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Birth:          12 Nov 1882 Aurora, Ill.
Death:          16 May 1956 Appleton, Outagamie Co., Wis.

Notes
awt robertson
1910 in Appleton, Outagamie Co., Wisc. lawyer
1920 in Appleton, Outagamie Co., Wisc. lawyer
1940 in Appleton, Outagamie Co., Wisc. lawyer
Kaul Fam Tree on ancestry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Catlin,_Sr.
Mark S. Catlin, Sr. (November 12, 1882[1] – May 16, 1956)[2] was an American 
football player, track athlete, coach, lawyer, and politician. He served as the head 
football coach at the University of Iowa from 1906 to 1908, and at Lawrence 
University from 1909 to 1918 and again from 1924 to 1927, compiling a career college 
football record of 63–40–7. Catlin played football at the University of Chicago and also 
participated in track and field competitions held adjunct to the 1904 Olympic Games. 
He later worked as an attorney and also served in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 
1921 to 1923.
Playing career[edit]

Born in Aurora, Illinois, Catlin played football at the University of Chicago under Amos 
Alonzo Stagg. He accounted for the only score in Chicago's 1905 victory over 
Michigan by tackling a Wolverine in the end zone for a safety.[3] The Chicago victory 
broke Michigan’s 56-game unbeaten streak. He earned All-Western Conference 
honors at the end position, and he was named a second team All-American.

Catlin was also a brilliant field athlete. Catlin won in the broad jump and high and low 
hurdles and also competed in the hurdles and discus at the Olympic Collegiate 
Championships, held in St. Louis in June, before the 1904 Olympics, along with many 
other competitions that included the word "Olympics" in their title. At this competition 
he received gold medals in the 120 and 220 yd hurdles and silver in the discus. His 
time in the 120 yd hurdles (15 3-5s) bested that recorded in the official Olympics 
(16s).[4] He graduated from Chicago in 1905. 100 years later, Catlin was elected to 
the University of Chicago's Hall of Fame in 2005.[5]

Coaching career[edit]

Iowa[edit]

Mark Catlin decided to go to law school at the University of Iowa. Catlin was hired as 
the heir apparent to John Chalmers as Iowa's head football coach. Catlin spent the 
1906 season assisting Chalmers. Although Catlin was actually an assistant coach, 
many Iowa records consider Catlin, not Chalmers, the official coach of the 1906 
Hawkeyes.

The Western Conference meetings of 1905 led to two significant rule changes. 
Conference members were not allowed to play more than five games per season. Also, 
freshmen were now ineligible, and players were allowed a maximum of three years of 
eligibility. These rule changes were made in response to growing criticism over player 
injuries and deaths during games at that time.[6]

These changes greatly hampered play in 1906. Conference players who were to be 
seniors were all ruled ineligible, because they had already played three years of 
competition. Players who were to be freshmen also sat out. Only players who were to 
be sophomores and juniors were allowed to play.

Iowa finished with a 2–3 record in 1906. Coaches Chalmers and Catlin worked well 
together but had contrasting coaching styles. Chalmers learned the eastern style of 
play at Lafayette, coaching players as individuals and devising conservative schemes 
to maximize their talents. Catlin learned the western style of play from Amos Alonzo 
Stagg at Chicago, coaching schemes rather than players and advocating an open, 
aggressive style.[7]

The most notable game of the 1907 season was the "rabbit game" against Wisconsin. 
After two easy wins to start the season, Iowa held a 5–0 halftime lead over Wisconsin 
when the two teams lined up for the second half kickoff. A rabbit ran out of 
Wisconsin's end zone and sprinted 110 yards downfield into Iowa's end zone. 
Wisconsin returned a punt late in the game for a touchdown, following the path of the 
rabbit, and gave the Badgers a 6–5 win.

The Hawkeyes were amusingly convinced that it was the rabbit that had jinxed the 
team. Before their Wednesday practice for the weekend's Illinois game, the team had 
a rabbit hunt. Catlin found and shot the unlucky rabbit, and before the game with 
Illinois, the members of the Hawkeye team rubbed the dead rabbit's left hind foot for 
good luck. It must have worked; Iowa won, 25–12. Iowa finished the year with a 3–2 
record.

