Clyde Littlefield (October 6, 1892 – May 20, 1981) was an American sports and athletics coach. The head
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 ...
coach at
The University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
from 1920 to 1961 as well as its football coach from 1927 to 1933. In his 41 years at Texas, his athletic teams won 25
Southwest Conference
The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...
championships and in football the
Longhorns had a 44–18–6 record and won two Southwest Conference championships. He was also on the US coaching staff at the
1952 Summer Olympics
The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...
in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
.
Early life and education
Littlefield was born in
Oil City, Pennsylvania, and raised in
Sistersville, West Virginia
Sistersville is a city in Tyler County, West Virginia, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 1,413 at the 2020 census. The Sistersville Ferry crosses the Ohio River to the unincorporated community of Fly in Monroe County, Ohio. ...
, and Southeast Texas, where he graduated from
South Park High School in
Beaumont
Beaumont may refer to:
Places Canada
* Beaumont, Alberta
* Beaumont, Quebec
England
* Beaumont, Cumbria
* Beaumont, Essex
** Beaumont Cut, a canal closed in the 1930s
* Beaumont Street, Oxford
France (communes)
* Beaumont, Ardèche
* ...
. He then attended Peacock Military Academy in
San Antonio
("Cradle of Freedom")
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, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, s ...
and Marshall Training School, and from 1912 to 1916 was a student at the University of Texas, where he earned twelve
letter
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
s, in football, basketball, and track.
Coaching career
Littlefield was head football coach at
Greenville High School in
Greenville for four years, and then in 1920 returned to the University of Texas as head track coach, freshman football coach, freshman basketball coach, and instructor in physical training. He remained there until 1961, winning 25 Southwest conference championships in track, and also serving as head football coach from 1927 to 1933, during which time the university won two Southwest Conference championships. He served as an instructor of an officers' training corps 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 ...
and was on the United States track and field coaching staff at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
[
He served for many years on the NCAA track and field rules committee and was president of the NCAA Track Coaches Association.][
]
Honors
Littlefield was awarded the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award
:''There is a separate " Amos Alonzo Stagg Coaching Award".
The Amos Alonzo Stagg Award is presented annually by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) to the "individual, group or institution whose services have been outstanding in t ...
and was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor at the University of Texas, the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, and the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. The University of Texas has a plaque in his honor and named a graduate fellowship for him in 1963.[
The ]Texas Relays The Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays are an annual track and field competition held at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. The University of Texas serves as host for the event, held on either the first or second weekend of April.
Events are he ...
, which he co-founded in 1925,[ were named the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in his honor.
]
Private life and death
Littlefield married Henrietta Rabb in 1920; they had a son. He was a Freemason
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
and Shriner
Shriners International, formally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (AAONMS), is an American Masonic society established in 1870 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.
Shriners International describes itself ...
.[ Littlefield died on May 20, 1981, at his home in ]Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
.
Head coaching record
Football
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Littlefield, Clyde
1892 births
1981 deaths
American men's basketball players
Texas Longhorns football coaches
Texas Longhorns football players
Texas Longhorns men's basketball players
Texas Longhorns men's track and field athletes
Texas Longhorns track and field coaches
All-American college men's basketball players
All-Southern college football players
People from Beaumont, Texas
People from Sistersville, West Virginia
Coaches of American football from Texas
Players of American football from Texas
Basketball players from Texas