Garfield Wilson Weede (November 26, 1880 – November 21, 1971) 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 ...

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 ...

, and

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 and

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

. He was one of the first college coaches to "break the color line" and allow

racial integration Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity ...

among his players.

Playing career

Garfield Weede played football at Cooper Memorial College—now known as Sterling College—as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

from 1898 to 1900. He then played at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

as an

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 footbal ...

and

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

. He was severely injured in a game in October 1905. Under head coach

Carl S. Williams Carl Sheldon "Cap" Williams (May 16, 1872 – November 8, 1960) was an American football player, coach, and ophthalmologist. He played college football at Oberlin College and the University of Pennsylvania during the 1890s. He returned to P ...

, the team was undefeated in 1904 with a record of 12–0 and has since retroactively been declared "national champions" for that year.

Coaching career

Washburn

Weede was the tenth head football coach for

Washburn University Washburn University (WU) is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,100 u ...

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa language, Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the Capital (political), capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the County seat, seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the ...

, as well as the athletic director. He held the position for three seasons, from 1906 until 1908, and followed

John H. Outland John Henry Outland (March 17, 1871 – March 24, 1947) was an American football player and coach. He played football at Penn College in Oskaloosa, Iowa, the University of Kansas, and the University of Pennsylvania. He was twice named an All-Ame ...

. Weede's coaching record at Washburn was 20–6–4. Football legend

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

called him a "familiar winner" in one of his reviews of the program and his 1907 team finished the season undefeated and untied with victories of

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, and

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

Cooper

Weede next became the head football coach at Cooper Memorial College—now known as Sterling College—in

Sterling, Kansas Sterling is a city in Rice County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,248. Sterling is home to Sterling College. History For millennia, the land now known as Kansas was inhabited by Native Ame ...

. He held that position for nine seasons, from 1910 until 1918. His coaching record at Cooper was 21–25–3. Weede is a member of the Sterling College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Pittsburg State

In 1919, "Doc" Weede was hired as coach of all sports and director of athletics at Pittsburg Manual Training Normal in

Pittsburg, Kansas Pittsburg is a city in Crawford County, Kansas, United States, located in southeast Kansas near the Missouri state border. It is the most populous city in Crawford County and southeast Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the ci ...

. He coached the football team to a 46–33–7 record from 1919 to 1928 including the school's first undefeated team in 1924. That year, his team was declared

Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The KCAC is the oldest conference in the NAIA and the second oldest in the United Stat ...

champions. Doc Weede ended his football coaching career on a downturn, losing every game of his final season of 1928. His squad only scored in two of seven games and allowed a total of 113 points.

Legacy

Weede was inducted in the

Kansas Sports Hall of Fame The Kansas Sports Hall of Fame is a museum located in Wichita, dedicated to preserving the history of sports in the state of Kansas. The museum provides exhibits, archives, facilities, services, and activities to honor those individuals and te ...

in 1961. Although he spent most of his time and efforts in college athletics, he also was a

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...

, having earned a Doctor of Dental Surgery from the

in 1906.General alumni catalogue of the University of Pennsylvania, 1922
By University of Pennsylvania. General Alumni Society, p717

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weede, Garfield 1880 births 1971 deaths American football ends Basketball coaches from Iowa Penn Quakers football players Pittsburg State Gorillas athletic directors Pittsburg State Gorillas football coaches Pittsburg State Gorillas men's basketball coaches Sterling Warriors football coaches Washburn Ichabods football coaches Washburn Ichabods athletic directors College track and field coaches in the United States People from Burlington, Iowa University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine alumni