Robert Alonzo DeMoss (January 27, 1927 – July 23, 2017) 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, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...
from 1970 to 1972, compiling a career
college football record of 13–18.
Early life
DeMoss was born on January 27, 1927, in
Dayton, Kentucky
The City of Dayton, Kentucky, is a home rule-class city along a bend of the Ohio River in Campbell County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 5,338 at the 2010 census. It is less than from downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.
Geography
...
.
He earned a
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in
forestry
Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...
during his college years at
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...
.
Career
Football playing
DeMoss played football as a
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
at Purdue from 1945 to 1948.
He helped the Boilermakers win their first four games and move into the national rankings at No. 9. The next week, he led the Boilermakers into Ohio Stadium, where they routed the #4 team in the country, 35-13
He was then selected in the second round of the
1949 NFL Draft
The 1949 National Football League Draft was held on December 21, 1948, at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. The draft was preceded by a secret draft meeting held November 15, 1948, at the Hotel Schenley in Pittsburgh.
This was the ...
by the
New York Bulldogs
The New York Yanks were an American football team that played in the National Football League under that name in the 1950 and 1951 seasons.
Season by season overview 1949
The team began in 1944 as the Boston Yanks, owned by Kate Smith's manage ...
, for whom he played in 1949.
DeMoss was selected again in the 22nd round of the
1950 NFL Draft by the
New York Giants, but retired from playing to become an assistant football coach at Purdue.
Assistant coach
For 20 years, beginning in 1950, DeMoss was an assistant football coach where he was credited with developing Purdue's reputation as the 'cradle of quarterbacks,' having recruited and coached the likes of
Dale Samuels,
Len Dawson
Leonard Ray Dawson (June 20, 1935 – August 24, 2022) was an American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Kansas City Chiefs franchise. Aft ...
,
Bernie Allen
: ''This is about the baseball player. For the musical project of Travis McCoy called Bernie Allen, see Bernie Allen (band).''
Bernard Keith Allen (born April 16, 1939) is a former Major League Baseball player for the Minnesota Twins, Washin ...
,
Bob Griese,
Mike Phipps
Michael Elston Phipps (born January 19, 1947) is a former American college and professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. Phipps played college footbal ...
and
Gary Danielson
Gary Dennis Danielson (born September 10, 1951) is an American college football commentator and former professional American football player. Danielson was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the Detroit Lions from ...
.
As assistant athletics director, DeMoss oversaw the baseball, men's cross country, men's golf, men's swimming and diving, men's tennis, men's track and field, and wrestling programs.
Purdue head coach
In 1970, DeMoss replaced
Jack Mollenkopf as head coach.
Two days after Mollenkopf announced his retirement, DeMoss was named his successor, becoming the third and most-recent Purdue alum to serve as head coach.
DeMoss inherited a Purdue squad who was loaded at the running back position with Stan Brown, and
Otis Armstrong
Otis D. Armstrong (November 15, 1950 – October 13, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected in the first round with the ninth overall pick in the 1973 NFL ...
, but the team struggled to find consistency out of its quarterback position. DeMoss resigned following the 1972 season, citing his desire to be with his family more as his reason for stepping down. DeMoss compiled a career college football record of 13–18.
In DeMoss' three seasons as head coach, the Boilermakers posted an 11-12 Big Ten mark.
On October 3, 1970, Purdue upset third-ranked
Stanford University with a 26-14 scoring on the road, earning DeMoss Coach of the Week laurels by
United Press International
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...
.
DeMoss resigned as coach on December 3, 1972, making him the last quarterback to coach the Boilermakers until current head coach
Jeff Brohm
Jeffrey Scott Brohm (born April 24, 1971) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current head football coach of the Louisville Cardinals. Brohm played college football at the University of Louisville for coach Howard Sc ...
.
After his stint as Purdue's head football coach, DeMoss remained an assistant athletics director at Purdue until his retirement in 1992.
In September 2008 the Purdue athletics department honored Bob DeMoss with the unveiling of a placard bearing his name for the offensive staff room in the football offices of the Mollenkopf Athletic Center.
Honors
DeMoss was inducted into Purdue's Intercollegiate Athletes Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 1999.
Personal life
DeMoss was married to Janet DeMoss. They had three children.
DeMoss died at his home in
West Lafayette, Indiana
West Lafayette () is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, about northwest of the state capital of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette is directly across the Wabash River from its sister cit ...
, on July 23, 2017, at the age of 90.
Head coaching record
* Source of his coaching record:
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Demoss, Bob
1927 births
2017 deaths
American football quarterbacks
New York Bulldogs players
Purdue Boilermakers football coaches
Purdue Boilermakers football players
People from Dayton, Kentucky
Players of American football from Kentucky