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{{Short description|American football player and coach (1893–1970)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox CFL biography
| name = Dick Rauch
| image = Dick Rauch, 1924.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Rauch in 1924
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1893|7|15}}
| birth_place = [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1970|10|9|1893|7|15}}
| death_place = Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| team =
| number =
| status =
| position1 = [[Center (gridiron football)|Center]]
| position2 = [[Guard (gridiron football)|Guard]]
| position3 = [[Tackle (gridiron football position)|Tackle]]
| uniform_number = 14 (1925) <br /> 29/30 (1928)
| height_ft =
| height_in =
| weight_lb =
| college = [[Penn State University|Penn State]]
| coaching_years1 = 1921–1922
| coaching_team1 = [[Penn State Nittany Lions football|Penn State]] (assistant)
| coaching_years2 = 1923
| coaching_team2 = [[Colgate Raiders football|Colgate]] (assistant)
| coaching_years3 = 1924–1926
| coaching_team3 = [[Pottsville Maroons]]
| coaching_years4 = 1928
| coaching_team4 = [[New York Yankees (NFL)|New York Yankees]]
| coaching_years5 = 1929
| coaching_team5 = [[Pottsville Maroons|Boston Bulldogs]]
| playing_years1 = 1924–1926
| playing_team1 = [[Pottsville Maroons]]
| playing_years2 = 1928
| playing_team2 = [[New York Yankees (NFL)|New York Yankees]]
| playing_years3 = 1929
| playing_team3 = [[Pottsville Maroons|Boston Bulldogs]]
| other_title = scout
| other_years1 = 1921–1922
| other_team1 = [[Penn State Nittany Lions football|Penn State]]
| other_years2 = 1923
| other_team2 = [[Colgate Raiders football|Colgate]]
| career_highlights = * [[Anthracite League]] champion ([[1924 Pottsville Maroons season|1924]])
* Disputed [[List of NFL champions|NFL champion]] ([[1925 NFL Championship controversy|1925]])
* NFL head coaching record: 33–24–3
* First NFL coach to institute daily practices
* Last Head coach of the Pottsville Maroons- Boston Bulldogs franchise
* Last Head coach of the New York Yankees (NFL) franchise
| module = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes
|allegiance = {{flagicon|United States}} [[United States of America|United States]]
|branch = [[File:United States Department of the Army Seal.svg|20px|United States Army seal]] [[United States Army|U.S. Army]]
|serviceyears = 1917–1919
|battles = [[World War I]]
}}
}}

'''Richard Harvie Rauch''' (July 15, 1893 – October 9, 1970) was an [[American football]] player and coach. Rauch attended [[Pennsylvania State University]]. He was a [[player-coach]] for the [[Boston Bulldogs (NFL)|Boston Bulldogs]], [[New York Yankees (NFL)|New York Yankees]] and the Maroons over the course of his five-year career. Rauch made his professional debut in the [[National Football League]] (NFL) in [[1925 NFL season|1925]] with the [[Pottsville Maroons]]. He was also the first NFL coach to institute daily practices.

==Early career==
Born in [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]], Rauch attended high school at Harrisburg Tech in 1906. He did not make the football team until his senior year, in 1909. He played center on that team. After high school, he went to work in the Pennsylvania Steel Mills outside of Harrisburg for six years. Rauch decided to continue his education. In 1916 he entered Bethlehem Prep, located in [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]], to brush up his mathematics and obtain sufficient credits to enter Penn State. At Bethlehem Prep, Rauch lettered in three sports, football, basketball and track.

== Penn State and the Army ==
In 1916 Rauch entered State College and he soon captained and played [[tight end]] on the school's freshman team. By 1917 he made the varsity team and played the entire season at end. At the end of the 1917 season Rauch joined the [[U.S. Army]] and was placed in the ordinance department and was stationed in [[Virginia]].

He was discharged from the Army in August 1919, and returned to Penn State. By that time Rauch started at [[center (American football)|center]], and then was put in at [[offensive guard]]. His place at center was taken by [[Larry Conover]]. Rauch continued to play guard his senior year in 1920, with the exception of the last four games when he was shifted to [[offensive tackle]]. After graduating Penn State retained him as assistant coach in 1921. He excelled in scouting. He performed the scouting duties for every college he served.

==Colgate==
In 1923, Rauch went to [[Colgate University]] as the team's offensive line coach. Colgate soon gave him a contract for the following year in 1924. However, he accepted an offer by the Pottsville Maroons as serve as head coach of their professional football team.

==Pro football==
Maroons owner Dr. John Striegel hired Rauch, because he was a [[protégé]] of the strict discipline philosophy instituted by Penn State coach, [[Hugo Bezdek]]. During Rauch's first season with the Maroons, the team won the [[Anthracite League]] championship. The very next season the Maroon joined the NFL, and in just their first year in league, the franchise won the NFL championship [[1925 NFL Championship controversy|before having it stripped away from them by the league in a controversial move]].

The [[1926 NFL season|next season]] Rauch's Maroon completed a 10-2-1 record and captured third place in the NFL standings. However, after a 5–8 record in [[1927 NFL season|1927]], Rauch left the team to coach the New York Yankees. Following a 4–8 record with the Yankees during the [[1928 NFL season|1928 season]], Rauch returned to the Maroons franchise which had just been sold to a group of New Englanders who move the franchise to [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]] and renamed the team the Boston Bulldogs.

The [[1929 NFL season|1929 season]] was Rauch's last season coaching in the NFL. After a 4–4 record, the Maroons-Bulldogs franchise folded.

==Outside football==
Besides being a football player and coach, Rauch also worked as an [[ornithologist]], a steel worker, an electrician and a graduate electrical engineer. Dick spent his off-seasons writing poetry and traveled as far west as the [[Yukon]] to study the nesting habits of birds. He later put his knowledge of birds to use by exploring the [[Antarctica|Antarctic]] for the U.S. government.<ref>{{Cite web| title=Marker Details - Pottsville Maroons | url=http://www.explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124211708/http://www.explorepahistory.com:80/hmarker.php?markerId=1012 | archive-date=2009-01-24}}</ref>

==References==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090215153235/http://home.comcast.net/~ghostsofthegridiron/Maroons.htm Pottsville Maroons, Ghosts of the Gridiron]
*''Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League'' ({{ISBN|0-06-270174-6}})
*[https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/ptb1925.htm 1925 Pottsville Maroons, Professional Football Reference] (URL last accessed September 30, 2006)
* "1925 Pottsville Maroons 'World Champions' Football Team" Set of 18 cards, Produced by Russell Zacko, 1977
*[http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~maxymuk/home/ongoing/nyy.html Ongoing Research Project NFL Uniform Numbers]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

{{New York Yankees (NFL) coach navbox}}
{{Pottsville Maroons coach navbox}}
{{1925 Pottsville Maroons}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rauch, Dick}}
[[Category:1893 births]]
[[Category:1970 deaths]]
[[Category:American football centers]]
[[Category:American football guards]]
[[Category:American football tackles]]
[[Category:Boston Bulldogs (NFL) players]]
[[Category:New York Yankees (NFL) coaches]]
[[Category:New York Yankees (NFL) players]]
[[Category:Penn State Nittany Lions football players]]
[[Category:Pottsville Maroons coaches]]
[[Category:Pottsville Maroons players]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War I]]

Dick Rauch - Revision history

imported>Rofraja: Replaced 1 bare URLs by {{Cite web}}; Replaced "Archived copy" by actual titles