Kenneth Carlyle "Gerry" Gerard (July 14, 1903 – January 17, 1951) was an American

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

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

coach. He served as the head basketball coach at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

from 1943 to 1950, compiling a record of 131–78. Gerard first arrived at Duke to serve as the director of intramural sports in 1931. He helped form the

Duke Blue Devils men's soccer Duke v Maryland, 1968 The Duke Blue Devils men's soccer team represents Duke University in the ACC and in all other men's NCAA Division I Soccer competitions. They won their first and only NCAA tournament in 1986, co-captained by their current ...

program in 1935, coaching the team for 11 seasons. A native of

Mishawaka, Indiana Mishawaka is a city on the St. Joseph River, in Penn Township, St. Joseph County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 51,063 as of the 2020 census. Its nickname is "the Princess City". Mishawaka is a principal city of the South ...

, Gerard attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, where played basketball and football 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 football) ...

and

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 ...

. He also threw the

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...

on Illinois track team. He graduated from Illinois in June 1928 with a Bachelor of Science degree and began his career that fall as a teacher and head football coach at the high school in

Athens, Pennsylvania Athens is a borough in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania and is located south of the New York (state), New York state line on the Susquehanna River, Susquehanna and Chemung River, Chemung river ...

. Gerard joined the Duke basketball coaching staff in 1941, acting as an assistant coach under

Eddie Cameron Edmund McCullough Cameron (April 22, 1902 – November 25, 1988) was an American football and basketball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head basketball coach at Washington and Lee University for one season ...

for two seasons, prior to being named head coach in 1943. He coached Duke for eight seasons (1943–1950), winning the Southern Conference tournament and Coach of the Year honors in 1944 and 1946. Gerard's health began to decline in 1949 and he took a leave of absence in November 1950. He died on January 17, 1951, at

Duke University Hospital Duke University Hospital is a 957-acute care bed academic tertiary care facility located in Durham, North Carolina. Established in 1930, it is the flagship teaching hospital for the Duke University Health System, a network of physicians and hosp ...

, in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

after a serious injury lasting several months.

Head coaching record

Basketball

References

External links

Gerry Gerard
at Sports-Reference.com
K.C. "Gerry" Gerard
at goduke.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerard, Gerry 1903 births 1951 deaths American football ends American football quarterbacks American male javelin throwers Duke Blue Devils men's basketball coaches Duke Blue Devils men's soccer coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football players Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Illinois Fighting Illini men's track and field athletes High school football coaches in Pennsylvania Schoolteachers from Pennsylvania People from Mishawaka, Indiana Coaches of American football from Indiana Players of American football from Indiana Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball players from Indiana Soccer in Indiana Sports coaches from Indiana Track and field athletes from Indiana