Ryland Harp "Taffy" Milner (September 24, 1909 – June 16, 1999) 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. He was the ninth head football coach at Northwest Missouri State College–now known as

Northwest Missouri State University Northwest Missouri State University is a public university in Maryville, Missouri. It has an enrollment of about 8,505 students. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, its campus is based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis Worl ...

— in

Maryville, Missouri Maryville is a city and county seat of Nodaway County, Missouri, United States. Located in the "Missouri Point" region, As of the 2020 census, the city population was 10,633. Maryville is home to Northwest Missouri State University and Northwes ...

, serving for 21 seasons, from 1937 to 1957, and compiling a record of 91–62–13. Milner was the head basketball coach at Northwest Missouri State from 1943 to 1950, tallying a mark of 67–60. He was also the school's

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

from 1958 to 1975. Milner attended Classen High School in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

, where was coached by

Henry Iba Henry Payne Iba (; August 6, 1904 – January 15, 1993) was an American basketball coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head basketball coach at Northwest Missouri State Teacher's College, now known as Northwest Missouri S ...

. Milner then attended Northwest Missouri State, where Iba has been appointed head basketball coach in 1929. Milner lettered in football and basketball each for four seasons at Northwest Missouri State. He played football as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and basketball as a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

. After graduating in 1933, Milner began his coaching career at Jackson High School in

Jackson, Missouri Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, United States. It is a principal city of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson, MO- IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of Jackson was 15,481 at the 2020 census ...

, succeeding Wilbur Stalcup, a fellow Northwest Missouri State alum. Milner died on June 16, 1999, in Maryville.

Head coaching record

College football

References

1909 births 1999 deaths American football quarterbacks American men's basketball players Guards (basketball) Northwest Missouri State Bearcats athletic directors Northwest Missouri State Bearcats football coaches Northwest Missouri State Bearcats football players Northwest Missouri State Bearcats men's basketball coaches Northwest Missouri State Bearcats men's basketball players College golf coaches in the United States College track and field coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in Missouri High school football coaches in Missouri Louisiana State University alumni People from League City, Texas Sportspeople from Oklahoma City Coaches of American football from Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma Basketball coaches from Oklahoma Basketball players from Oklahoma Classen School of Advanced Studies alumni {{1930s-collegefootball-coach-stub