Ralph Mevlin Graham (August 16, 1910 – October 14, 2005) was an American football, basketball, and tennis player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the Municipal University of Wichita—now Wichita State University—in 1942 and from 1946 to 1947 and at

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

from 1948 to 1950, compiling 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 21–39–1.

Playing career

Graham, a native of

El Dorado, Kansas El Dorado ( ) is city and county seat of Butler County, Kansas, United States. It is situated along the Walnut River in the central part of Butler County and located in south-central Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city ...

, played football at

under head coach Bo McMillin. Known as "Rammin' Ralph", he was a first team All- Big Six Conference

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

each year from 1931 to 1933. He nearly led K-State to the Rose Bowl in 1931 before getting injured. Following his senior season, Graham was a starter in the

East–West Shrine Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

, becoming the first Kansas State football player to be named to an all-star game. Graham graduated as the all-time leading scorer at Kansas State, and held that record for 64 years until it was surpassed by kicker

Martín Gramática Martín Gramática (born November 27, 1975) is an Argentine-born former American football placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Indianapolis Colts, Dallas Cowboys, and New Orleans Saints. He played ...

in 1997.

Coaching career

Upon graduation in 1934, Graham entered the football coaching profession as an assistant to McMillin, who moved from Kansas State to Indiana University that season. Graham remained an assistant football and basketball coach at Indiana until 1942, where he also earned a master's degree and was head coach of the tennis team. During this time, Graham was the top assistant for

Branch McCracken Emmett B. "Branch" McCracken (June 9, 1908 – June 4, 1970) was an American basketball player and coach. He served as the head basketball coach at Ball State University from 1930 to 1938 and at Indiana University Bloomington from 1938 to 1943 a ...

's 1940 national championship basketball team.

Wichita

Graham returned to Kansas in 1942 to serve as athletics director and head football coach at the University of Wichita, now Wichita State University. During his first season as head coach, Graham led Wichita to a 5–4 record, including a win over his alma mater. After taking the next three seasons off to serve in World War II, Graham returned to Wichita to coach two more successful seasons in 1946 and 1947. Following the 1947 season he led Wichita to the

Raisin Bowl The Raisin Bowl was an annual post-season American college football bowl game played at Ratcliffe Stadium in Fresno, California, from 1946 to 1949. The first four games were played on January 1, the last on December 31. The games pitted a Cal ...

, played on January 1, 1948. Graham was the 18th head coach for the Shockers. His overall coaching record at Wichita was 17 wins and 13 losses. This ranks him fifth at Wichita in terms of total wins and 11th at the school in terms of winning percentage.

Kansas State

In the wake of his success at Wichita, Graham was hired as the 22nd head football coach at Kansas State in 1948. At the time he took the job, K-State was mired in a 26-game losing streak, the longest in NCAA history to that point. Graham managed to break the streak with a win in his third game. (The full 28-game streak is still the second longest in NCAA FBS history.) In his second season, Graham started 2–0 and Kansas State beat Colorado in the second to snap a 22-game conference losing streak. However, the season fell apart after that point and the team finished 2–8. After coaching one more season, and posting a 1–9 record, Graham resigned from Kansas State following the 1950 season with a 4–26–1 mark during his tenure. Notably, the situation Graham inherited at Kansas State was so bad that this record represented an improvement over the prior three seasons. During his years at Kansas State, Graham also coached the school's tennis team. Following his years at Kansas State, Graham left the field of athletics.

Racial integration

Graham was a pioneer in integrating collegiate athletics in the region. While at Kansas State he supported African American Harold Robinson in his football career and awarded him an athletic scholarship. Robinson broke the decades-long "color barrier" in the Big Seven Conference playing for Graham in 1949. Robinson later compared Graham to

Branch Rickey Wesley Branch Rickey (December 20, 1881 – December 9, 1965) was an American baseball player and sports executive. Rickey was instrumental in breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier by signing black player Jackie Robinson. He also creat ...

, the general manager of the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

who hired

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...

to integrate baseball in 1947. Integration was also a priority at Wichita, where one of Graham's best players was also African American—running back Linwood Sexton.

Head coaching record

Football

References

Additional sources

* Fitzgerald, Tim. (2001) ''Wildcat Gridiron Guide: Past & Present Stories About K-State Football'' () {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Ralph 1910 births 2005 deaths American football fullbacks American men's basketball players Indiana Hoosiers football coaches Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball coaches Kansas State Wildcats football coaches Kansas State Wildcats football players Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball players Wichita State Shockers athletic directors Wichita State Shockers football coaches Kansas State Wildcats men's tennis coaches Kansas State Wildcats men's tennis players American military personnel of World War II People from El Dorado, Kansas Coaches of American football from Kansas Players of American football from Kansas Basketball coaches from Kansas Basketball players from Kansas