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Charles "Doc" Whelan (April 3, 1877 – May 29, 1945) was an American football player and coach and physician. He served as the head football coach at Tufts College—now Tufts University—for three stints (1903–1907, 1912–1917, and 1919) and at Boston University from 1921 to 1925, compiling a career college football record of 54–68–7. Whelan also coached track at Harvard University. He died after a brief illness in 1945.

Early life

Whelan was born on April 3, 1877, in Weymouth, Massachusetts. He graduated from Weymouth High School in 1896 and entered Dartmouth College that fall. He left after one year to work in Boston, but returned a year later and graduated in 1901. While at Dartmouth, Whelan played fullback on the school's football team and specialized in the broad jump and the shotput on the track team.

Coaching career

Whelan worked his way through the Tufts School of Medicine by serving as coach of the school's football team and as the athletic director at the Volkmann School. After graduating, Whelan left athletics to work as a physician, but returned to football in 1910 as an assistant coach at Dartmouth. He returned to Tufts in 1912 and remained with the school until 1920 when he became supervisor of the Harvard Crimson track team and a professor of hygiene at Harvard College (he missed the 1918 season due to military service). His tenure at Harvard was short-lived as he submitted his resignation less than three months after taking the job to return to medicine. His final coaching position was at Boston University, where he served as head football coach from 1921 to 1925.

Medical career

Whelan was a pioneer in radiology. He was the chief radiologist at Quincy City Hospital and was the head of the x-ray at the New York Port of Embarkation Hospital during World War I. He was also a consultant at Carney Hospital and the New England Hospital for Women and Children.

Head coaching record

References

1. Theta Delta Chi (1901). The Shield. Vol. 17. Theta Delta Chi. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
2. "Deaths and Funerals". pqasb.pqarchiver.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
3. "Deaths". Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. August 1945. Retrieved September 17, 2022.
4. "Dartmouth's New Coaching Staff". The Boston Daily Globe. January 19, 1910.
5. "Dr Charles Whelan Harvard Mentor". The Boston Daily Globe. March 23, 1920.
6. "Tufts to Play Football". The New York Times. October 9, 1918.
7. "Dr. Whelan Quits Harvard". The New York Times. June 9, 1920.
8. "Reappoint Whelan B. U. Gridiron Coach". The Boston Daily Globe. February 26, 1925.
9. "Dr. Charles Whelan: Radiologist and Former Sports Coach Was 66". The Boston Daily Globe. May 30, 1945.

• 1877 births
• 1945 deaths
• American football fullbacks
• American radiologists
• Boston University Terriers football coaches
• Dartmouth Big Green football coaches
• Dartmouth Big Green football players
• Dartmouth Big Green men's track and field athletes
• Harvard Crimson track and field coaches
• Tufts Jumbos football coaches
• Harvard University faculty
• United States Army Medical Corps officers
• United States Army personnel of World War I
• People from Cohasset, Massachusetts
• Sportspeople from Weymouth, Massachusetts
• Coaches of American football from Massachusetts
• Players of American football from Norfolk County, Massachusetts
• Track and field athletes from Massachusetts
• Military personnel from Massachusetts