Leonard Blaine "Stub" Allison (November 15, 1892 – December 12, 1961) 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. He served as the head football coach at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

(1920), the

University of South Dakota The University of South Dakota (USD) is a public research university in Vermillion, South Dakota. Established by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1862, 27 years before the establishment of the state of South Dakota, USD is the flagship univ ...

(1922–1926), at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

(1935–1944), 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 80–66–5. At California, Allison amassed a 58–42–2 record. In 1937 and 1938, he guided the

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to back-to-back ten-win seasons, which was at the time the only such occurrence in school history. His 1937 squad, dubbed the "Thunder Team", won the 1938 Rose Bowl, was named the

national champions National champions are corporations which are technically private businesses but due to governmental policy are ceded a dominant position in a national economy. In this system, these large organizations are expected not only to seek profit but als ...

by a number of selectors, and is considered by some sportswriters to have been the best team in school history. While at Washington, Allison also coached the baseball team, in 1920 and 1921, and the basketball team, in 1920.

Early life

Allison was born in

Mazeppa, Minnesota Mazeppa is a city in Wabasha County, Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesot ...

and raised in

Anoka, Minnesota Anoka ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Anoka County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was 17,142 at the 2010 census. Anoka is the " Halloween Capital of the World" because it hosted one of the first Halloween parades in 1920. It ...

by Alexander J. & Elizabeth Hauxhurst Allison. He attended

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...

Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 census. History Northfield was platted in 1856 by John W. N ...

, where he played

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 ...

. He graduated from Carleton in 1917. He also served for four years in the

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Coaching career

In its obituary for Allison, ''

The Milwaukee Journal The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...

'' called him a

Knute Rockne Knut (Norwegian and Swedish), Knud (Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used whi ...

disciple who mostly relied on the

single-wing offense In American and Canadian football, a single-wing formation was a precursor to the modern spread or shotgun formation. The term usually connotes formations in which the snap is tossed rather than handed—formations with one wingback and a hand ...

. Allison's first coaching experience came on the staff of his former college coach Claude J. Hunt, at the

in 1919. The following season, he took over as head coach, and his team amassed a 1–5 record. At Washington, Allison also spent time as the head coach of the baseball and basketball teams. In 1920, he led the basketball team to a 7–8 record, and in 1920 and 1921, he led the baseball team to 7–4–1 and 8–4 records, respectively. Allison served as head coach at the

from 1922 to 1926 and compiled a 21–19–3 mark. He then moved on to the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, where he was the head boxing instructor, football line coach, and assistant

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 1927 until 1931. That year, he went to the

to take a position as an assistant football coach.Stub Allison, Coach, Dies; Coached Boxing, Football at Wisconsin for Four Years
''

'', December 18, 1961. He became the head coach at California for the 1935 season. The ''ESPN College Football Encyclopedia'' rates the 1937 California team as the best in school history.''ESPN College Football Encyclopedia'', p. 187, New York: ESPN Books, 2005, . Allison led the "Thunder Team" (a play on California's "Wonder Teams" of the 1920s) to the Rose Bowl, where they defeated

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, 13–0, to finish with a 10–0–1 record.

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noted that team relied on "power runs and a nasty, opportunistic defense that allowed only 33 points and shut out seven teams." Allison's final record at California was 58–42–2.All-Time Coaching Records by Year
, College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved June 28, 2010. Aside from being named national champions in 1937, under Allison, California captured a share of the

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including a ...

title in 1935 and 1938, and outright in 1937. In April 1945, after Allison declined the opportunity to resign, California notified him that they would not renew his expiring contract.Allison Fired From Grid Post By California
''The Pittsburgh Press'', April 11, 1945. ''

The Pittsburgh Press ''The Pittsburgh Press'' (formerly ''The Pittsburg Press'' and originally ''The Evening Penny Press'') was a major afternoon daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1884 to 1992. At one time, the ''Press'' was the second larg ...

'' noted that after peaking in 1937, "five dismal years were climaxed last fall" in 1944, and that his firing was "no surprise since it was well known that an influential alumni bloc was lobbying against him on grounds that he shackled good material with a dull offense."

Later life

From about 1946 until his death, Allison was the director of industrial relations at the Oakland Naval Supply Center. Allison died on December 12, 1961, in the Alta Bates Hospital in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

hospital, to which he had been confined for three weeks because of a heart ailment.Death Claims Bears' Coach 'Stub' Allison
''Prescott Evening Courier'', December 20, 1961. He was 69 years old and survived by his wife Ethyl.

Head coaching record

Football

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allison, Leonard 1892 births 1961 deaths American football ends California Golden Bears football coaches Carleton Knights football players South Dakota Coyotes athletic directors South Dakota Coyotes football coaches Washington Huskies baseball coaches Washington Huskies football coaches Washington Huskies men's basketball coaches Wisconsin Badgers athletic directors Wisconsin Badgers football coaches United States Army soldiers Sportspeople from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area Sportspeople from Oakland, California People from Anoka, Minnesota People from Wabasha County, Minnesota Coaches of American football from Minnesota Players of American football from Minnesota Basketball coaches from Minnesota United States Navy civilians Players of American football from Oakland, California