Lewis P. Andreas (February 25, 1895 – June 16, 1983) 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 ...
and
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 ...
coach and college athletic administrator. He was the head coach for
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
's
men's basketball and
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
programs beginning in the 1920s. The
Sterling, Illinois
Sterling is a city in Whiteside County, Illinois, Whiteside County, Illinois, United States. The population was 14,782 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, down from 15,370 in 2010. Formerly nicknamed "Hardware Capital of the World", the ...
native played baseball, basketball and football at
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 ...
as a
freshman
A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions.
Ara ...
before transferring to Syracuse. He then played football and baseball, but not basketball, for the Orangemen (now Orange) before embarking on his coaching career.
Andreas coached the Orangemen basketball team from 1924 to 1950, except one year
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
when the team was suspended due to travel restrictions. He guided the Orangemen basketball program to a 358–134 (.726) overall record in 24 years. Led by standout
Vic Hanson
Victor Arthur Hanson (July 30, 1903 – April 10, 1982) was an American football player and coach, basketball player, and baseball player. A three-sport college athlete, he played football, basketball, and baseball at Syracuse University in the ...
, his
1925–26 team finished the season with a 19–1 record and was retroactively named the national champion by the
Helms Athletic Foundation
The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...
and the
Premo-Porretta Power Poll
The Premo-Porretta Power Poll is a retroactive end-of-year ranking for American college basketball teams competing in the 1895–96 through the 1947–48 seasons.
The Premo-Porretta Polls are intended to serve collectively as a source of informa ...
. In football, Andreas compiled a 15–10–3 overall record between 1927 and 1929. His winning percentage is the highest in program history and 358 career victories are second, only behind
Jim Boeheim
James Arthur Boeheim Jr. ( ; born November 17, 1944) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach of the Syracuse Orange men's team of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Boeheim has guided the Orange to ten Big East Conference ...
. At the university he was also the Director of Physical Education and Athletics from 1937 until retirement in 1964. In 1950 he was replaced by assistant coach
Marc Guley.
Off the court he served on the
NCAA Basketball Committee on two separate occasions, 1943–44 and 1954–58. He was also was president of the
National Association of Basketball Coaches
The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, head men's basketball coach at the University o ...
. In 1948 he was inducted into the Helms Collegiate Hall of Fame in 1948. He also 'had a
cup of coffee
A "cup of coffee" is a North American sports idiom for a short time spent by a minor league player at the major league level. The idea behind the term is that the player was only in the big leagues long enough to have a cup of coffee before bei ...
' in the professional leagues as a player for the
Syracuse Pros
A nameless professional American football team, based in Syracuse, New York and generically known as the Syracuse Pros or Syracuse Eleven, was once thought to have joined the American Professional Football Association (now the National Football ...
. He died in 1983 and is buried in
Oakwood Cemetery.
Andreas was inducted into the Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame in 1988.
Head coaching record
Football
Basketball
References
External links
*
OrangeHoops.org profile of Andreas
1895 births
1983 deaths
American football ends
American men's basketball coaches
American men's basketball players
Baseball catchers
Basketball coaches from Illinois
Basketball players from Illinois
Illinois Fighting Illini baseball players
Illinois Fighting Illini football players
Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players
People from Sterling, Illinois
Players of American football from Illinois
Syracuse Orange athletic directors
Syracuse Orange football coaches
Syracuse Orange football players
Syracuse Orange men's basketball coaches
Syracuse Orangemen baseball players
Syracuse Pros players
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