[1][2][3] A cousin, Joseph A. Courtney, was also a noted athlete during the same era and was the captain of the Georgetown baseball team at the time of his death from pneumonia in March 1909.

[13] Courtney was assaulted during a Thanksgiving Day game in November 1915 by a high school player, reportedly "knocking out a tooth and breaking another".

[15] During World War I, Courtney served with the 4th United States Aero Squadron in France and single-handedly took down two enemy aircraft.

After the war, Courtney was an Internal Revenue Service agent attached to the real estate tax division in New Haven, Connecticut.

The undertaker found two small puncture marks behind Courtney's left ear, however the death was ruled an accident.