 |
 Born and raised in Beaver Falls, Jake
McCandless remembered his days of youth as if they were yesterday,
when his father Joy served as basketball coach. A winner of nine
letters at Beaver Falls High (three each in football, basketball,
and baseball from 1944 to 1947), Jake remembered playing for
Leland Schachern and Lou Heater and how they helped him form career goals.
In 1947 Jake went to Princeton University to play football and was a
tailback in the single wing and a defensive back. The team went
undefeated in 1950 and won the Lambert Trophy the next year. Dick
Kazmaier, the 1951 Heisman Trophy winner, was the starting tailback.
After graduating, Jake taught and coached basketball and football in Southboro, Massachusetts, for three years. He moved to Kent School
in Connecticut as head coach, and his teams went undefeated in 1954
and 1955. He returned to Princeton in 1958 as freshman football
coach and became backfield coach in 1960. The Tigers won 68 games
and lost only 31 during his tenure as offensive coach, wining the
Ivy League Championship in 1963, 1964, and 1966. During that time,
Jake also served as assistant basketball coach and during the
1960-1961 season served as acting head coach during the illness of Cappy Cappon. The Tiger basketball team won the Ivy League title and
went to the NCAA tournament, beating George Washington before losing
to St Joseph’s in the Sweet Sixteen. In 1969, Jake was named
head football coach at Princeton, and his teams were 18-17-1 during
his tenure. His 1969 team won the Ivy League championship with a 6-1
record. Jake received the Distinguished American Award from the
Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation. After
his coaching career, Jake spent many years in industry as vice
president of Manufacture Hanover Trust in New York and as senior
vice president of Trust Company of the West in Los Angeles before
retiring in 1994. |
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