Edwin J. Mather (June 4, 1887 – August 26, 1928) 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 player and coach. He was selected as an All-Western football player while playing for

Lake Forest University Lake Forest College is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducational since 1876 and an undergraduate-focused liberal arts inst ...

in 1909 and went on to a coaching career at

Kalamazoo College Kalamazoo College, also known as Kalamazoo, K College, KC or simply K, is a private liberal arts college in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Founded in 1833 by Baptist ministers as the Michigan and Huron Institute, Kalamazoo is the oldest private college in ...

(1911–1916), Lake Forest (1916–1918), and the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

(1919–1928).

Early life and playing career

Mather was born in

Ottumwa, Iowa Ottumwa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wapello County, Iowa, United States. The population was 25,529 at the time of the 2020 U.S. Census. Located in the state's southeastern section, the city is split into northern and southern halves b ...

and played three sports at

Ottumwa High School Ottumwa High School is a public high school located in Ottumwa, Iowa, United States. It is part of the Ottumwa Community School District, and is the district's only high school. It was established in 1923. The school sports mascot is a bulld ...

. He enrolled at

, where he played at the

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: **End (category theory) **End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron football) ...

position on the school's football team. In 1909, he was captain of the Lake Forest football team and was selected as an all-Western end by the ''Chicago Daily News''. In selecting him for its All-Illinois football team that same year, the ''Chicago Record-Herald'' wrote: "Mather, by virtue of his glittering achievements in 1908, had little trouble in clinching a place on the all-state combine. With another season in which to perfect the forward pass and the open style of play Mather developed into a terror on offense. As a defensive player he is rated among the headliners throughout Illinois. His forte is left end. The game with DePauw Thanksgiving day marked the windup of Mather's college career." He was also captain of the Lake Forest basketball team in his senior year.

Coaching career

Kalamazoo

In 1911, Mather was hired as the coach of all sports at

, where he remained until 1916. He was the head football coach for five seasons, from 1911 until 1915, compiling a record of 13–12. Mather's basketball teams at Kalamazoo won all of their home games four times and went undefeated in the 1914–15 season. The teams also won the

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) is an athletic conference that competes in the NCAA's Division III. There are nine teams in the conference, all located in the states of Michigan and Indiana. The Michigan Intercollegiate A ...

titles in four of Mather's five years as the coach. Mather's Kalamazoo College basketball teams had a combined record of 29–13.

Arkansas

With the entry of the United States into

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 ...

, Mather entered the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. In March 1919, after being discharged from the Army, Mather took over as director and coach of athletics at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

. In April 1919, Mather was reported to be organizing teams in basketball, tennis, volleyball, and track at the

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville () is the second-largest city in Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, and the biggest city in Northwest Arkansas. The city is on the outskirts of the Boston Mountains, deep within the Ozarks. Known as Washington until ...

campus.

Michigan

In the fall of 1919, Mather was hired by the

. He was the head basketball coach at Michigan from 1919 to 1928 and coached the team to three

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 ...

titles and an overall record of 108–53 in his nine seasons as coach. He led the team to an 18–4 overall record (8–4 in conference) during the 1920–21 season. The 1921 team won its first eight and last eight games to tie the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

and

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname is also used as colloquial designation ...

for the Big Ten title. The team won back-to-back championships in 1925–26 and 1926–27. The 1926 squad, which was captained by Richard Doyle who became the team's first All-American, tied with Purdue, the

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

and

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the Nationa ...

for the conference championship. The 1927 team had a new All-American,

Bennie Oosterbaan Benjamin Oosterbaan ( ; February 24, 1906 – October 25, 1990) was a three-time first team All-American football end for the Michigan Wolverines football team, two-time All-American basketball player for the basketball team, and an All-Big Ten C ...

, and won the school's first back-to-back championships and first outright championship with a 14–3 overall (10–2, Big Ten) record. Mather was also an assistant football coach at Michigan for nine seasons, from 1919 to 1927.

Sickness and death

A few weeks after the Wolverines won the Big Ten championship for the 1926–27 season, Mather underwent surgery for cancer. Mather never fully recovered from the operation. In the fall of 1927, he was put in charge of Michigan's freshman football team, and he returned as basketball coach at the beginning of the 1927–28 season. However, Mather was forced to step down from his coaching duties on advice from his doctor. While he visited the team for practices, the 1927–28 basketball team was coached by Michigan's athletic director,

Fielding H. Yost Fielding Harris Yost (; April 30, 1871 – August 20, 1946) was an American football player, coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at: Ohio Wesleyan University, the University of Nebraska, the University ...

. A telephone line was installed at Mather's bedside, and football coach

Harry Kipke Harry George Kipke (; March 26, 1899 – September 14, 1972) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He was the head football coach at Michigan State College in 1928 and at the University of Michigan from 1929 to 1937 ...

relayed the plays to him and gave him a summary at the end of each game. Mather died of cancer after a long illness in August 1928. He was age 41 at the time of his death and was survived by his wife and two small sons.

Head coaching record

Football

Basketball

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mather, E. J. 1887 births 1928 deaths American football ends Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches Basketball coaches from Iowa Basketball players from Iowa Kalamazoo Hornets football coaches Kalamazoo Hornets men's basketball coaches Lake Forest Foresters football coaches Lake Forest Foresters football players Lake Forest Foresters men's basketball players Michigan Wolverines football coaches Michigan Wolverines men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States United States Army personnel of World War I People from Ottumwa, Iowa Players of American football from Iowa Deaths from cancer in Michigan American men's basketball players