“The youthful athletes jumped to their feet in a tribute that broke out again when the honor to their Chief was announced.”  Suburban and Wayne Times 6/10/1965

 RADNOR’S CHIEF - EMERSON METOXEN

In 1943, Emerson Metoxen arrived in Radnor, hired to run the High School’s physical education program. He was 44 years old and by that time had already lived an incredibly full life.  Elevated to a Chief of the Turtle Clan of the Oneida Indian Tribe at 25, and a husband and father, Metoxen had been a student at the Carlisle Indian school, a WWI naval veteran who made 6 cross-Atlantic journeys, a 12 letter athlete at Lebanon Valley College, later inducted into its Hall of Fame, a championship basketball coach in the prep-school ranks, the athletic director and coach at Glen-Nor High School, a graduate student at Penn and Harvard, and the athletic director on the collegiate level at his alma mater Lebanon Valley.

However, in 1943 he was working in the physical education program at Bethlehem Steel and coaching some of its company athletic teams, a far cry from the scholastic coaching that had marked his early life.  His recruitment to Radnor is lost to history, but one can imagine that he jumped at the opportunity.  From his arrival, he left an indelible mark on Radnor’s students, faculty and the Radnor community.  Ever modest and always choosing to be in the background, Chief, as he preferred to be called, was beloved by his students, revered by his colleagues, and respected by the press and athletic opponents.  Further, he was a constant voice for Native Americans, frequently speaking in Radnor and surrounding communities about Native American heritage and the issues confronted by Native Americans in their daily lives.

Chief taught at Radnor for 22 years before mandatory retirement in 1965 due to Pennsylvania law. Those he coached and taught went on to star at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of competition.   It was this work that he loved the most. Passing away in 1989, he rests within the cemetery at St. David’s Church on Valley Forge Road, just outside of Radnor Township.

The Beginnings

Emerson Metoxen was born on April 23, 1899 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  A member of the Oneida Indian Tribe, Metoxen grew up on an Indian Reservation in Oneida, Wisconsin.  The Oneida Nation is originally from upstate New York.  After the Revolutionary War, the Oneida lost nearly 5 million acres of their original homelands to the birth of the United States and the state of New York. The Oneida then began to relocate to Wisconsin.  In 1838, a treaty with the United States established the 65,400-acre Oneida Indian Reservation. For nearly 200 years, that has been the home of the Oneida Nation.  https://oneida-nsn.gov

Metoxen’s father, Nelson Metoxen, was a Chief of the Oneida Tribe and, among other things, was one of the first tribal leaders to press land claims against New York State and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The Carlisle Indian School

In 1914, Metoxen’s family decided to take advantage of a federal program and sent him east to attend the famous, and controversial, Carlisle Indian Industrial School, two years after Olympic hero Jim Thorpe had departed.  Carlisle was founded in 1879 by “Lt. Col. Richard Henry Pratt, a fierce abolitionist who believed that Native Americans deserved a place but needed to be "civilized" into American society.” 

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10217979

Carlisle became one of the most famous of a series of Native American boarding schools at the turn of the 20th century.  The school’s efforts to “Americanize” its students has been the subject of extensive criticism.  In 1892 Pratt infamously gave a speech entitled “Kill the Indian, and Save the Man.” Richard H. Pratt, “The Advantages of Mingling Indians with Whites,” Americanizing the American Indians: Writings by the “Friends of the Indian” 1880–1900 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1973), 260–271.   Many Native American families sent their children to Carlisle to escape the poverty at home.  Metoxen’s application to attend Carlisle states that his family could not transport him to a local school that was miles away.

Carlisle’s Native American students excelled at athletics.  By 1907, “the Carlisle Indians were the most dynamic team in college football.  They had pioneered the forward pass, the overhand spiral and other trick plays that frustrated their opponents.” 

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10217979.  

In “The Real All Americans: The Game that Changed a Game, a People, a Nation,” author Sally Jenkins extensively documents the history of Carlisle, including the ingenuity of coach Glenn Scobey “Pop” Warner and its rivalry with Harvard.

While he never played for the famous Warner on the Carlisle varsity due to age, Metoxen and Warner later became friends when Warner was the coach at Temple.  Metoxen lettered in lacrosse and played for a Carlisle lacrosse team in 1918 that finished 6-1-1 with wins over Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, and Penn.

