Frank Witmer Jr., engineer, founder of football program

Frank P. Witmer Jr., 95, of Prospect Park, a retired mechanical engineer and founder of the Prospect Park Termites football program, died of heart failure Sunday, April 4, at home.

In 1948, Mr. Witmer, who had played football for Lower Merion High School, invited 12- and 13-year-old boys who were playing football in the street into his backyard and taught them the rules of the game. When he realized that the local junior high school did not have a team, he and several neighbors organized the Prospect Park Termites.

When the Termites published their history years later, Mr. Witmer said the name had been inspired by the termites infesting his garage. He realized that the insects had a lot of similarities to football players: They work as a team, charging forward and chewing up everything in their way.

That first year the Termites won all three games they played. By 1951 the team was playing 11 games a season. In 1968, two teams were formed, and the Termites joined the Bert Bell Conference. They left Mr. Witmer's backyard to practice at Prospect Park Municipal Field, which was renamed the Frank P. Witmer Jr. Athletic Field.

The program now has six teams for boys ages 5 to 15 and a cheerleading squad.

Mr. Witmer coached teams until the late 1970s and remained an avid fan, giving halftime pep talks for the last 32 years. His sons, Frank and Thomas, played for the Termites.

Mr. Witmer grew up in Bala Cynwyd. He earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was on the crew team.

For more than 40 years, until retiring in 1977, he designed large power plants all over the world for Kuljian Corp., an engineering firm in Philadelphia.

He had been married to Margaret Hamilton Witmer since 1938. They had met on the beach in Ocean City, N.J.

Mr. Witmer's son Frank died in 1976. In addition to his wife and son Thomas, Mr. Witmer is survived by five grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

Friends may call from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, April 9, at Griffith Funeral Chapel, 520 Chester Pike, Norwood. The funeral will begin at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 10, at St. James Episcopal Church, 11th and Lincoln Avenues, Prospect Park. Mr. Witmer was a member of the church vestry.