Leonard J. Umnus (April 18, 1903 – April 13, 1996) 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 ...

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

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 ...

coach.

Playing career

Umnus enrolled at 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 ...

in the fall of 1921. While at Illinois he played football with Red Grange under coach

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 ...

. Umnus was awarded "letters" for three years as a center and guard. He also was awarded athletic letters for Illinois in boxing.

Coaching career

Wichita State

Umnus was the 15th head football coach at Fairmont College—now known as Wichita State University—in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

and he held that position for three seasons, from 1925 until 1927, compiling a record of 12–7–4. Fairmont College became the Municipal University of Wichita in 1926.

Jordan College

Between coaching in Wichita and Northwestern College, Umnus started the football program at the now defunct Jordan College in Menominee, Michigan.

Northwestern College

Umnus later coached the Northwestern College Trojans in Watertown, Wisconsin (now a part of Martin Luther College in

New Ulm, Minnesota New Ulm is a city in Brown County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,120 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Brown County. It is located on the triangle of land formed by the confluence of the Minnesota River and the Co ...

). He was the head coach at the school for 35 seasons and his teams produced a record of 135–64–9. At Northwestern, he coached all sports including

and

.Wisconsin Football Coaches Association

Head coaching record

Football

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Umnus, Leonard J. 1903 births 1996 deaths American football guards Basketball coaches from Michigan Illinois Fighting Illini football players Wichita State Shockers football coaches Wichita State Shockers men's basketball coaches Illinois Fighting Illini boxers People from Menominee, Michigan Players of American football from Michigan