Paul Edward "Red" Pierce (December 29, 1914 – March 31, 2004) 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. He served two stints as head football coach at

Sul Ross State University Sul Ross State University (SRSU) is a public university in Alpine, Texas. The main campus is the primary institution of higher education serving the nineteen-county Big Bend region of far West Texas. Branch campuses, branded as Rio Grande Colleg ...

, from 1946 to 1951 and again from to 1976 to 1977, and one stint at

Sam Houston State University Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...

, from 1952 to 1967, amassing 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 143–81–9. His

1964 Sam Houston State Bearkats football team The 1964 Sam Houston State Bearkats football team was an American football team that represented Sam Houston State University as a member of the Lone Star Conference (LSC) during the 1964 NAIA football season. In their 13th year under head coach ...

shared the

NAIA Football National Championship The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Football National Championship is decided by a post-season playoff system featuring the best NAIA college football teams in the United States. Under sponsorship of the National Associa ...

after tying the

Concordia Cobbers Concordia College is a private college in Moorhead, Minnesota. Founded by Norwegian settlers in 1891, the school is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and practices the liberal arts. Concordia is accredited by the Higher ...

in the title game.

Early years

A native of Hill, New Mexico, Pierce grew up in

Fort Stockton, Texas Fort Stockton is a city in and the county seat of Pecos County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, future Interstate 14, U.S. Highways U.S. Route 67 (Texas), 67, U.S. Route 285 (Texas), 285, and U.S. R ...

, graduating from high school there in 1932. He went on to attend Schreiner Institute (now

Schreiner University Schreiner University is a private Presbyterian university in Kerrville, Texas. The university enrolls an estimated 1,300 undergraduate and graduate students. It offers over 40 four-year undergraduate programs, an MBA and a master of education. ...

) in

Kerrville, Texas Kerrville is a city in, and the county seat of, Kerr County, Texas, Kerr County, Texas, United States. The population of Kerrville was 24,278 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Kerrville is named after James Kerr (Texas politi ...

, where he earned his associate of arts degree while playing

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 ...

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

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 ...

. Pierce continued his collegiate career at Sul Ross State Teachers College (now

) in

Alpine, Texas Alpine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Brewster County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,905 at the 2010 census. The town has an elevation of , and the surrounding mountain peaks are over above sea level. The university, hospi ...

. He participated in varsity football and basketball, and graduated two years later with his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in chemistry. He earned his Ed.D. degree from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

in 1961. During World War II, Pierce served as a gunnery officer in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

, and became the head football coach at the

United States Naval Training Center Bainbridge United States Naval Training Center Bainbridge (USNTC Bainbridge) was the U.S. Navy Training Center at Port Deposit, Maryland, on the bluffs of the northeast bank of the Susquehanna River. It was active from 1942 to 1976 under the Commander of ...

Port Deposit, Maryland Port Deposit is a town in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. It is located on the east bank of the Susquehanna River near its discharge into the Chesapeake Bay. The population was 653 at the 2010 census. Geography Port Deposit is located a ...

near the conclusion of the war.

Coaching career

In 1946 Pierce was hired at his alma mater Sul Ross State to rebuild a football program that was discontinued during the war. He guided the Lobos to 18 consecutive wins, four conference championships and two

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

s, including the 1949 Tangerine Bowl in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. In 1952, Pierce became the head football coach, head track coach and athletic director at Sam Houston State. His teams at SHSU tied for four conference championships and played in five bowl games. His 1964 Bearcat team tied Concordia College for a

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

co-championship. In 1965, he was named the Knute Rockne Little All-American Coach of the Year. He returned to Sul Ross in 1968 as a professor of health and education and chairman of the physical education department. Although better known for his football teams, he had an outstanding record at Sul Ross as the women's volleyball coach. From 1971 to 1975, he directed them to the national tournament three times, won the national championship and placed fifth in the nation twice.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pierce, Paul 1914 births 2004 deaths Bainbridge Commodores football coaches Sam Houston Bearkats athletic directors Sam Houston Bearkats football coaches Schreiner Mountaineers football players Sul Ross Lobos football coaches Sul Ross Lobos football players United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy officers University of Houston alumni People from Doña Ana County, New Mexico People from Fort Stockton, Texas Coaches of American football from Texas Players of American football from Texas Military personnel from Texas