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Alumni Personalities

Wilbur (Pete) Henry  (1897-1952)                                                                     Professional Football Player                                                                              Member of Pro Football Hall of Fame

    Wilbur (Pete) Henry began his athletic career at Mansfield High School, where he was a standout in all sports from 1912-1915.  His yearbook picture was accompanied by the following:

             A man among men and a football warrior.  A happy, good-natured, jolly good fellow,            beloved of his classmates.  Captain of the football team (1914), member of Track Team (1914), Member of Basket Ball teams (1913-1915).  

                After graduating from Mansfield, Henry went on to become the greatest athlete in the             history of Washington and Jefferson College in Pennsylvania.

             Henry went on to a career in the National Football League, which occurred during the first     years of its existence.  He was a member of pro football teams from Canton, Akron, Pottsville and the New York Giants.  While in Canton, he played for legendary athlete Jim Thorpe and   became one of the game’s great linemen and dropkickers.  Henry set an NFL record by launching a 94-yard punt in a game against Akron in 1923.

      Henry retired from the NFL in 1928 and became a coach at Washington and Jefferson. Three years later, he became athletic director and held that post until his death in 1952.  Member of the charter class of enshrinees to the Professional Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio in 1963.