McCracken played football as a running back at the University of Pittsburgh from 1918 to 1920 under coach "Pop" Warner and was a member of Pittsburgh's 1918 national championship team.

His 1926 Lafayette Leopards team was recognized as a national champion by Parke H. Davis.

That same year his former coach's Pop Warner's Stanford Indians were recognized as the national champions by a different publication.

[2] During his coaching days, McCracken was the cofounder of the very successful Scholastic Inc publishing concern, which he was associated with for 63 years.

This biographical article relating to a college football coach first appointed in the 1920s is a stub.