Herman Milton "Billy" Suter (December 10, 1874 – October 31, 1946) 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 ...

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 tea ...

player, coach, referee, and

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

. He was also a

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

publisher.

Early life

Suter was born on December 10, 1874 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania to Henry Suter. Henry was from

Sutersville, Pennsylvania Sutersville is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 605 at the 2010 census. Geography Sutersville is located at (40.235910, -79.803777). According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has ...

and died in 1883.

College

Suter was initiated into Pennsylvania Alpha in 1893 until 1897. Suter played for

Washington & Jefferson Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County established by three Presbyterian missionaries to ...

, and the

1894 Penn State football team The 1894 Penn State football team was an American football team that represented Pennsylvania State College—now known as Pennsylvania State University–as an independent during the 1894 college football season. The team was coached by George ...

Princeton

He later enrolled at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

. In 1895, as a member of the

Princeton Tigers football The Princeton Tigers football program represents Princeton University and competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Championship, Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level as a member ...

team he once ran for a 95-yard

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

against

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Suter also captained the Princeton baseball team.

Coaching career

Sewanee

J. G. "Lady" Jayne, coach of the 1898 Sewanee team, also a Princeton grad, was hired to coach in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. Jayne recommended Suter, with whom he had roomed at Princeton. Suter coached the famed "Iron Men" of the 1899 Sewanee Tigers which went 12–0, outscored opponents 322 to 10, and won 5 games on a 6-day road trip all by shutout. It is recalled memorably with the phrase "...and on the seventh day they rested." The team's manager who planned the trip was Luke Lea. Grantland Rice was a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

on the Vanderbilt baseball team at the same time as Suter coached

Sewanee Sewanee may refer to: * Sewanee, Tennessee * Sewanee: The University of the South * ''The Sewanee Review'', an American literary magazine established in 1892 * Sewanee Natural Bridge * Saint Andrews-Sewanee School See also * Suwanee (disambiguati ...

. Rice praised his value as a leader, "yet he was one of the strictest disciplinarians I've ever known." Suter was fond of using the quick kick and for yelling from the sidelines when such was discouraged or illegal. A documentary film about the Sewanee 1899 team was released in 2022, titled ''Unrivaled: Sewanee 1899''.

Georgetown

Suter was assistant coach to Georgetown Blue and Gray in 1901, and coached for a year in 1902, going 7–3. He also coached Georgetown baseball team in 1902.

South Africa

Suter played for the Wanderers Baseball Club, in

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in 1903 and during the 1904–1905 inaugural

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

season. Salt Lake Telegram reported that Suter "formerly an outfielder on the Princeton team, leads the league in batting, with an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of .557, which is clouting them some. It is evident, however, that the spit ball has not as yet reached South Africa."

Officiating

Once while officiating a game between Bucknell and V. P. I. in 1906 in which Bucknell won 10 to 0, V. P. I. had an 80-yard touchdown run derailed by a holding call from Suter. Fans disagreed with the call and rushed the field after Suter, hitting Suter over the head with a cane on which was a V. P. I. flag. Players on both teams assisted Suter, and police eventually rushed in with revolvers drawn to restore order.

Publishing career

After coaching, Suter set up H M Suter Publishing Company in 1904 in

Washington, D. C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

for four years, before he became the publisher of the ''

Nashville Tennessean ''The Tennessean'' (known until 1972 as ''The Nashville Tennessean'') is a daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett, w ...

'' from 1907 to 1912, where he gave Grantland Rice his first job as a sports writer. There was an interval between publishing jobs from 1915 to 1918. Suter was a book publisher in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

during this period, and at the time of the

First World War 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 ...

worked for the Foreign Press Cable Service Bureau of the Committee on Publish Information. Suter, former

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

, and others then acquired the ''

Washington Herald ''The Washington Herald'' was an American daily newspaper in Washington, D.C., from October 8, 1906, to January 31, 1939. History The paper was founded in 1906 by Scott C. Bone, who had been managing editor of ''The Washington Post'' from 1888 ...

'' at the end of 1919, for which Suter and one Walter S. Rogers was in charge until 1920. Suter throughout his life had once been publisher of the ''Herald,'' the ''Philadelphia Evening Times'', ''The Elmira Advertiser'' and the ''Elmira Sunday Telegram''. By 1924 he joined the

firm of Palmer, Suter, and Palmer which handled disposition of newspaper properties with an estimated value of $100 million.

Head coaching record

Football

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suter, Billy 1874 births 1946 deaths 19th-century players of American football American football quarterbacks American newspaper publishers (people) Baseball outfielders Georgetown Hoyas baseball coaches Georgetown Hoyas football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football players Princeton Tigers football players Princeton Tigers baseball players Sewanee Tigers baseball coaches Sewanee Tigers football coaches Washington & Jefferson Presidents football players People from Greensburg, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania Journalists from Pennsylvania