View source for Frank Reagan

{{Short description|American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator}}
{{for|the fictional police officer|Frank Reagan (Blue Bloods)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{more citations needed|date=June 2014}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name         = Frank Reagan
| image        = Frank Reagan - 1948 Bowman.jpg
| caption      = Reagan on a 1948 Bowman football card
| number       = 8, 44, 40
| position     = [[Safety (gridiron football position)|Safety]] <br> [[Punter (gridiron football)|Punter]] 
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|1919|7|28}}
| birth_place  = [[Philadelphia|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|1972|11|20|1919|7|28}}
| death_place  = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| height_ft    = 5
| height_in    = 11
| weight_lb    = 182
| high_school  = [[Northeast Catholic High School|Northeast Catholic (PA)]]
| college      = [[Penn Quakers football|Penn]]
| draftyear    = 1941
| draftround   = 3
| draftpick    = 22
| pastteams    =
* [[New York Giants]] ({{NFL Year|1941}}, {{NFL Year|1946|1948}})
* [[Philadelphia Eagles]] ({{NFL Year|1949|1951}})
| highlights   =
* [[List of NFL champions (1920–1969)|NFL champion]] ([[1949 NFL Championship Game|1949]])
* [[List of National Football League annual interceptions leaders|NFL interceptions leader]] (1947)
* First-team [[College Football All-America Team|All-American]] ([[1940 College Football All-America Team|1940]])
* First-team All-Eastern ([[1940 All-Eastern football team|1940]])
* Second-team All-Eastern ([[1939 All-Eastern football team|1939]])
| pastcoaching = 
* Philadelphia Eagles ({{NFL Year|1952|1953}})<br />(Backfield)
* [[Villanova Wildcats football|Villanova]] (1954–1959)<br />(Head coach)
| pastadmin    = 
* Villanova (1957–1961)<br />(Athletic director)
| statlabel1   = [[Interception]]s
| statvalue1   = 35
| statlabel2   = [[Punt (gridiron football)|Punt]]s
| statvalue2   = 227
| statlabel3   = Punting yards
| statvalue3   = 9,288
| statlabel4   = Punting average
| statvalue4   = 40.9
| pfr          = ReagFr20
}}

'''Francis Xavier Reagan''' (July 28, 1919 – November 20, 1972) was an [[American football]] player, coach, and college athletics administrator.  He played professionally for the [[New York Giants]] and the [[Philadelphia Eagles]] during a seven-season [[National Football League]] (NFL) career that spanned from 1941 to 1951.  Reagan served as the head football coach at [[Villanova University]] from 1954 to 1959, compiling a record of 16–36.  He was also Villanova's [[athletic director]] from 1957 to 1961.

==Early life and playing career==
Born in [[Philadelphia]], Reagan was a star [[quarterback]] and [[defensive back]] at [[Northeast Catholic High School]] and led the team to championships in 1935 and 1936.  He was voted 1st Team All-Scholastic by the ''[[Philadelphia Bulletin]]'' in his senior year.

Reagan then played [[college football]] at the [[University of Pennsylvania]].  Standing 5'11" and 182&nbsp;lbs., Reagan was a varsity player during [[George Munger (American football)|George Munger]]'s first three seasons as head coach of the [[Penn Quakers football|Penn Quakers]], from 1938 to 1940.  Reagan's 135 points scored is still ninth all-time in UPenn history and his 103 points scored as a senior is the second most in one season in over 120 years of Penn football.  Reagan had one of the great individual performances of all time against [[Princeton Tigers football|Princeton]] on October 19, 1940, [[Rush (gridiron football)|rushing]] for 200 yards, scoring five [[touchdown]]s and 31 points in a 46–28 victory at [[Franklin Field]].  In a game at [[1938 Michigan Wolverines football team|Michigan]] in 1938, Reagan was responsible for 356 total yards, rushing for 85, [[Forward pass|passing]] for 188, returning [[Kickoff (American football)|kickoffs]] for 82 and [[Punt (gridiron football)|punts]] for 21.  Reagan was named a 1st Team All-American Back for the 1940 season.  A captain of both the football and [[baseball]] teams, he was awarded the 1941 "Class of 1915 Award" as that member of the senior class who, "most closely approaches the ideal University of Pennsylvania student-athlete".  Sportswriter [[Grantland Rice]] called him "one of the two best running backs in college football", the other being [[Heisman Trophy]] winner [[Tom Harmon]] of the [[University of Michigan]].

