David John Markey (October 7, 1882 – July 20, 1963) was an American politician, Army officer, businessman, and college football coach.
In 1898, he left high school and volunteered to serve in the Spanish–American War in the United States Army as part of a company of the First Maryland Infantry Regiment raised in Frederick.
[1] His father, John Hanshew Markey, was born in Frederick in 1834 and became a prominent resident of the city, long-time shoe merchant, and a lifelong Democrat and member of the Episcopal Church.
During his service in the First Maryland Infantry Regiment, he played as a reserve halfback on the unit's football team, which featured former players from several Eastern colleges including Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale.
[5] Markey reinstated a physical training regimen, which had first been implemented by Grenville Lewis in 1896, and also introduced the tackling dummy to team practices.
[3] Although he had not intended to play on the team as its head coach, Markey filled in for a Maryland halfback, Ed Brown, who quit after receiving a death threat from a Georgetown fan in the season-opener.
[9] After the team posted a 2–4–2 record that season, Markey and the school ended their arrangement by mutual consent,[10] and he was replaced as coach by State Department lawyer Fred K.
[1] At this time, he held an independent political affiliation, served as the director of the Frederick Young Men's Christian Association, and participated in the city's Junior Fire Company.
[17][18] In 1946, Markey ran a closely contested but unsuccessful campaign for one of Maryland's U.S. Senate seats as a Republican against former Governor Herbert O'Conor.
[21] On December 10, 1946, Markey requested the Special Committee to Investigate Senatorial Campaign Expenditures conduct a recount in Baltimore and Montgomery County, which had used voting machines.
[21] By contrast, Democratic Maryland senator Millard Tydings alleged partisan bias on the part of the Republican-led investigating subcommittee.