Larry Conover

{{Short description|American football player and coach (1894–1945)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}

{{Infobox gridiron football person

| name = Larry Conover

| image = Larry Conover (Taps 1921).png

| alt =

| caption = Conover in 1921

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1894|05|21}}

| birth_place = Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1945|8|4|1894|5|21}}

| death_place = Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.

| team =

| number =

| status =

| position1 = Center

| height_ft = 5

| height_in = 10

| weight_lb = 190

| college = Penn State

| playing_years1 = 1921–1923

| playing_team1 = Canton Bulldogs

| playing_years2 = 1924

| playing_team2 = Pottsville Maroons

| playing_years3 = 1925

| playing_team3 = Cleveland Bulldogs

| playing_years4 = 1926

| playing_team4 = Frankford Yellow Jackets

| career_highlights = * Canton Daily News: 1st team all-NFL (1923)

• GB Press-Gazette: 2nd team all-NFL (1923)
• Anthracite League champion (1924)

| NFL = CON623038

| DatabaseFootball = CONOVLAR01

}}

Larner Somers Gardner Conover (May 21, 1894 – August 4, 1945) was a professional American football player who played during the early years of the National Football League (NFL). After attending high school in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Conover attended Penn State University, where he served as the team's captain in 1917.{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D05E7DD1F3BEE3ABC4F53DFBF668382609EDE | work=The New York Times | title=PENN STATE IS AT WORK.; Football Prospects Are BrightMany Veterans to Return | date=September 7, 1919}} Conover was the head basketball and baseball coach and an assistant football coach at Clemson for the 1920–21 seasons.{{cite web|last=Bourret|first=Tim|title=Former Head Coaches|url=http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/clem/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2010-11_media_guide.pdf|work=Clemson 2010-11 Tiger Basketball Media Guide|accessdate=August 17, 2011|author2=Philip Sikes|page=152|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081755/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/clem/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2010-11_media_guide.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Nicknamed "The Atlantic City Airedale", Conovar made his professional debut in the NFL in 1921 with the Canton Bulldogs. Conover played in the league for four years, playing for the Cleveland Bulldogs, Frankford Yellow Jackets and Canton. In 1922, Conover signed on to play with the then-independent, Pottsville Maroons. There he helped the Maroons become the top team in the Pennsylvania coal region.{{cite web|url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Articles/Pottsville_Maroons.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=March 23, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218173246/http://profootballresearchers.org/Articles/Pottsville_Maroons.pdf |archivedate=December 18, 2010 }} In 1924, the Maroons won the Anthracite League championship. The following year, the Maroons joined the NFL.

Conover later served as a line coach at the University of Georgia and as an assistant football coach his alma mater, Penn State, from 1926 to 1932. He died on August 4, 1945, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from a heart attack after attempting to revive a drowned swimmer.{{cite news |author= |title=Heart Attack Fatal—Larry Conover Dies in Trying To Save a Life |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21338314/the_pittsburgh_press/ |newspaper=Pittsburgh Press |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |agency=United Press International |date=August 5, 1945 |page=24 |access-date=June 27, 2018 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}