John Beckett (American football)

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John Wesley Beckett (January 5, 1892 – July 26, 1981) was an American football player and coach and a longtime United States Marine Corps officer.

Beckett was born in Eightmile, Oregon, and attended Eugene High School before playing college football at the University of Oregon from 1913 to 1916. He mainly played tackle, but also lined up at halfback and punter. He was the team captain in 1916, earned first-team All-PCC honors, and helped Oregon go undefeated and share the conference title. Oregon went on to the 1917 Rose Bowl, where they beat Pennsylvania 14–0 and Beckett was named the game’s most valuable player.

With the U.S. entry into World War I, Beckett joined the Marines and played for the Mare Island Marines while stationed at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California. He captained the Mare Island team, and in the 1918 Rose Bowl service game, Mare Island defeated Camp Lewis 19–7. Beckett is the only person to captain two different Rose Bowl teams.

Beckett also played professional football briefly, appearing in the NFL for the Buffalo All-Americans in 1920 and the Columbus Panhandles in 1922, primarily as a tackle or halfback.

His coaching career was largely with Marine teams: head coach of Mare Island Marines (1920), Quantico Marines (1921–1924), San Diego Marines (1925), and an assistant at Navy (1926–1928), with a later period at San Diego Marines (1931–1932). He finished with a head coaching record of 56–19–3 and retired from the Marines as a brigadier general after about 50 years of service.

Beckett received several honors for his football contributions: he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1972. He was a charter member of the University of Oregon Athletic Hall of Fame (1992) and was honored by the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1980. He died in La Jolla, California, in 1981.