William Clarkson Pierce (September 6, 1909 – September 8, 1981) 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 with ...

player and coach. A Notre Dame player during his college years, he served as the head football coach at

Stephen F. Austin State University } Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) is a public university in Nacogdoches, Texas. It was founded as a teachers' college in 1923 and subsequennly renamed after one of Texas's founding fathers, Stephen F. Austin. Its campus resides on part ...

Austin College Austin College is a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Sherman, Texas.St. Edward's University St. Edward's University is a private, Catholic university in Austin, Texas. It was founded and is operated in the Holy Cross tradition. History Founding and early history St. Edward's University was founded by the Reverend Edward Sorin, CSC ...

in Texas. Pierce began his coaching career in 1933 at St. Edward's, when he was hired as line coach under head football coach

Jack Chevigny John Edward Chevigny (August 14, 1906 – February 19, 1945) was an American football player, coach, lawyer, and United States Marine Corps officer who was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. He is best ...

. He moved to Austin College the following year to serve in the same capacity under Joseph B. Head. Pierce was born on September 6, 1909, in

Seibert, Colorado Seibert is a statutory town in Kit Carson County, Colorado, United States. The population was 181 at the 2010 census and is, as of 2018, estimated to be 216. A post office called Seibert has been in operation since 1888. The community was nam ...

. He served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and later worked for

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...

. He retired in 1975 and moved from

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

Victoria, Texas Victoria is a small city in South Texas and county seat of Victoria County, Texas. The population was 65,534 as of the 2020 census. The three counties of the Victoria Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 111,163 as of the 2000 censu ...

, where he died in a hospital on September 8, 1981. He was buried at Memory Gardens in

Edna, Texas Edna is a city in Jackson County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,499 at the 2010 census and 5,987 at the 2020 census. Edna is the county seat. Edna is the gateway to Lake Texana, which covers the site of Texana, Texas. Edna has ...

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierce, Bill 1909 births 1981 deaths American football guards Austin Kangaroos football coaches Kraft Foods people Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players St. Edward's Crusaders football coaches Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football coaches People from Kit Carson County, Colorado Players of American football from Colorado