Werner Robert Voigts (March 29, 1916 – December 7, 2000) 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

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 ...

player and coach. He served as the head football coach at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

from 1947 to 1954, compiling a record of 33–39–1. Voigts led the 1948 Northwestern Wildcats team to the Rose Bowl, the first in school history, where they defeated

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, 20–14. Voigts was a native of

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

, where Northwestern's main campus is located. He attended Northwestern and played on the school's football team between 1936 and 1938. In his

sophomore year In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

, the Wildcats won the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

, and Voigts was named an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n tackle. After college, Voigts served as an assistant football coach and head basketball coach at

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

before moving briefly to

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, where he was a football line coach. He entered the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

during World War II in 1942 and was stationed outside of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

where he met

Paul Brown Paul Eugene Brown (September 7, 1908 – August 5, 1991) was an American football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Brown was both the co-founder and first coach of the Clevela ...

, the head coach of the base's football team. When Brown became head coach of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

after the war, he hired Voigts as a tackle coach. After a year with the Browns, Voigts became head coach at Northwestern. Voigts resigned as Northwestern's head coach in 1955, citing growing criticism of his coaching after a string of losing seasons. He left football but stayed in Evanston, where he ran a real estate business for 30 years. He died in 2000.

Early life and college

Voigts grew up in

and attended

, based in his home town. He played tackle on the school's

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

starting as a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

in 1936. That year, the Northwestern Wildcats posted a 7–1

win–loss record 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 ...

under coach

Pappy Waldorf Lynn Osbert "Pappy" Waldorf (October 3, 1902 – August 15, 1981) was an American college football player and coach. He received the first national collegiate football coach of the year award in 1935. Waldorf became known for his motivational coac ...

and were champions of the

, a grouping of large schools from the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

. Voigts was selected by news outlets as an

n. He was named to an all-Big Ten squad after his senior year in 1938 and played in the

College All-Star Game The Chicago Charities College All-Star Game was a preseason American football game played from 1934 to 1976 between the National Football League (NFL) champions and a team of star college seniors from the previous year. It was also known as the C ...

, a now-defunct matchup between the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

champions and a selection of the country's best college players. Voigts also played on Northwestern's

basketball team Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

Coaching career

Voigts became head coach of the basketball team at

in 1939 and was co-coach of the football team alongside Don Heap. In two years at the school, Voigts's basketball teams posted a 25–16 win–loss record. Voigts in 1941 became a line coach for the

Yale Bulldogs football The Yale Bulldogs football program represents Yale University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Yale's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing ...

team at

. After one season at Yale, Voigts entered the

during World War II. He was stationed at

Great Lakes Naval Training Station Naval Station Great Lakes (NAVSTA Great Lakes) is the home of the United States Navy's only boot camp, located near North Chicago, in Lake County, Illinois. Important tenant commands include the Recruit Training Command, Training Support Center ...

outside of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and served as a line coach on the base's Bluejackets football team from 1942 to 1943. When the war ended,

, who had been head football coach at Great Lakes, hired Voigts as a tackle coach for the

, a new team in the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

(AAFC) that was to start play in 1946. He joined the Browns in March 1945, making him the first assistant signed by the team. Voigts coached tackles

Lou Rymkus Louis Joseph "the Battler" Rymkus (November 6, 1919 – October 31, 1998) was an American football player and coach in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL). Playing as ...

and

Lou Groza Louis Roy Groza (January 25, 1924 – November 29, 2000), nicknamed "the Toe", was an American professional football player who was a placekicker and offensive tackle while playing his entire career for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America F ...

as the Browns won the first AAFC championship in 1946. He stayed in Cleveland for only one season, however, accepting the head coaching job at Northwestern in February 1947. He signed a three-year contract, succeeding his old coach Waldorf. At 31 years old, he was one of the youngest men ever hired to coach a Big Ten football team. Voigts spent eight seasons at Northwestern, during which his teams compiled a 33–39–1 record. This ranks him sixth all-time among Northwestern football coaches in total wins and 12th in winning percentage. His most successful year was his second season, when the

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

finished with an 8–2 record and won the Rose Bowl 20–14 over a

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

team coached by Waldorf. It was Northwestern's first-ever bowl victory, and remained the only one in the school's history until the Wildcats won the 2013 Gator Bowl game in Jacksonville, Florida. Northwestern ended the season ranked seventh in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

of the best college teams in the country. Through his entire career at Northwestern, Voigts was an assistant coach in the

, a now-defunct annual matchup between the champion of the

and a selection of the best college players from around the country. While Voigts's tenure at Northwestern started successfully, he came under increasing pressure in the early 1950s after posting a string of losing records. He resigned in February 1955, citing his failure to put together winning teams. "It was just an increasing amount of criticism over my coaching, and it was probably hurting the school so I just quit", he said at the time. He said he had "no future plans" and had not considered whether he would return to pro football. He is sixth among Northwestern coaches in total wins and 12th in winning percentage.

Lou Saban Louis Henry Saban (October 13, 1921 – March 29, 2009) was an American football player and coach. He played for Indiana University in college and as a professional for the Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference between 1946 a ...

, a former Browns lineman who had served as assistant to Voigts, replaced him as head coach.

Later life and death

Voigts stayed in Evanston after resigning and operated a real estate business out of an office across the street from Northwestern's

Dyche Stadium Ryan Field is a stadium in the central United States, located in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago. Near the campus of Northwestern University, it is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Northwestern Wildc ...

for 30 years. He died in the Chicago suburb of

Wilmette, Illinois Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a population of 27,087 at the 2010 census. The ...

in 2000 following a long illness. Northwestern in 2004 started the Bob Voigts Coach of the Year award, given to the best head coach at the school as selected by other coaches.

Head coaching record

Football

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Voigts, Robert 1916 births 2000 deaths American football tackles Cleveland Browns coaches Illinois Wesleyan Titans baseball coaches Illinois Wesleyan Titans football coaches Illinois Wesleyan Titans men's basketball coaches Northwestern Wildcats football coaches Northwestern Wildcats football players Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball players Yale Bulldogs football coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Sportspeople from Evanston, Illinois Players of American football from Illinois Basketball players from Illinois American men's basketball players United States Navy personnel of World War II