L. Theo Bellmont ( – ) was an

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 ...

, Professor and Director of Physical Training, and men's

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 ...

head coach at

The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. Bellmont was born in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. He attended schools in Rochester before studying at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

, where he earned his

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree in 1908. From 1908 until 1913 he was secretary of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. In 1913, the UT

Board of Regents In the United States, a board often governs institutions of higher education, including private universities, state universities, and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual col ...

hired Bellmont as the University's first Director of Athletics, a position that included supervision of

intercollegiate athletics College athletics encompasses non-professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games. World University Games The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the ''Union Nationale des É ...

, physical training, and

intramural sports Intramural sports are recreational sports organized within a particular institution, usually an educational institution, or a set geographic region. The term, which is chiefly North American, derives from the Latin words ''intra muros'' meaning " ...

. His decisions as athletic director would have wide-ranging implications for the development of intercollegiate athletics at the University and throughout the

state of Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

. Bellmont took charge of a Texas athletics program in debt and had the program producing a profit within three years of his hiring. Seeing a need for the larger colleges and universities of the region to organize to further the interests and development of college athletics, he originated and developed the idea of the

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 ...

and chaired organizational meetings of various colleges and universities in Texas,

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 ...

, and

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

until the conference came into existence in 1915. As UT athletic director, Bellmont co-founded the

Texas Relays The Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays are an annual track and field competition held at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. The University of Texas serves as host for the event, held on either the first or second weekend of April. Events are hel ...

with

Clyde Littlefield Clyde Littlefield (October 6, 1892 – May 20, 1981) was an American sports and athletics coach. The head track and field coach at The University of Texas from 1920 to 1961 as well as its football coach from 1927 to 1933. In his 41 years at Texas ...

in 1925; began the tradition of playing the annual

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

football game in the Cotton Bowl at the

State Fair of Texas The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair held in Dallas at historic Fair Park. The fair has taken place every year since 1886 except for varying periods during World War I and World War II as well as 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It ...

; founded the UT Intramural Sports program; introduced the idea of a prepayment plan for UT athletics, securing a stable annual income for the athletics program; and designed and implemented the funding program for Memorial Stadium, which was built in 1924. While athletic director, Bellmont coached the Texas men's basketball team for two two-year periods (1914–15 and 1921–22), finishing with an overall record of 58-9. He directed the Longhorns to 11-0 and 14-0 records in the 1914 and 1915 seasons, respectively, as well as the inaugural

championship during the latter season. Bellmont's first two teams contributed 25 victories to a winning streak that would ultimately grow to 44 games and stand as the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

record for consecutive wins in men's basketball for almost 40 years. He led his 1921 and 1922 teams to win–loss records of 13-5 and 20-4, respectively, the latter record representing the Longhorns' first 20-win season. Bellmont was dismissed as the UT Director of Athletics in 1929, having been undermined by a protracted power struggle following the controversial firing of popular football and basketball head coach E. J. "Doc" Stewart in 1927. He nevertheless continued on as Professor and then Director of Physical Training at UT, retiring as professor and director emeritus in 1957. Bellmont was named to the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 1957. Bellmont Hall on The University of Texas campus, built in 1972 within the support structure of Texas Memorial Stadium's west side upper deck, was named in his honor.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellmont, L. Theo 1881 births 1967 deaths Basketball coaches from New York (state) Texas Longhorns athletic directors Texas Longhorns men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Rochester, New York