Congressman Joe Barr '39 Gives a Washington Welcome to DePauw's New Football Coach

June 26, 1959

June 26, 1959, Greencastle, Ind. — Congressman Joseph W. Barr, a 1939 graduate of DePauw University, today introduced the Tigers' new football coach, Tommy Mont, to television viewers throughout Central Indiana. Mont was the subject of a short film the congressman provides an Indianapolis television station for its newscast each week. [Download Video: "See the Segment" - 8,744kb]

Rep. Barr tells viewers that Mont is leaving the University of Maryland, where he's served as head football coach the past three seasons, and called it "a very important thing to me, indeed." The Democrat goes on to say that he played four years of football at DePauw, "So you can see that football, and especially DePauw football, is something that's very close to my heart."

"I'm looking forward very much to spending many enjoyable years in the state of Indiana," Mont tells the congressman.

The new coach is asked about his career in the National Football League (1947-1950), playing for the Washington Redskins. "Well, in those days I was a quarterback. I used to substitute for Sammy Baugh in his heyday when he'd pull a leg muscle or something like that, but mainly I was a defensive halfback." Mont was a star quarterback at Maryland as a collegian.

During the interview, Coach Mont also extols the virtues of small college athletics. "Boys like that really are playing the game for fun and are using it as part of their educational process. They get a lot more out of football than the boys who just come to school and take a couple of years to learn why they're really in school."

The hiring of Tom Mont was announced April 29 by President Russell J. Humbert. Details can be found in this story.

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