Francis William Leahy (August 27, 1908 – June 21, 1973) was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and professional sports executive. He served as the head football coach at Boston College from 1939 to 1940 and at the University of Notre Dame from 1941 to 1943 and again from 1946 to 1953, compiling a career college football record of 107–13–9. His winning percentage of .864 is the second best in NCAA Division I football history, trailing only that of fellow Notre Dame Fighting Irish coach, Knute Rockne, for whom Leahy played from 1928 to 1930. Leahy played on two Notre Dame teams that won national championships, in 1929 and 1930, and coached four more, in 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949. Leahy was also the athletic director at Notre Dame from 1947 until 1949 when he passed the role to the Fighting Irish basketball coach Moose Krause so that he could focus on football coaching. Leahy served as the general manager for the Los Angeles Chargers of the American Football League (AFL) during their inaugural season in 1960. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1970. Early life and playing career Leahy was born in O'Neill, Nebraska and graduated from Winner High School in Winner, South Dakota where he was a football standout. He attended the University of Notre Dame, where he played football as a tackle on Knute Rockne's last three teams (1928–1930), where he was part of the 1929 and 1930 National champion teams, and graduated from the university in 1931. Coaching career Assistant coaching Leahy went to Georgetown University as line coach in 1931 and Michigan State the following year to take a similar position. Leahy took over as line coach at Fordham University in 1933 and stayed until 1938 under Jim Crowley, coaching the famed Seven Blocks of Granite from 1935 to 1937 when the Rams lost only two games in three seasons. The undersized right guard on the 1935 and 1936 teams was future coaching legend Vince Lombardi. Boston College In 1939, Leahy went to Boston College as head coach, guiding the Eagles to a 20–2 record including an undefeated 1940 season capped off with a win in the 1941 Sugar Bowl. At Boston College, he tried relentlessly to recruit future beat author Jack Kerouac. Although he had recently signed a contract renewal at Boston College, Leahy accepted