Catlin returned for the 1908 season. The season opening game against Coe College 
set the tone for the season. Two years earlier, Coe protested a game against Iowa. 
Iowa had won, 15–12, but there was considerable controversy surrounding the win. 
Iowa trailed late in the game, and Coe officials complained that the timekeeper had 
given the Hawkeye team extra time to get in position for the game winning score.

The Hawkeyes were determined to leave no doubt this time. They didn't. Iowa won, 
92–0. It is still the second largest margin of victory in school history. However, it was a 
Pyrrhic victory. Five prominent players, including Carroll "Chick" Kirk and Walter 
"Stub" Stewart, were badly injured and did not regain their effectiveness all year.[8] 
As a result, Iowa stumbled to a 2-5 record.

Mark Catlin, law degree in hand, left Iowa after the 1908 season. He had a 5–7 record 
in 1907–1908, and a 2–3 record in 1906. Despite the record, Catlin was a very 
innovative coach. He introduced the team to the game of handball to develop the 
team's quickness. He was also one of the first coaches to give his players oxygen 
when they became winded.[9] In addition to coaching football, Catlin served as Iowa's 
track and cross country coach for three years from 1906–1908. He left to coach at 
Lawrence University.

Lawrence[edit]

Catlin began to make his mark on Lawrence football in 1910, when the Vikings played 
to a 6–6 tie with Wisconsin. For the next four seasons, Lawrence was the 
unquestioned powerhouse of small college football in the state. Catlin's teams won 
four consecutive Wisconsin Intercollegiate championships from 1911–1914 and gave 
up just one touchdown to a small college opponent. In that stretch, Lawrence 
outscored its opponents 485–143.

Catlin stepped away from football following the 1918 season. He served in the 
Wisconsin State Assembly from 1921–1923 as a Republican.[10] His son Mark Catlin, 
Jr. also served in the Wisconsin State Assembly and was the speaker.[11] After being 
defeated in the Republican primary in 1922, he returned to his law practice.

Catlin returned to football in 1924 and coached the Vikings to a 4–1–1 record and their 
second Midwest Conference championship. He coached for three more seasons before 
leaving Lawrence for good in 1927.

Catlin was a master strategist and psychologist when it came to gridiron tactics. He 
insisted on skin-tight dark blue jerseys, to make his team look smaller. This was the 
rough-and-tumble age of football, and Catlin wanted his men to be the toughest. He 
allowed minimal padding, and the men wore no shoulder pads or helmets. Catlin once 
said, "My theory on shoulder pads is that they are unnecessary because nature has 
provided protection at the vital points."

Catlin earned the moniker "Coach of Champions" during his 14 years as the football 
coach at Lawrence University. He won five conference championships, and his record 
of 55–29–7 ranks him third on the school's all-time wins list.

Mark Catlin worked as an attorney until his death of a heart attack in 1956.[3] He was 
inducted into the Lawrence University Hall of Fame in 2002.[12]

Parents
CATLIN Frank Pierce ()
MCDOLE Ida May ()

Siblings
CATLIN Mark Seavey (12 Nov 1882 - 16 May 1956)

Marriage To BLANCHARD Sarah Elizabeth (26 Nov 1885 - 3 Feb 1967)
    m. 14 Apr 1906 Chicago, Ill.

Notes

Parents
BLANCHARD John Thomas (14 Nov 1852 - 13 Oct 1908)
CHAPEL Carrie (Jul 1859 - 1922)

Children by BLANCHARD Sarah Elizabeth 26 Nov 1885 - 3 Feb 1967
CATLIN John Blanchard (11 Jun 1908 - 29 Sep 1997)
CATLIN Mark Seavey (18 Oct 1910 - 23 Jan 1987)
CATLIN Thomas Chapel (17 Apr 1917 - 21 Apr 2008)
CATLIN Elizabeth Ann (26 Jul 1919 - 2 Aug 1990)

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