A name synonymous with college football also was a major personality in the early years of Rice football.  John W. Heisman became Rice's first full-time football coach in 1924.  It was his last coaching job before taking over management of the the New York Downtown Athletic Club. He obviously took it for the money, his competitive spark ebbing.  Heisman's salary was higher than any member of the Rice faculty, and this fact was greeted by a professorial uproar that subsided only after his departure.

His Rice teams never finished above .500, going 4-4 in 1924, 4-4-1 in '25 and '26.   In 1927, the team's record slipped to 2-6-1. Over his Rice tenure, he collected only one win against  A&M and Texas, and that was against Texas  in 1924. In 1927, he retired from coaching to take over the helm of the New York Downtown Athletic Club, and the rest, as they say, is history.  

Heisman's 1924 Owl squad, at left.

Heisman biographical sketch

NY Downtown Athletic Club Files for Bankruptcy (1998)