Carlisle closed in 1918 because of World War I and Metoxen was given the choice of enlisting in the Navy or being sent to the nearest reservation.  York Dispatch 9/9/86.  He enlisted in the Navy and spent 19 months at Great Lakes Naval Station, making six trans-atlantic trips to bring soldiers back from overseas.  He was a private first class in a Navy fire prevention unit.

Lebanon Valley College

Following his discharge from the Navy, Metoxen was awarded a one-year scholarship to Mercersburg Academy and from there won a scholarship to Lebanon Valley College.  While at Lebanon Valley, Chief studied education and excelled athletically, graduating in 1927.  He was a four-year letterman in three sports, football, baseball and basketball, and captain of the basketball team his final two years.  He also served in the Men’s Senate for two years.  Press accounts of the time noted his athletic accomplishments in all sports.  At the time, Lebanon Valley played a very aggressive football schedule with Penn State, Army and other East Coast powers on its docket.  “’Chief’ Metoxin, who hails from the Oneida Reservation, Wisconsin, has been the backfield sensation in the last two games and he is already a fixture on the varsity.” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 12, 1921.  “Chief Metoxin Saved Day For Lebanon Val., Made Sensational Catch in Ninth With Two on Base,” Lebanon Daily News April 28, 1924. “Chief Metoxin Again Heads Lebanon Val., Re-elected Captain of 1925-26 Basketball Team at Meeting of Letter Men.” Lebanon Daily News March 13, 1925.

In 1976, Lebanon Valley College created an Athletic Hall of Fame and Metoxen was in the first class of inductees.  At the time, he was remembered as one of the best football payers that ever attended the school.  Lebanon Daily News, 9/20/1976.  Ironically there was no lacrosse team, what he believed was his best sport.

The Metoxen Football Legend

In the first half of the century the Metoxen name was legendary in Pennsylvania football circles and nationally.  Chief’s third cousin Jonas came to the Carlisle Indian School in the 1890s and became one of the greatest Native American players to ever play the game. While he was later overshadowed by the exploits of Jim Thorpe, Jonas Metoxen’s name was always part of the discussion when it came to the all time greats.  Papers reported that he was one of the most famous early Native American college players, “whose sensation ground-gaining ability made him a name known in every place which boasted a football team.” Boston Globe 11/29/1912.

Chief’s younger brother, Pierson “Blue Sky” Metoxen, was also an outstanding football player. Joining his older brother in York, PA during 1933, Pierson enrolled at football powerhouse Penn and was soon chosen as the first Native American player to play for Penn.  Camden Morning Post, 10/3/1933.  Pierson also excelled at basketball and baseball like his older brother.  Ironically, Jonas Metoxen, Pop Warner and the Carlisle Indians road defeats of the Quakers to early fame at the turn of the century.  

Papers around the country reported “One of the mightiest names in football history – Metoxen – may flame again on the gridirons of the east, Jonas Metoxen, the Carlisle immortal performed such football feats for the Indian school that his name is almost legendary now.  Joining the University of Pennsylvania freshman squad this season is Pierson Lewis Metoxen, full blooded Indian and third cousin of Jonas.” Patterson Morning Call 10/16/1933.  He ultimately lettered at Penn.

Later in life, Pierson would serve in WWII as a glider pilot, eventually shot down over Europe, reported missing in action and part of a heroic escape from a German POW camp.  Gettysburg Compiler 6/30/1945.  This was likely in connection with Operation Varsity (March 24, 1945) a successful airborne forces operation launched by Allied troops that took place toward the end of World War II.  Involving more than 16,000 paratroopers and several thousand aircraft, it was the largest airborne operation in history to be conducted on a single day and in one location.  Metoxen also flew a glider in the first wave that spearheaded the invasion of Normandy. York Dispatch 7/24/44.

Chief Metoxen as Coach

Upon graduation from Lebanon Valley in 1927, Chief was hired by the college prepatory school York Collegiate Institute in York, Pennsylvania to coach the basketball team.  “Mr. Metoxen’s recommendations were so thorough and from some of the best instructors, that after consulting with other members of (Lebanon Valley College), the board finally decided to give Mr. Metoxen the position.”  York Daily Record 7/19/1927.  

As recounted years later, this was no simple assignment for the new graduate. Y.C.I. was a prep school basketball powerhouse at the time, in the seven preceding years the team had gone 154-14 (.917) and won three Eastern Penn League Titles.  In 1926-27, the year before Chief’s arrival, the team went 24-0. York Daily Record 6/25/1989.  The previous coach resigned to coach Gettysburg College.  With limited coaching experience, Chief not only equaled, but bettered his predecessor.  

