Joseph Robert Seaman (March 28, 1932 – August 13, 2018) 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 ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

from 1971 to 1973 and at

Emporia State University Emporia State University (Emporia State or ESU) is a public university in Emporia, Kansas, United States. Established in March 1863 as the Kansas State Normal School, Emporia State is the third-oldest public university in the state of Kansas. Em ...

from 1979 to 1982, compiling a career

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

record of 23–56.

Early life and education

Seamon was born and raised in

Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Erie County, Ohio, Erie County, Ohio, United States. Situated along the shores of Lake Erie in the northern part of the state, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( wes ...

. He graduated from

Sandusky High School Sandusky High School (SHS) is a secondary school in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Sandusky City School District, and one of two high schools in the city of Sandusky; the other high school is St Mary Central Cat ...

and attended

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

on a scholarship. An injury sustained during a spring game in his freshman year at Kent State ended his football career. He had been slated to start at

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for the Kent State varsity football team that fall. Despite the injury, Seamon continued as a member of Kent State's

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 events ...

team, winning a

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

title in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

Coaching career

Wichita State

Seaman was the assistant football coach on October 2, 1970—the day of the

Wichita State University football team plane crash In clear and calm weather in Colorado at 1:14 p.m. MDT on Friday, October 2, 1970, a chartered Martin 4-0-4 airliner crashed into a mountain eight miles (13 km) west of Silver Plume. Operated by Golden Eagle Aviation, the twin-engine ...

. Wichita State was using two planes to transport its team to

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

for a football game when one of the planes (named "Gold") crashed. Coach Seaman told the football players and coaches on the "Black" plane shortly after arrival in

Logan, Utah Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 census recorded the population was 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city of the Logan metropolitan area, which includes Cache County and Franklin ...

. :''"There was belief and disbelief amongst the players and amongst the coaches," Bob Seaman, WSU assistant coach, said. "We know what had happened, but we didn't want to believe what had happened."'' Although they did not play the game at Utah, the surviving players voted to continue the season. In 1972, Seaman guided Wichita State to its first winning season in nine years, a 6–5 record. Wichita State had only one more winning season before the program was dropped in 1986.

Emporia State

Seaman later became the 19th head football coach for

Emporia, Kansas Emporia is a city in and the county seat of Lyon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 24,139. Emporia lies between Topeka and Wichita at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 with Interstates 335 ...

and he held that position for four seasons, from 1979 until 1982. His overall coaching record at Emporia State was 10–30.

Death

Seaman died on August 13, 2018, in

Eaton, Ohio Eaton is a city in, and the county seat of Preble County, Ohio, United States, approximately 24 mi (38 km) west of Dayton. The population was 8,375 at the 2020 census, down 0.4% from the population of 8,407 at the 2010 census. Eaton's ...

. Seaman was inducted into both Sandusky High School and the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association hall of fame.

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seaman, Bob 1932 births 2018 deaths American male high jumpers Emporia State Hornets football coaches Iowa State Cyclones football coaches Kent State Golden Flashes football players Kent State Golden Flashes men's track and field athletes Wichita State Shockers football coaches High school football coaches in Ohio Bowling Green State University alumni Sportspeople from Sandusky, Ohio Coaches of American football from Ohio Players of American football from Ohio Track and field athletes from Ohio