Alpha Brumage (March 16, 1880 – March 11, 1963) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player and coach of football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

Early life and playing career

Brumage was a native of Beloit, Kansas and graduated from Beloit High School. He attended the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

, where he played college football from 1901 to 1903 as a fullback and captained the

1903 Kansas Jayhawks football team The 1903 Kansas Jayhawks football team was an American football team that represented the University of Kansas as an independent during the 1903 college football season. In January 1903, Kansas hired Boss Weeks, who was the quarterback of Field ...

. Brumage also participated in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

as Kansas, running the hurdles in 1902–03.

Coaching career

Ottawa

Brumage was the second head football at

Ottawa University Ottawa University (OU) is a private Baptist university with its main campus in Ottawa, Kansas, a second residential campus in Surprise, Arizona, and adult campuses in the Kansas City, Phoenix and Milwaukee metropolitan areas. It was founded in ...

Ottawa, Kansas Ottawa (pronounced ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Franklin County, Kansas, United States. It is located on both banks of the Marais des Cygnes River near the center of Franklin County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the c ...

and he held that position for four seasons, from 1904 until 1907. His coaching record at Ottawa was 14–16–1. Brumage took over the team after a one-year hiatus because the school was attempting to purge professionalism from their college sports teams.

VMI

After coaching at

William Jewell College William Jewell College is a private liberal arts college in Liberty, Missouri. It was founded in 1849 by members of the Missouri Baptist Convention and endowed with $10,000 by William Jewell. It was associated with the Missouri Baptist Conventi ...

in Liberty, Missouri and Nebraska State Normal School—now known as

Peru State College Peru State College is a public college in Peru, Nebraska. Founded by members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1865, making it the first and oldest institution of higher education in Nebraska, it underwent several name changes before receiving ...

—Brumage moved to Lexington, Virginia to become the tenth head football coach at the

Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...

(VMI). He held that position for two seasons, from 1911 until 1912. His career coaching record at VMI was 13–2.

Kentucky

Brumage then went to Kentucky where he was football coach from 1913 to 1914, compiling an 11–5 record, and basketball coach from 1913 to 1915, compiling a 19–7 record.

Late life and death

In September 1915, Brumage was appointed as the physical director of the Birmingham Athletic Club in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Brumage attended officer's training school and was promoted to the rank of major in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. He served in France with the 322nd Field Artillery Regiment of the 83rd Infantry Division. Brumage retired to

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

in the early 1940s. He died there on March 11, 1963.

Head coaching record

Football

Basketball

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brumage, Alpha 1880 births 1963 deaths American football fullbacks American male hurdlers Kansas Jayhawks football players Kansas Jayhawks men's track and field athletes Kentucky Wildcats baseball coaches Kentucky Wildcats football coaches Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball coaches Ottawa Braves football coaches Peru State Bobcats football coaches Peru State Bobcats men's basketball coaches VMI Keydets football coaches VMI Keydets basketball coaches William Jewell Cardinals baseball coaches William Jewell Cardinals football coaches William Jewell Cardinals men's basketball coaches United States Army officers United States Army personnel of World War I People from Beloit, Kansas Sportspeople from San Antonio Coaches of American football from Kansas Players of American football from Kansas Players of American football from San Antonio Baseball coaches from Kansas Basketball coaches from Kansas Track and field athletes from Kansas Track and field athletes from San Antonio Military personnel from Kansas