| Joseph Courtney | |
| Birth Date: | 23 November 1884 |
| Birth Place: | Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Westport, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Player Sport1: | Football |
| Player Years1: | 1906 |
| Player Team1: | Holy Cross |
| Player Years2: | 1907 |
| Player Team2: | Villanova |
| Player Years3: | 1908 |
| Player Team3: | Lafayette |
| Player Positions: | Halfback, end |
| Coach Sport1: | Football |
| Coach Years2: | 1909 |
| Coach Team2: | Boys HS (NY) |
| Coach Years3: | 1911 |
| Coach Team3: | Boston College |
| Coach Years4: | 1912–1914 |
| Coach Team4: | Dartmouth (assistant) |
| Coach Years5: | 1915 |
| Coach Team5: | Norwich |
| Coach Years6: | 1919 |
| Coach Team6: | Montclair HS (NJ) |
| Coach Years7: | 1921 |
| Coach Team7: | Orange A. A. |
| Coach Sport8: | Baseball |
| Coach Years9: | 1911 |
| Coach Team9: | Stone School |
| Overall Record: | 0–15 (college football) |
Joseph Patrick Courtney (November 23, 1884 – June 2, 1922) was an American football player, coach, and official. He served as the head football coach at Boston College in 1911 and Norwich University in 1915, compiling a career college football coaching record of 0–15.
A native of Worcester, Massachusetts, Courtney played football for the College of the Holy Cross, Villanova University, and Lafayette College.[1] [2] A cousin, Joseph A. Courtney, was also a noted athlete during the same era and was the captain of the Georgetown baseball team at the time of his death from pneumonia in March 1909.[3]
Courtney began his coaching career in 1909 at the Boys High School in Brooklyn.[4] [5] He later coached at Boston College,[6] Stone School,[7] Dartmouth College (assistant),[8] Norwich University,[9] Montclair High School, and the Orange Athletic Association (Orange A. A).[10] He may have coached briefly at New Hampshire.
Courtney was also a football official and basketball official for high school and college football games.[11] Courtney was assaulted during a Thanksgiving Day game in November 1915 by a high school player, reportedly "knocking out a tooth and breaking another".[12] The player was arrested; in court the next day, Courtney declined to press charges.[13]
During World War I, Courtney served with the 4th United States Aero Squadron in France and single-handedly took down two enemy aircraft. He was wounded in action. After the war, Courtney was an Internal Revenue Service agent attached to the real estate tax division in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1919, he moved to Bloomfield, New Jersey, where his mother and sister lived.[14] [15]
On June 2, 1922, a train engineer reported that he believed he had passed over a body on the tracks near the Westport Station in Westport, Connecticut. A railroad police officer was dispatched to Westport, where he discovered Courtney's badly mutilated body. The night prior, Coutrney had been seen arguing with a group of foreigners. The undertaker found two small puncture marks behind Courtney's left ear, however the death was ruled an accident. Courtney was buried at St. John's Cemetery in Worcester.[16]