John L. Griffith
John Lorenzo Griffith (August 20, 1877 – December 7, 1944) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, track athlete, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the first commissioner of the Big Ten Conference from 1922 until his death in 1944.
Griffith pictured in The Quax 1918, Drake yearbook | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 20, 1877 Mount Carroll, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | December 7, 1944 (aged 67) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| ?–1902 | Beloit |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football | |
| c. 1903 | Yankton |
| 1905–1907 | Morningside |
| 1908–1915 | Drake |
| Basketball | |
| 1909–1910 | Drake |
| 1912–1914 | Drake |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1902–1905 | Yankton |
| 1905–1908 | Morningside |
| 1908–1918 | Drake |
| 1922–1944 | Big Ten (commissioner) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 49–31–7 (football, excluding Yankton) |
He married Allice Kelley on 17 Aug 1904. Alice was born 8 Nov 1879 in Waterford WI to Frances Beardsley Kelley and John Lawrence Kelley. She graduated Beloit College in Beloit, WI in 1901, and taught school. Alice died 20 Dec 1961 and is buried beside her husband in Oakhill Cemetery, Mount Carroll, Carroll County, Illinois. They had one child, John Lawrence Grffith, who was born in 1916 and died in 1984. He married Katherine Johnson who was born in 1917 and died in 2001. They both are interred in the Church of the Holy Comforter Columbarium in Winnetka IL.