Something about Henry Crawford

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the death of Henry Crawford, the longtime coach and administrator at Sam Houston State. Crawford attended Austin College in Sherman and made his way to Huntsville where he became part of the SHSTC Athletics Department, eventually rising to the position of football coach. Along the way he acquired the nickname “Molly,” as evidenced in the scholarships and residence hall that honor him, and pretty much every other time we see his name in print (as H.O. "Molly" Crawford).

The question begs: why Molly? Was it a family name? Was it early-19th century football slang (“he sure mollied that ball....”)? Was it an off-the-cuff epithet from a peer that stuck? Was it something mundane that really doesn’t matter all these years later?

We've asked around about it ourselves but the people we've questioned either 1) don't know themselves or 2) don't...uh... share our level of enthusiasm in the subject (yeah, that's it...).

Crawford is buried in Huntsville’s Oakwood Cemetery.