for the Chicago All-University team alongside Knowlton Ames, who had played at Princeton University, and Frank G. Peters, afellow Yale alumnus who was captain of the 1885 Yale team.^[6] Crawford scored a touchdown in a 12–8 loss to Cornell on Thanksgiving Day.^[7]

In 1890, Crawford coached the football team at Butler University, leading the team to the Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association title.^[8][9] He succeeded Clinton L. Hare, who had left Butler to coach at Purdue University in 1890. Crawford was determined to "get back" at Hare, with whom he had a personal rivalry dating back to a political fight at Yale.^[10] He returned to coach at Butler in 1891.^[11][12] In 1892, Crawford coached the football team at the University of Wisconsin—now known as the University of Wisconsin–Madison.^[13]

After graduating from Harvard Law School, Crawford moved to Kentland, Indiana, where he was a lawyer for a large railway. He then joined his father's law firm in Chicago. Several years later, he went to Seattle, where he practiced law and purchased the Seattle, Renton and Southern electric line, a railroad that ran from Seattle to Renton, Washington.^[2]

In December 1896, Crawford was engaged to Katherine Louise Wardner.^[14] The couple were married on February 23, 1897, in Milwaukee.^[15]

Crawford spent the last two years of his life as a resident of Lexington, Kentucky. He died in Lexington, on September 6, 1933, in an ambulence headed to St. Joseph's Hospital after he had suffered a heart attack.^[2][16]

• Billy Crawford at Find a Grave