Samuel Stienneck Willaman (April 4, 1890 – August 18, 1935) 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 wi ...

player and coach. He served as the head coach at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of th ...

(1922–1925),

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...

(1929–1933), and

Western Reserve University Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

(1934), 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 in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

record of 47–26–9. At Iowa State, Willaman integrated the team by playing Jack Trice.

Playing career

In college, Willaman played for Ohio State at end, halfback, and fullback. He lettered in 1911 and 1913. In 1913 he was named All-Ohio. In 1921 he was selected to the Ohio State football all-time team at second-team halfback behind

Chic Harley Charles Wesley "Chic" Harley (September 15, 1895 – April 21, 1974) was an American football player and athlete, often credited with bringing Ohio State University's football program to national attention. Harley was Ohio State's first consens ...

and Pete Stinchcomb. While a student at Ohio State, Willaman was a member of the Sigma Pi Fraternity. After graduating in 1915, he became a high school football head coach. He had earlier coached at a high school in

Alliance, Ohio Alliance is a city in eastern Stark County, Ohio, United States. With a small district lying in adjacent Mahoning County, the city is approximately northeast of Canton, southwest of Youngstown and southeast of Cleveland. The population was 2 ...

, and in 1915 he was hired as head coach at Cleveland's

East Technical High School East Technical High School or East Tech is a secondary school under the operation of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District in Cleveland, Ohio. History The school, when it opened on October 5, 1908, was the first public trade school in the ci ...

. At this time he also began playing halfback for Peggy Parratt's Akron Indians football team. Playing professional football was not forbidden in Willaman's East Tech contract, but playing football for money was frowned upon at the time in academic circles. For this reason, Willaman played professionally under the name "Sam Williams". In 1917, Willaman joined the

Canton Bulldogs The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football Lea ...

, where he played with

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native ...

. In Canton, Willaman moved to end, the position where he had started his college playing career. He was also Thorpe's backup at halfback. The Bulldogs finished the season 9–1 and won the championship of the "

Ohio League The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of American football clubs active between 1902 and 1919 that competed for the Ohio Independent Championship (OIC). As the name implied, its teams were mostly based in Ohio. It is the direct pr ...

", which was the direct predecessor to the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

Coaching career

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

disrupted professional football, and Willaman began focusing primarily on coaching. His success at East Tech caught the attention of colleges.

Iowa State

In 1922 he took the head coaching position at

. Willaman was the 13th head football coach for the Iowa State University Cyclones, and held that position for four seasons, from 1922 until 1925. At the time Willaman came to Iowa State, the school had not had much success in football; they had employed three head coaches in the prior three years. In his first season, Willaman's team finished with a 2–6 record, but posted a winning record in each of the three years that followed. His career coaching record at Iowa state was 14–15–3. This ranks him 16th in total wins and 13th in winning percentage in Iowa State football history. When Willaman first arrived at Iowa state, he brought with him six of his East Tech players, including an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

named Jack Trice. Trice was the first African-American player at Iowa State, and one of the first to play

in that region of the country. Trice suffered a severe injury during a game at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

in 1923, and died from complications. In 1999, Iowa State University's Cyclone Stadium was renamed Jack Trice Stadium in his honor.

Ohio State

In 1926, Willaman's former coach at Ohio State, John Wilce, invited him to return to his alma mater as an assistant coach. Wilce designated Willaman as his successor. Following the 1928 season, Wilce resigned. Immediately following, Notre Dame's coach

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 ...

informed Ohio State that he was interested in the position. Rockne was trying to get a better deal at Notre Dame and was using the open Ohio State job as leverage. Willaman waited while Ohio State and Rockne negotiated. Ultimately Rockne stayed at Notre Dame, and Ohio State hired Willaman. Willaman posted a 26–10–4 record at Ohio State. The Dunkel College Football Index named Willaman's 1933 Ohio State team as the best that season in the country. Despite his success, Willaman's teams were accused of underperforming. Despite fielding many All-American players, including the legendary

Wes Fesler Wesley Eugene Fesler (June 29, 1908 – July 30, 1989) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach of football and basketball. He was a three-sport athlete at Ohio State University and a consensus first-team selection to ...

, Ohio State never won a

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

title under Willaman. Worse, he held a losing record (2–3) against the Buckeyes' arch rival,

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

. Yielding to pressure, Willaman resigned after the 1933 season to take the head coaching position at

Western Reserve

He coached

Western Reserve The Connecticut Western Reserve was a portion of land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut and later by the state of Connecticut in what is now mostly the northeastern region of Ohio. The Reserve had been granted to the Colony under the terms o ...

, present-day

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

, to a 7–1–1 record in 1934, including winning the school's first

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

''Big Four Conference'' title with a perfect 3–0 league record. He set up what would be the last matchup between the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

and the Western Reserve Red Cats, which was held at

League Park League Park was a baseball park located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was situated at the northeast corner of Dunham Street (now known as East 66th Street) and Lexington Avenue in the Hough neighborhood. It was built in 1891 as a wood ...

was also the last

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

opponent played by

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

for nearly six decades, until again in 1992 against

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

. Willaman's coaching career at

was tragically cut short, when he died following an emergency operation on August 18, 1935.

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Willaman, Sam 1890 births 1935 deaths American football ends American football fullbacks American football halfbacks Case Western Spartans football coaches Iowa State Cyclones football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football players Akron Indians (Ohio League) players Canton Bulldogs (Ohio League) players High school football coaches in Ohio People from Salem, Ohio Coaches of American football from Ohio Players of American football from Ohio