He led YCI to a second undefeated season in 1927-28, a league and Penn Tournament championship and then accepted an invitation to the prestigious Eastern United States invitational tournament in Glenn Falls, N.Y. where Y.C.I. won three more games to finish its greatest season undefeated. The next season Chief stretched the overall two-year streak to 55 straight wins until defeat and finished 15-4.  In his final season at Y.C.I., 1929-30, Metoxen again coached an undefeated 18-0 team before losing in a postseason tournament.  In the end, Y.C.I. was 60-5 (.923) under Metoxen. In his spare time, he also founded the school’s football team.  The school sent him off to his next job with a gold watch and best wishes, no small token at the beginning of the Great Depression.

In 1990, the York College Athletics Hall of Fame recognized Chief posthumously, and inducted him with its second class.  York Daily Record 4/9/1990.

During the summer of 1930, Metoxen traveled to Boston to take an advanced class in coaching at Harvard. He then returned to Pennsylvania to coach the Swarthmore prepatory school JV football team that finished the season 8-0.  In November of 1930 he was named director of athletics at Swarthmore Prep, “in full charge of all sports.”  Lancaster Intelligencer Journal 11/27/1930. 

On March 28, 1931 Chief Metoxen married Kathryn Jacobs at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Bel Air, Maryland.  York Dispatch 3/31/1931.  Over the next 58 years of marriage they would raise four children and have six grandchildren before Metoxen passed at 90 years old in 1989.  York Daily Record 6/5/1989.

Glen-Nor High School

In 1931, Chief was hired as Athletic Director for Glen-Nor High School in Norwood, Delaware County, Pennsylvania and charged with coaching football, basketball and baseball.  Founded in 1923, Glen-Nor would be combined with other schools to form the Interboro High School in 1955.  While he was at the helm of the athletic department for only three years, Chief had a lasting effect on the school.  Master of ceremonies at athletic banquets, Grand Marshal of the Glen–Nor 1933 Field Day and speaker at school assemblies, the Chief left an indelible mark on all Glen-Nor students.  As before, Metoxen’s teams experienced athletic success.  In 1933, the baseball team won a championship in Section 4 of the Philadelphia Suburban League.  Chester Times 6/20/1933.  His 1934 basketball team finished as runner up for the Section 4 crown.  

When he departed Glen-Nor for the Athletic Director job at his alma mater Lebanon Valley, the local press paid him high praise for his work at Glen-Nor: 

Chester Times 4/9/1934 (emphasis added).  This early success and focus on development ultimately led Glen-Nor to back-to-back undefeated football seasons in 1940 and 1941.

Chief was so central to Glen-Nor’s athletic endeavors that the press and community began to call its athletic teams the “Indians,” a name that stuck until the school closed in 1955. In 1951, after Metoxen joined the Radnor Township School District, Chester Times Sports Editor Fred Wilson wrote about the origins of the “Indians” nickname, and spoke with great admiration of the Chief’s heritage and his standing in the local sporting community. Chester Times 1/16/1951.

The Chief’s Return to Lebanon Valley College

In what was certainly a thrill and well deserved opportunity, Chief ascended to the ranks of college athletics and returned to his alma mater in 1934 as Athletic Director in full charge of the physical education program.  He was also an assistant coach to the football team and head coach of the basketball and baseball teams.  Lebanon Daily News 4/24/1934.

Again, Metoxen experienced success.  The football team in 1935, with an ambitious schedule, went 5-4 with two of the losses coming against football powerhouses Penn State (12-6) and Fordham (16-0).  The school then accepted an invitation from the University of Tampa to play a charity game on Christmas Day in Tampa, Florida. Tampa Tribune 12/23/1935.  This was the first intersectional game in the school’s history.  Despite severe weather in the northeast that limited practice time, an extended train ride, and a squad of only 22 players who travelled, Lebanon Valley prevailed 6-0.

In his second year coaching baseball, the team won the Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Baseball League.  Harrisburg Telegraph 3/18/36.  By the 1937-38 season, the basketball team was also rounding into form and finished one game behind champion Gettysburg in the Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Basketball League.  Hanover Evening Sun, 3/10/1938.  However, this was apparently not enough winning.  While the press was silent about the reasons, head football coach Jerry Frock was elevated to the position of Athletic Director at the beginning of the 1939-40 school year and Chief retired.  Lebanon Valley’s loss ultimately became Radnor’s great gain.

