Robert Carl Zuppke (July 2, 1879 – December 22, 1957) 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 coach at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

from 1913 until 1941, 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 131–81–12. Inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1951, Zuppke coached his teams to national titles in 1914, 1919, 1923, and 1927. Zuppke's teams also won seven

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 ...

championships. While at the University of Illinois, Zuppke was a member of the Alpha-Gamma chapter of

Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international fraternities with currently 318 active chapters and colo ...

. Among the players Zuppke coached at Illinois was

Red Grange Harold Edward "Red" Grange (June 13, 1903 – January 28, 1991), nicknamed "the Galloping Ghost" and "the Wheaton Iceman", was an American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and the short-lived New York Yankees ...

, the era's most celebrated college football player. The field at the University of Illinois's Memorial Stadium is named Zuppke Field in his honor. Zuppke is credited for many football inventions and traditions, including the huddle and the Flea flicker (American football), flea flicker. In 1914, he reintroduced the I formation. Prior to coaching at the University of Illinois, Zuppke coached at Muskegon High School in Muskegon, Michigan, and Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois, where he tutored future Pro Football Hall of Famer George Trafton and Olympic Games, Olympic decathlete Harry Goelitz. Zuppke led the team to state championships in 1911 and 1912. He had several coaching influences. He used some plays developed by Pop Warner. Zuppke also was a writer and a fine art painter. From 1930 to 1948, Zuppke wrote the syndicated newspaper strip ''Ned Brant'', drawn by Walt Depew. During the 1930s, Zuppke also wrote syndicated sports-related columns. As a painter, Zuppke was known for his rugged Western landscapes.

Zuppkeisms

Zuppke was given to philosophical remarks, known as "Zuppkeisms." The seven best-known are as follows: # Never let hope elude you; that is life's biggest failure # The greatest athlete is one who can carry a nimble brain to the place of action # Moral courage is the result of respect from fellow men # A good back should keep his feet at all times and never lose his head # Men do their best if they know they are being observed # Alumni are loyal if a coach wins all his games # Advice to freshmen: don't drink the liniment

Artist

Zuppke was also a painter who worked mainly on creating evocative, naturalistic landscapes depicting the American Southwest. Zuppke saw no conflict between his interest in painting and football strategy as he believed, "Art and football are very much alike". His work was displayed in several shows, including a one-man show at the Palmer House in Chicago in 1937. Zuppke was a member of the No-Jury Society of Artists in Chicago and an acquaintance of Ernest Hemingway. Images of Zuppke alongside some of his paintings can be found in the University of Illinois Archives.

Head coaching record

College

References

Bibliography

External links

*
Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zuppke, Robert 1879 births 1957 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century American male artists American comics writers American landscape painters American male painters American men's basketball players Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Milwaukee Panthers football players Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball players High school football coaches in Illinois High school football coaches in Michigan College Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Berlin Sportspeople from Milwaukee Sportspeople from Muskegon, Michigan Basketball players from Milwaukee Players of American football from Milwaukee