Harvey Robson Holmes (January 16, 1873 – May 10, 1948) 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 and coach of football,

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 ...

, and

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

. He served as the head football coach the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

, (1900–1903), the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

(1904–1907), and the Academy of Idaho—now known as

Idaho State University , mottoeng = "The truth will set you free" , established = , former_names = Academy of Idaho(1901–1915)Idaho Technical Institute(1915–1927)University of Idaho—Southern Branch(1927–1947)Idaho State ...

—(1909–1914), compiling a career

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

record of 60–24–4. Holmes was the head baseball coach at Utah from 1901 to 1904 and at USC in 1908, tallying a career

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

mark of 21–11. In addition, he served as the head track coach at USC from 1905 to 1908.

Early life and playing career

Holmes was born in

Geneva, Minnesota Geneva is a city in Freeborn County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 555 at the 2010 census. History A post office has been in operation at Geneva since 1855. Geneva was platted in 1857. The city was named after Geneva, New York. ...

. He attended the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

, where he lettered in football in 1897 and 1898.

Coaching career

Holmes became head football coach at the

in 1900, and led the team to a record of 16–9–1; he was the first Utah coach to coach for multiple seasons. But his most enduring contribution at Utah may have been his composition of the lyrics to the school song " Utah Man." In 1904 Holmes became the first salaried head coach of the USC football team, and he compiled a 19–5–3 (.759) record over four seasons. USC's teams were called the Methodists before becoming the Trojans in 1912. In 1905, Holmes was the coach of the first USC team to play outside of Southern California. On November 4, playing a game at

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

, the Methodists were trampled 16–0 by the traditional West Coast powerhouse; it was also USC's first game ever against major college competition, an experiment which the team would not repeat until 1914. While USC and Stanford would not meet again until 1918 (Stanford dropped football for

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

during those years), this was the beginning of USC's oldest rivalry. But college football was going through a crisis period in which numerous players were dying in games every year, and many schools dropped the sport in favor of rugby for several seasons; the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

switched from football to rugby from 1906 through 1914, and Stanford dropped football from 1906 through the end of

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 ...

in 1918. Given its schedule featuring small colleges, high schools, and military and club teams, USC in that period had little need for a football coach with Holmes' credentials, and he departed in 1908; the university eventually switched to rugby from 1911 to 1913. Holmes' 1906 and 1907 teams had a combined record of 7–1–2, and outscored their opponents 218–20. Holmes also coached the USC

team from 1905 to 1908, and was the first formal coach of the

baseball team 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 te ...

in 1908, posting a record of 17–2. He was succeeded as football coach by USC Law School graduate Bill Traeger. In 1909 Holmes became football coach at the Academy of Idaho, where his teams had a record of 28–8 over six seasons, including perfect records of 4–0 and 6–0 in his first two years.

Death

Holmes died at the age of 75 on May 10, 1948 in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Head coaching record

Football

References

Additional sources

* Florence, Mal (1980). ''The Trojan Heritage: A Pictorial History of USC Football''. Virginia Beach, VA: JCP Corp., p. 20. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Harvey 1873 births 1948 deaths Idaho State Bengals football coaches USC Trojans football coaches Utah Utes football coaches USC Trojans baseball coaches Utah Utes baseball coaches USC Trojans track and field coaches Wisconsin Badgers football players American football tackles 19th-century players of American football People from Geneva, Minnesota Sports coaches from California