Member Biography

Mild mannered Eddie Casey loved playing the tease. A master of the roll block, Casey would pop the pins from beneath an enemy runner then don a boyish grin as he helped his victim from the turf. Knowing the ferocity of his play contradicted the gentle personality of the little Harvard halfback. Members of the arch rival Yale team once invited him to join them for dinner. There was crude conversation of "raw meat" football styles until the Eli captain finally asked Eddie how he would like his steak prepared. "Just run the steer in here and I'll take a swipe at him," was Casey's quick retort. Eddie weighed 155 pounds, but his remarkable quickness and agility made him an outstanding player on both offense and defense. He started as a freshman in 1916, then served in the Navy during World War I when Harvard, like most schools, suspended varsity competition. Returning for the 1919 season, Casey led the Crimson through a perfect 10- game regular season and a 7-6 victory over Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Casey earned All-American honors that year. He returned to Harvard in 1931 for a four-season term as Crimson head coach, compiling a 20-11-1 record before settling into a career as a private businessman and government worker. Casey died in 1966.