Reagan was drafted in the third round of the [[1941 NFL draft]] by the New York Giants.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1941 NFL Draft Listing |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1941/draft.htm |access-date=2023-03-31 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> After an outstanding rookie season his pro career was interrupted by his military service during [[World War II]].  Upon returning to the NFL he led the league in interceptions in 1947. He was traded to the Eagles after the 1948 season and was a big factor in helping the Eagles repeat as [[History of National Football League Championship|NFL Champions]] in 1949.  He played starting [[Safety (gridiron football position)|safety]] and recorded seven [[interception]]s.  He also punted for a 45-yard average and returned punts for 12.7 yards per return and one touchdown.  During his pro career Reagan averaged 40.9 yards on 224 career punts. He finished his NFL career in 1951 with 35 interceptions, which led all of football before former teammate [[Emlen Tunnell]] passed him the following year.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/def_int_career_1951.htm | title=NFL Career Interceptions Leaders Through 1951 | website=[[Pro-Football-Reference.com]] }}</ref>   He also scored six touchdowns on offense and threw a touchdown pass.

==Coaching and administrative career, later life, honors==
Following his retirement as a player and a brief tenure as an assistant coach of the Eagles, Reagan went on to become head coach at [[Villanova University]] in 1954.  He stayed in that position until 1959. He remained the school's athletic director until 1961 when he went into partnership in an [[insurance broker]]age firm in [[Norristown, Pennsylvania]].

Reagan died of complications of [[lung cancer]] at age 53 in 1972.<ref>"Ex-Football Star, Frank Reagan, Dies", ''[[The Southern Illinoisan]]'', November 21, 1972, [[Carbondale, Illinois]]</ref> He is enshrined in both the Northeast Catholic HS Hall of Fame and the University of Pennsylvania Hall of Fame.  In 2000, ''[[Philadelphia Daily News]]'' sports writer Ted Silary named Reagan as the best Philadelphia area born punter of the 20th century.

==Head coaching record==
{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no }}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name      = [[Villanova Wildcats football|Villanova Wildcats]]
 | conf      = Independent
 | startyear = 1954
 | endyear   = 1959
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1954 college football season|1954]]
 | name         = [[1954 Villanova Wildcats football team|Villanova]]
 | overall      = 1–9
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1955 college football season|1955]]
 | name         = [[1955 Villanova Wildcats football team|Villanova]]
 | overall      = 1–9
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1956 college football season|1956]]
 | name         = [[1956 Villanova Wildcats football team|Villanova]]
 | overall      = 5–4
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1957 college football season|1957]]
 | name         = [[1957 Villanova Wildcats football team|Villanova]]
 | overall      = 3–6
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1958 college football season|1958]]
 | name         = [[1958 Villanova Wildcats football team|Villanova]]
 | overall      = 6–4
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1959 college football season|1959]]
 | name         = [[1959 Villanova Wildcats football team|Villanova]]
 | overall      = 0–4
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
 | name       = Villanova
 | overall    = 16–36
 | confrecord = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record End
 | overall  = 16–36
 | bowls    = no
 | poll     = no
 | polltype = 
 | legend   = no
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Footballstats |nfl= |espn= |cbs= |yahoo= |si= |pfr=R/ReagFr20 |rotoworld= |dbf=REAGAFRA01 }}
* {{Find a Grave}}

{{Quantico Marines Devil Dogs football coach navbox}}
{{Villanova Wildcats football coach navbox}}
{{Villanova Wildcats athletic director navbox}}
{{Giants1941DraftPicks}}
{{1949 Philadelphia Eagles}}
{{NFL season interception leaders}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reagan, Frank}}
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:American football safeties]]
[[Category:New York Giants players]]
[[Category:Penn Quakers baseball players]]
[[Category:Penn Quakers football players]]
[[Category:Philadelphia Eagles coaches]]
[[Category:Philadelphia Eagles players]]
[[Category:Quantico Marines Devil Dogs football coaches]]
[[Category:Quantico Marines Devil Dogs football players]]
[[Category:Villanova Wildcats athletic directors]]
[[Category:Villanova Wildcats football coaches]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps officers]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:American Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Deaths from lung cancer in Pennsylvania]]