Radnor Township School District

In the fall of 1943, Chief arrived in Radnor, back in the high school ranks and back mentoring young students.  Twenty-two years later, upon his retirement from the RTSD in June of 1965, he spoke about his love of mentoring young athletes at the junior high school level, “we plod along and try to do what is expected of us,” he said, “but we have our fun. There is nothing more gratifying than seeing one of your former athletes make good.”  Philadelphia Inquirer 6/20/65.   In speaking to Radnor teachers and students, one word that surfaces again and again is “revered.”  Those who knew and worked with him always held him in the highest regard and the students adored him.  It is no coincidence that the greatest sustained period of excellence for Radnor football (and basketball for that matter) was the period of 1954-1962, as junior high players coached by friends Jules Prevost and Chief Metoxen rose through the school system to play at the varsity level.

While the precise path of Chief to Radnor is lost to history at this time, there are enough threads that can be pulled together to make an educated guess.  At the center of it all was Radnor’s legendary coach, Jules Prevost. By 1943, Prevost had presided over the Radnor football team for 17 years and had just graduated eventual football Hall of Famer and top 100 NFL all time player Emlen Tunnell.  An outstanding player in his own right, Prevost was an All American at Penn State and one of its greatest offensive linemen and field goal kickers, playing during the 1922-1924 seasons.   Lebanon Valley was the season opening opponent for Penn State for a number of years at the turn of the century, including during Prevost’s time at Penn State.  Metoxen was a Lebanon Valley four-year football letterman for the 1922 though 1925 seasons.  While it does not appear that they met on the field due to a Metoxen injury in 1923 and Prevost’s expired eligibility for the 1925 season (caused by one game played in 1922) the two respective men were stars of their teams.  Indeed, in 1925, after losing to Prevost’s Nittnay Lions by a combined score of 105-3 in 1923 and 1924, Lebanon Valley held the Lions to 14 points, in large part due to Metoxen’s work at Right End on defense.  Philadelphia Inquirer 9/27/1925.  

Combine that with Metoxen’s widely admired work at Glen-Nor and as Athletic Director at Lebanon Valley, along with the family football legacy, and one can only imagine that Prevost jumped at the chance to hire the legendary Metoxen away from a job at Bethlehem Steel.  The first hint of his arrival is found in the September 3, 1943 Suburban and Wayne Times, “The famous Indian of Carlisle days, Chief Metoxen, has not arrived yet, but will be here when school opens, and will assist in coaching.”

Native American Heritage

Upon his arrival in Wayne, one of Chief’s first stops was the Wayne Lions Club as its guest of honor, brought by “another football celebrity, Coach Jules Prevost. . .  . The Chief spoke interestingly of his experiences at Carlisle Indian school and at the Indian Reservation at Green Bay, Wis.”  Suburban and Wayne Times 9/17/43. During the decades he spent in Radnor, Metoxen would consistently reach out into the community to raise awareness of the history of Native Americans and the challenges they confronted.  Reporting and the recollections of Radnor alumni confirm that this was a source of pride and duty for Metoxen.  

Local papers recount numerous instances where Chief spoke about Native American heritage to church parishes, several chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution and cub scout troops, often in full Native American dress.  In 1945, he presented a talk to the Rotary Club of Wayne on “Indians in the White Man’s World,” where he discussed the Native American population and the different languages, customs and characteristics of the tribes. 

During the summer, Chief worked for several years as the Director of Valley Forge Military Academy’s Indian Camp and brought his heritage to the enrollees.  Indeed, it was customary for Chief to celebrate the achievements of campers at the final ceremonies by greeting award winners in full Native American dress.

A number of RTSD graduates recall Chief speaking to the student body about Native American heritage in authentic dress.  Even on the eve of his retirement, Chief remained an educator and advocate for Native Americans.  One of his final acts was to speak to the junior high students about Native American heritage.  As recounted in the Junior High School column in the Suburban and Wayne Times: “Wednesday, the seventh grade saw an exciting assembly given by Chief Metoxen.  Chief, who himself is a full-fledged Indian, spoke on the Indian tribes of the West, especially the Sioux.  He accompanied his talk with two movies contrasting the Indians of long ago and today.  Everyone enjoyed it, especially since it was given by this favorite teacher.”   5/27/1965

Radnor’s Chief

From early in his tenure at RTSD, Metoxen was a favorite of the students and, not surprisingly, the athletic teams he coached met with tremendous success.  While the Radnor football team suffered a tragic loss 6-0 to Lower Merion in 1943, documented in the pages of Life magazine, Chief played an important role in one of Radnor’s greatest wins over Lower Merion a year later to the tune of 27-0.  At the opening of the 1944 season the Suburban and Wayne Times announced on page 1: “Chief Metoxen, who is trainer as well as backfield mentor, has been putting the boys through a modified Army basic training grind to toughen them and also to put their muscles in smooth working order.”  9/1/44.  

