George R. Cole (February 24, 1906 – January 24, 1978) 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 ...

player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the College of the Ozarks—now known as the

University of the Ozarks University of the Ozarks (U of O) is a private university in Clarksville, Arkansas. Enrollment averages around 900 students, representing 25 countries. U of O is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). History University of the Oz ...

—in

Clarksville, Arkansas Clarksville is a city in Johnson County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census the population was 9,178, up from 7,719 in 2000. As of 2018, the estimated population was 9,743. The city is the county seat of Johnson County. It is nestled ...

from 1930 to 1933 and 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 1942, compiling a record of 3–7. Cole was also the athletic director at Arkansas from 1970 to 1973.

Biography

Cole was born in 1906 in

Bauxite, Arkansas Bauxite is a city in Saline County, Arkansas, United States. Located within Central Arkansas, the city is named for bauxite, the source ore for aluminum, which was found in abundant quantities in the area and became a source of aluminium refining. ...

. He played

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 ...

for the Arkansas football team. In 1927, he was selected to the All-

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 ...

team. During the 1927 season, he broke the school's single season scoring record, which stood until 1965. During his career, he scored 185 points, scoring 22 touchdowns, and making seven field goals. He also played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

during his college career. After graduating from Arkansas, Cole coached high school football at Warren High School, then moved to College of the Ozarks (now

). In 1934, he became an assistant coach at Arkansas, while

Fred Thomsen Fred Charles Thomsen (April 25, 1897 – January 7, 1986) was an American football player and coach. From 1929 to 1941, he was the head football coach at the University of Arkansas, compiling a record of 56–61–10. In 1949, he became the head f ...

was head coach. In his only season, he compiled a 3–7 record. After 1942, he left Arkansas to serve in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He returned to Arkansas following the war as an assistant coach. He served in various on-field capacities as a coach, recruiter, and scout until he moved to administrative work in 1958. He replaced John Barnhill as athletic director in 1970. Six years later, Cole retired. Cole was selected to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1963, and, in 1974, he was selected to the Collegiate Athletic Directors Hall of Fame. He died on January 24, 1978, in

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 ...

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, George 1906 births 1978 deaths American football quarterbacks United States Navy personnel of World War II Arkansas Razorbacks athletic directors Arkansas Razorbacks baseball coaches Arkansas Razorbacks football players Ozarks Eagles athletic directors Ozarks Mountaineers football coaches High school football coaches in Arkansas United States Navy officers People from Bauxite, Arkansas Players of American football from Arkansas Baseball players from Arkansas