Charles "Rip" Engle papers

Charles Rip Engle was born in Elk Lick (now Salisbury), Pennsylvania on March 26, 1906. At the age of fourteen, he went to work in the coal mines, and by age nineteen, he had become a mine supervisor. He then attended Blue Ridge College in Maryland for two years. It was here that he began his athletic career. He transferred to Western Maryland College for his final two years where he played football under Dick Harlow, who later coached at Penn State. He graduated in 1930, having lettered in football, basketball, baseball and tennis. In 1931, he married Mary Sunny Broughton with whom he had a son, Charles Chip Jr. Rip went on to become a math teacher and a football coach at Waynesboro High School from 1930-1940. After a year at Western Maryland College, he became an assistant football coach at Brown University in 1942. During the way, he also coached other varsity sports, such as tennis. In 1945, he became Brown's head football coach and then moved on to head the program at Pennsylvania State College in 1950. He remained there until retiring from his post in 1965. In addition to coaching, he also taught health and physical education courses at Penn State. As head coach at Penn State, Engle was selected as a coach for the first All-American Bowl in 1951. He coached in the Blue-Gray game from 1951-1953 and again in 1963. He was a coach at the 1957 East-West game. Engle coached at the 1959 and 1960 Copper Bowls, and was a coach at the 1963 Hula Bowl. Engle belonged to various organizations. He was a member and one time President of the American Football Coaches Association. He served as a member of the NCAA Rules Committee. Finally, he was a member and former head of the East selection committee for the East-West Shrine game in San Francisco. Engle received a number of awards during his coaching career. He was honored as Rhode Island Coach of the Year 1950 before leaving Brown. His Penn State squads won the Lambert Trophy in 1961, 1962, and 1964. He received the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award and the Touchdown Club of New York Award in 1970. Finally, in 1974, Engle was inducted into the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. There were many notable aspects of Engle's Career. The following are a few examples. He pioneered with wing-T offense. He travelled to Europe, Japan and, in 1964, to the general Far East area to give clinics for the armed forces. He kept in touch with former players through letters. Finally, he had several great coaches under him at Brown and Penn State, such as Weeb Eubank and Joe Paterno. Upon his retirement from Penn State, Engle was named professor emeritus in the College of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. He also handled special assignments from the University President's Office, when asked. In 1970, Western Maryland College awarded him an honorary Doctor of Physical Education Degree. In conclusion, Rip was well respected by the coaches of his time, including former adversary Woody Hayes.