Member Biography

Francis "Reds" Bagnell was a Pennsylvania sophomore in 1948. He came off the bench with five minutes to play in the third game of the season and led a Penn rally that beat Columbia 20-14. In 1949 his best game was against Army; he completed 15 of 20 passes. In 1950 he rushed for 214 yards and passed for 276 in a 42-36 victory over Dartmouth. His total offense of 490 yards was a national record. So was his streak of 14 straight pass completions. Bagnell finished 1950 with 1,603 yards on total offense, ranking eighth in the nation. He made All-America halfback, won the Maxwell Award, and was named Player of the Year by Football Digest and the Helms Foundation. Bagnell went all the way in Penn football. In the 1940s he was the team's water boy; in 1949 he was team captain. He won nine letters in football, basketball, and baseball. He had a business career in Philadelphia and was president of Resource America Inc. President Ronald Reagan in 1981 named him a member of the Battle Monuments Commission, charged with preservation of U.S. military cemeteries on foreign soil. In 1984 he flew to France for ceremonies on the 40th anniversary of D-Day. Bagnell was elected president of the Maxwell Club in 1976 and president of the National Football Foundation in 1990. He was born September 15, 1928, and died July 10, 1995.