Charles William Streit Jr. (June 1, 1884 – April 4, 1971) was an American football player, coach, and

official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

. He 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 ...

at Auburn University and Washington and Lee University. Streit serve as the head football coach at Howard College—now known as

Samford University Samford University is a private Christian university in Homewood, Alabama. In 1841, the university was founded as Howard College by Baptists. Samford University describes itself as the 87th oldest institution of higher learning in the United Sta ...

—for the final two games of the 1917 season.

College

Streit was a three-sport (

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

, and basketball)

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

, as well as at Washington and Lee University. At Auburn, he and Frank Jones stood out for

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

at tackle.

Official

Streit's first appearance officiating was in a Georgia–Georgia Tech game in which Streit claimed he may have seen the "first fake pass in the history of football in that game. The Georgia quarterback drifted back with something that looked like a football and gave it a long heave. It turned out to be his head guard. That, of course, would be illegal today, but it would still be just as funny." Streit was the referee for the

1929 Rose Bowl The 1929 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game and the 15th annual Rose Bowl Game. Played on January 1, 1929, the game saw the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (also known at the time as the Georgia Tech Golden Tornado) defeat the California Golde ...

in which Roy Riegels scooped up a Georgia Tech fumble and ran toward his own goal line. The two-point safety on the ensuing punt proved to be the margin of victory."Roy Riegels, 84, Who Took Off In Wrong Direction in Rose Bowl"
'' The New York Times'', March 28, 1993. Accessed January 28, 2008. Streit also officiated Southeastern Conference track and field meets.

Olympics

Streit was one of six track managers on the U.S. Olympic teams that went to Paris (1924), Amsterdam (1928), Los Angeles (1932) and Berlin (1936). Bill was a member of the Executive Committee of the U.S. Olympics from 1948 to 1952. In 1924, Streit was appointed chairman of the U.S: Olympic wrestling committee and that ' team became the first from the United States to win the Olympic wrestling title. That same year he also was named vice president of the- International Wrestling Association, the first American to hold the post. He was U.S. Olympic wrestling chairman in 1929, 1932 and 1936.

Honors and death

Streit was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1951. He died on April 4, 1971, in Birmingham, Alabama.

Head coaching record

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Streit, C. W. 1884 births 1971 deaths American men's basketball players College football officials Auburn Tigers football players Auburn Tigers men's basketball players Auburn Tigers men's track and field athletes Samford Bulldogs football coaches Washington and Lee Generals football players Washington and Lee Generals men's basketball players Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama Basketball players from Birmingham, Alabama Track and field athletes from Alabama