William Harold "Butch" Cowell (July 21, 1887 – August 28, 1940) 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 of football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, 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 ...

. He is best known for his tenure as head coach of the New Hampshire Wildcats football team from 1915 to 1936.

Biography

Cowell was born on July 21, 1887, in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

. His family moved to Clyde, Kansas, where he played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

. He later played

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 ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, and

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. Cowell served as the head coach of the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

's football team from 1915 to 1936, except in 1918 when no

varsity team In most English-speaking countries, varsity is an abbreviation of the word ''university''. In the United States and Canada, the term is mostly used in relation to sports teams. Varsity in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, varsity team ...

was fielded. As a football coach, Cowell led his varsity teams to an overall record of 87 wins, 68 losses, and 23 ties, for a

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

. In addition to coaching football, Cowell was also the head basketball coach, head baseball coach, 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 ...

at New Hampshire. He was a founder of the

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

and served a term as the organization's

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 ...

. New Hampshire's Wildcat Stadium was named Cowell Stadium in his honor from 1952 until 2016. He was a member of the inaugural class of the Wildcat athletic Hall of Fame in 1982. He is also the "Cowell" in the name of the rivalry game with the

Maine Black Bears The Maine Black Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of Maine. A member of the America East Conference, the University of Maine sponsors teams in eight men's and nine women's NCAA sanctioned sports. The men's and women's ice ...

, the

Battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

. 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 ...

, he served as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the Yankee Division ( 26th Infantry Division). Cowell, who never married, died on August 28, 1940, in Dover, New Hampshire, at the age of 53 after a two-year illness. He was interred at Maple Grove Cemetery in

Randolph, Maine Randolph is a town and a census-designated place (CDP) in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,743 at the 2020 census. The town was named for Randolph, Massachusetts. Randolph is included in the Augusta, Maine micropolita ...

. His brother,

Roland Cowell Roland Adhemar Cowell (September 22, 1895 – August 27, 1953) was an American football, basketball, and baseball coach and college athletics administrator. Contemporary newspaper reports often referred to him as R. A. Cowell. Cowell served as th ...

, was also a coach and administrator in college athletics.

Head coaching record

Note that New Hampshire did not adopt the Wildcats nickname until February 1926; before then, they were generally referred to as "the blue and white".

Football

New Hampshire had an eight-game schedule planned for the 1918 season, which was abandoned due to

.
Source:

Notes

References

External links