By 1946, the Radnor v. Lower Merion football program, written by the Radnorite student staff, noted that “The Chief is a full-time physical education instructor in Radnor and one of the most popular members of the faculty.”

Metoxen also was appointed the assistant coach of the varsity basketball team coached by Ellis Dwyer and coach of the junior varsity.  Dwyer and Metoxen experienced immediate success.  In the 1943-44 season, Metoxen’s first, Radnor won the Section 2 crown.  In 1946 Radnor reached the P.I.A.A. State Finals before falling to a strong Allentown team.  In 1948, The Chester Times did a “Sport Short” column on Metoxen, noting his value to the Radnor teams: “Metoxen is a keen analyst and scout and is one of the reasons behind the success of all Radnor’s sport teams.  He assisted Cliff Calvert in football during the past fall and for years has been supplying head basketball coach Ellis Dwyer with graduates from his jayvees who are well grounded in court fundamentals.” 12/14/1948.  

His good nature and understated approach quickly won him praise by press and opponents.  “Radnor is the scene of many playoff games in District 1 at the end of the league seasons and all arrangements are handled by the Chief.  No other school which plays host to these playoff games, including the University of Pennsylvania, can make things run smoother for the press, contending teams, and officials than Radnor’s Emerson “Chief” Metoxin.”  Chester Times 1/16/1951.

When Radnor needed a Varsity Baseball coach in 1950, of course they turned to Metoxen and he delivered a Section II championship in his first season.  “The mildest-mannered coach in the county is Emerson ‘Chief’ Metoxin, Radnor High’s baseball mentor.  He rarely raises his voice except in sound encouragement to Radnor’s athletes.  He never ‘bawls out’ his charges and gives umpires no trouble at all.  The Chief is certainly a real boon to Radnor sports.” Chester Times 4/24/1950.

Throughout his time at Radnor, Chief endeared himself to its students.  Always willing to mentor the young athlete, he eventually moved to the Radnor Junior High School (now the Middle School) where he was the Athletic Director and a football, basketball and baseball coach.  He joined his good friend Jules Prevost and together they supplied Radnor High School with an exceptional stream of athletes who excelled on the sports fields and in the classroom.  The Chief, never one for attention, was content in this role, telling the Inquirer at the time of his retirement that “There’s nothing more gratifying than seeing one of your former athletes make good.”  6/20/1965.  Chief gave to his Radnor students and they loved him for it.  In 1954 Chief was selected to call the team out at the Radnor v. Lower Merion pep rally and in 1955 the Radnorite noted his heartfelt words at the Pep Rally for that year.  

Radnor’s Farewell

In 1965 Chief had reached the mandatory age for retirement and the 1964-65 school year was his last at Radnor.  The students knew, and they were open in honoring him.  In the fall of 1964, the Junior High School column in the Suburban and Wayne Times noted: “Chief Metoxen is retiring and this year’s Gophers join with all previous 125-pound teams in thanking “Chief” for his guidance and they wish him well.”  11/12/1964.

At the spring 1965 Radnor Junior High School sports dinner the RTSD had its own surprise for Metoxen, unveiling the “Emerson ‘Chief’ Metoxen Radnor Spirit Award,” given to this day to the girl and boy who best exemplify sportsmanship and the Radnor spirit.  Suburban and Wayne Times 6/10/1965.  At the ceremony announcing the Spirit Award, “Jules Prevost, long time Radnor coach and teacher, triggered a demonstration ahead of the announcement of the award, when he called the Chief’s name in the guest list.  The youthful athletes jumped to their feet in a tribute that broke out again when the honor to their Chief was announced.”  Suburban and Wayne Times 6/10/1965 (emphasis added).  

In his last school assembly, Chief reminisced about playing baseball as a boy and again the students cheered him. “The moment of the afternoon came when Chief told of the boyhood baseball experiences and honored his last team.  Everyone gave him the appropriate farewell ovation.”  Suburban and Wayne Times 6/17/1965

He left the way he arrived, a teacher, mentor and friend.