COLUMN: Munger was more than just coach

Scott Miller, Commentary "Will the Mungermen please gather at the southwest corner of the stadium." And during halftime, the Penn crowd will give its annual standing ovation to the greatest football players in school history, who are collectively known as the Mungermen, named after the greatest coach in Penn history, George Munger. Munger will forever be remembered at Penn for the coach he was. But now that he is confined to the record books, his achievements as an athlete are frequently overlooked. At 5 years of age, Munger actually loved horses. While in grammar school, he would spend every weekend at the stables. This tradition would last through his freshman year at Episcopal Academy in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. It was in his sophomore year that Munger, for the first time, tried something other than riding a horse. He became a benchwarmer for the football squad -- eventually getting downs as a halfback after the starter had been injured. In the winter, Munger became a center for the basketball squad, and at 6'1" he was the tallest player on the team. He also played baseball, but that career quickly fizzled out, as Munger became predominantly interested in track and field, where he competed in six events. Upon attending the Penn Relay Carnival, which at the time was just second to the Olympic Trials in determining who goes to the Olympics, Munger watched Barney Berlinger win his first decathlon. Berlinger, who also starred on the Penn football squad, would become a role model for Munger from then on. On the football field, Munger captained the squad his junior and senior years, leading the squad to 19 consecutive victories. On the hardcourt, he captained the 1929 undefeated Episcopal basketball team. But track was the sport he would stick with, even after he was through coaching football for the Quakers. In high school, he was all but considered a one-man track team. He participated in the high and broad jump, and Munger threw the shot, javelin and discus. On top of all that, he pole vaulted as well. Munger would eventually captain the track squad as well -- the third sport he led in high school. In his final scholastic competition, the Interacademic Championships, Munger won the Amherst medal for being the competition's high scorer. He won the gold in the pole vault and high jump, the silver in the broad jump and the bronze in the shot put. Munger's jump of 12 feet in the pole vault was an Interacademic record. When Munger graduated from Episcopal in the spring of 1929, he would be called the academy's greatest athlete of all time. That title arguably still holds. Munger enrolled at Penn in 1929, and he again assumed the position of halfback for the football squad. He also joined the track squad. Munger would eventually compete in the decathlon in the Penn Relays, starting in 1930, when he placed third. He placed third again in 1931, with his idol, Berlinger, garnering top honors. Munger would remember the year 1932 especially fondly. In the spring, as a second-semester junior, Munger would accomplish one of his lifetime goals -- winning the decathlon in the Penn Relays -- with an impressive score of 7,324. With the Relays being comparable to the Olympic Trials, Munger should have been a lock for the 1932 Olympics. But citing a lack of depth in the 1932 Relays field, another Olympics Trials were held in Chicago. Munger failed to clear a starting 12 foot height in the pole vault, and was named an alternate to the squad. As a senior in the fall of '32, Munger became the star of the Penn-Navy football game, with Penn emerging victorious by a 14-0 margin. Munger ran for both touchdowns in that contest. It is immediately apparent that Munger's athletic achievements made him the coach he would become. Going from benchwarmer to Midshipmen-killing halfback is a testament to his dedication. Captaining three sports showed his leadership. The Mungermen are the last living indication of the man who drew a consistent 80,000 people to Franklin Field to see his charges compete. But his personal athletic career was nothing short of equally impressive as well.