Sport(s) College football 1922 Geneva Name Robert Park Died November 22, 1961 Team Geneva College | 1901-1904 Syracuse Overall 4-6-0 (0.400) Role American football player Education Syracuse University | |
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Robert Park (1880–1961) was the tenth head college football coach for the Geneva College Golden Tornadoes (in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, United States) in the 1922 season. His coaching record at Geneva was 4 wins, 6 losses, and 0 ties. As of the completion of the 2007 season, this ranks him 23rd at Geneva in total wins and 22nd at Geneva in winning percentage (0.400). He also coached other sports for many years, but he was best known for his work as an academic and a minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA).
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Career
Born in Rome, New York on 12 May 1880, Park attended the city schools of Syracuse and graduated from Syracuse University (where he was the captain of the football team) on 6 June 1905. After graduation, he studied at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (RPTS) from 1907-1910. Licensed by the Rochester Presbytery on 4 May 1909, he was ordained to the ministry by the Pittsburgh Presbytery and installed as pastor of the denomination's Parnassus congregation on 11 November 1910. Park remained pastor of the congregation until 28 August 1922, when he resigned to serve at Geneva.
While Park was the head of the history department at Geneva, he was also a longtime sports coach: he coached the 1922 football team, the 1926-1928 cross-country teams, and the 1929-1949 track teams. He was also the Dean of the College and the chairman of the Bible Department from 1949 until 1955. Park continued to serve his church, being chairman of various committees and sitting on the boards of both Geneva College and RPTS. In 1929, he was elected the church history professor at RPTS. Park continued his schooling after beginning his professorship, earning an M.A. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1924 and eventually earning a Ph.D. He was recognized for his accomplishments later in life, being elected the Moderator of the Synod of the RPCNA in 1951, and receiving a D.D. from Syracuse University in 1934.
Beginning in 1929 and continuing until his death, Park spent his summers pastoring at the Reformed Presbyterian congregation in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia.
Family
Park was born into an Irish family: his father and mother were natives of County Tyrone and County Cavan respectively. Park married the former Emma Dodd on 23 July 1907 while teaching at the Arkansas Military Academy in Little Rock, between his college and seminary careers; with her, he had three sons: Robert, David, and James. After her death in Beaver Falls in 1939, he married the former Jennie Hayes on 31 December 1940, by whom he had two more sons: John and Eric. They were married until his death in Beaver Falls on 22 November 1961. Park is buried in Syracuse.