Harry O. Dayhoff (1981) - Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame

Harry O. Dayhoff

Induction:
1981
Class:
1923

Harry "Gump" Dayhoff won 12 varsity letters in football, basketball and track and field at Bucknell, and he later became one of the outstanding collegiate football officials in the country. A standout athlete at Steelton (Pa.) High School, Dayhoff came to Bucknell after two years in the U.S. Navy. He was an All-Pennsylvania quarterback in football and set a school record in the 220-yard low hurdles in track. At the conclusion of his undergraduate career, he played professional football for three years with the Frankford Yellow Jackets and Pottsville Maroons before an injury cut short his career. Dayhoff turned to officiating in 1926, and in a 30-year career worked games for almost all of the top Eastern colleges. A highlight of his career was serving as the referee for the 1945 Army-Navy game, an occasion when he had an opportunity to meet President Harry Truman. Active in civic and professional affairs and an enthusiastic Bucknell alumnus, Dayhoff was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1973, was made a life member of the Intercollegiate Football Officials, was recipient in 1957 of Bucknell's Alumni Chair for Loyalty to the University, was Man of the Year in Harrisburg in 1951, and was an honorary member of the Executive Committee of the National Board of Basketball Officials. Dayhoff was the author of The Kick-off by Day-off, an account f his experiences as an official, and was the "injured official" on the cover of the November 25, 1950 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.
(Bucknell Hall of Fame Class of 1981)