Biography
Frank Hoyt Mahan was born on October 17, 1867, in Griggsville Ilinois, the son of George and Sarah Hoyt Mahan. After moving to Memphis as a child, his parents died and he was raised by his uncle. Mahan spent his childhood in Memphis, Tennessee, and then Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
As a young adult, Mahan worked in a furniture factory, and at age 23, he decided he wanted to become a Christian worker. Mahan enrolled in the International YMCA Training School, now Springfield College, in the fall of 1891.
In Springfield, Mahan was very involved in seemingly everything in the school. He organized the Glee Club, was responsible for all musical activities put on by the school, and his efforts led to the school hiring a music instructor.
Mahan also was a great fundraiser for the school, helping to raise more than one hundred dollars ($2,750 today) for the library to purchase books and other supplies.
During commencement exercises Mahan served as class historian, recalling memories both great and hard, of the group’s two years together.
Mahan's athletic prowess did not go unnoticed at the school. He is credited by Dr. James Naismith for naming the game.
As a member of the first basketball team, he played goaltender, a position that no longer exists, but essentially required him to stay back, even when his team had the ball, and play defense.
Mahan started as the right tackle on the football team and was part of a very good offensive line under player-coach Amos Alonzo Stagg. Mahan also excelled in the pentathlon, winning a bronze medal on the school’s field day in June 1893.
After his graduation, Mahan went to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he served as General Secretary of the YMCA for six years.
During this time, he helped to involve women with the organization.
Then, in 1899, his former basketball teammate and classmate, George Day, left the general position of general secretary at the Lynn Massachusetts YMCA for the Syracuse, New York YMCA, providing an opening for Mahan to get the position.
Mahan served as General Secretary for the Lynn YMCA for six years and made a big impact on its growth and development. He led a membership of 1,100 people, including 275 boys, and raised money that ensured the completion of a new $125,000 building.
Mahan’s efforts to complete the raising of a new YMCA building in Lynn led him to become physically exhausted, leading to pneumonia that took his life on February 11, 1905, in Springfield, Massachusetts where he had gone to recuperate.
His death shocked colleagues and friends in Lynn and Springfield. The Springfield College publication The Association Magazine, and the Daily Press of Lynn published several articles, which called attention to the loss the whole city suffered and called for immediate action to finish the project that Mr. Mahan was working on, as well as act on his plans for the association’s future.
The cornerstone for the new Lynn YMCA was laid at the corner of Market and Tremont Streets on November 5, 1905.