The model for all later American juvenile sports fiction, Merriwell excelled at football, baseball, basketball, crew and track at Yale while solving mysteries and righting wrongs.
He played with great strength and received traumatic blows without injury.

A biographical entry on Patten noted dryly that Frank Merriwell "had little in common with his creator or his readers."
Patten offered some background on his character: "The name was symbolic of the chief characteristics I desired my hero to have.
Frank for frankness, merry for a happy disposition, well for health and abounding vitality."

Merriwell's classmates observed, "He never drinks.
That's how he keeps himself in such fine condition all the time.
He will not smoke, either, and he takes his exercise regularly.
He is really a remarkable freshie."

Merriwell originally appeared in a series of magazine stories starting April 18, 1896 ("Frank Merriwell: or, First Days at Fardale") in Tip Top Weekly, continuing through 1912, and later in dime novels and comic books.
Patten would confine himself to a hotel room for a week to write an entire story.

The Frank Merriwell comic strip began in 1928, continuing until 1936.
Daily strips from 1934 provided illustrations for the 1937 Big Little Book.

There are at least two generations of Merriwells: Frank, his half-brother Dick, and Frank's son, Frank Jr. There is a marked difference between Frank and Dick.
Frank usually handles challenges on his own.
Dick has mysterious friends and skills that help him, especially an old Indian friend without whom the stories would not be quite as interesting.
The model for all later American juvenile sports fiction, Merriwell excelled at football, baseball, basketball, crew and track at Yale while solving mysteries and righting wrongs. He played with great strength and received traumatic blows without injury.
A biographical entry on Patten noted dryly that Frank Merriwell "had little in common with his creator or his readers." Patten offered some background on his character: "The name was symbolic of the chief characteristics I desired my hero to have. Frank for frankness, merry for a happy disposition, well for health and abounding vitality."
Merriwell's classmates observed, "He never drinks. That's how he keeps himself in such fine condition all the time. He will not smoke, either, and he takes his exercise regularly. He is really a remarkable freshie." 
Merriwell originally appeared in a series of magazine stories starting April 18, 1896 ("Frank Merriwell: or, First Days at Fardale") in Tip Top Weekly, continuing through 1912, and later in dime novels and comic books. Patten would confine himself to a hotel room for a week to write an entire story.
The Frank Merriwell comic strip began in 1928, continuing until 1936. Daily strips from 1934 provided illustrations for the 1937 Big Little Book.
There are at least two generations of Merriwells: Frank, his half-brother Dick, and Frank's son, Frank Jr. There is a marked difference between Frank and Dick. Frank usually handles challenges on his own. Dick has mysterious friends and skills that help him, especially an old Indian friend without whom the stories would not be quite as interesting.
Frank Merriwell