Lawrence Wilfred Walquist (March 9, 1898 – September 28, 1985) was a professional

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 who played quarterback for nine seasons for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

. He was also the first-ever head coach for the Chicago Bruins of the American Basketball League. Walquist attended Rockford Central High School where he played both basketball and football. He graduated in 1918. Laurie served in the United States Army in 1918 and while he was accepted at West Point, he chose to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He graduated from Illinois in 1922 receiving a BS in economics. During his collegiate years, he was President of the Junior Class, member of Ma-Wan-Dee, and belonged to Tau Kappa Epsilon and

Alpha Kappa Psi Alpha Kappa Psi (, often stylized as AKPsi) is the oldest and largest business fraternity to current date. Also known as "AKPsi", the fraternity was founded on October 5, 1904, at New York University and was incorporated on May 20, 1905. It is cu ...

fraternities. Walquist starred in basketball in 1919–20, 1920–21, 1921–22 and was picked as All-Conference guard in 1922. Additionally, he won four letters in football, was captain in 1921 and played right halfback and quarterback under

Robert Zuppke Robert Carl Zuppke (July 2, 1879 – December 22, 1957) was an American football coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1913 until 1941, compiling a career college football record of 131–81 ...

. He was picked for All-Conference and All-Western in 1919 and 1920. Walquist played with the Chicago Bears for nine season (1922, 1924–1931) and continued with the team through the mid-1930s as an assistant coach along with Paddy Driscoll under head coach

George Halas George Stanley Halas Sr. (; February 2, 1895October 31, 1983), nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was an American professional football player, coach, and team owner. He was the founder and owner of the National Football League's Chic ...

References

1898 births 1985 deaths American football halfbacks American football quarterbacks American men's basketball players Basketball players from Illinois Guards (basketball) Chicago Bears coaches Chicago Bears players Chicago Bruins coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football players Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Oregon State Beavers football coaches Players of American football from Illinois Sportspeople from Rockford, Illinois {{quarterback-stub