Neil F. Young

Neil F. “Jack” Young was a four-year letterman at quarterback for the Emory & Henry Wasps football squad. His senior year he served as team captain. Young went on to a successful collegiate coaching career, and was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame in its charter year, 1972.

Young believed in the importance of being well-rounded. In addition to his involvement in athletics, he was a charter member of Sigma Mu honor society and served as the society’s president his senior year. He was also a member of Phi Pi Alpha social fraternity while a student at Emory & Henry.

After graduating, Young coached football and basketball at King College. In 1940, he earned a master’s degree from the University of Michigan. Serving as a U.S. Marine during World War II, he was trained in radar and sonar communications at Harvard and MIT. Upon returning home, he taught mathematics and physics and coached briefly at Emory & Henry alongside Head Coach “Pedie” Jackson. Young also served in the Marines during the Korean War as a communications officer and remained with the Marines until his retirement in 1996.

During his coaching career, Young served at King College, Emory & Henry, the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Air Force. He was a member of the King College (now King University) Sports Hall of Fame in recognition of his service as a coach. While at King, Young led the football team to three of its most successful seasons since the early 1920s and won a Smoky Mountain Conference title with the basketball team.

Neil Young passed away at age 89 on November 19,1998. His wife, Elizabeth Crowgey Young, created a scholarship in 2003-04 at Emory & Henry in his memory. The Neil F. “Jack” Young Scholarship is awarded annually by the Sigma Mu society to an outstanding mathematics, natural sciences, or engineering student.