Clyde Littlefield (October 6, 1892 – May 20, 1981) was an American sports and athletics coach. The head

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

coach at

The University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

from 1920 to 1961 as well as its football coach from 1927 to 1933. In his 41 years at Texas, his athletic teams won 25

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...

championships and in football the Longhorns had a 44–18–6 record and won two Southwest Conference championships. He was also on the US coaching staff at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Early life and education

Littlefield was born in

Oil City, Pennsylvania Oil City is a city in Venango County, Pennsylvania known for its prominence in the initial exploration and development of the petroleum industry. It is located at a bend in the Allegheny River at the mouth of Oil Creek (Allegheny River tributary) ...

, and raised in

Sistersville, West Virginia Sistersville is a city in Tyler County, West Virginia, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 1,413 at the 2020 census. The Sistersville Ferry crosses the Ohio River to the unincorporated community of Fly in Monroe County, Ohio. ...

, and Southeast Texas, where he graduated from South Park High School in

Beaumont Beaumont may refer to: Places Canada * Beaumont, Alberta * Beaumont, Quebec England * Beaumont, Cumbria * Beaumont, Essex ** Beaumont Cut, a canal closed in the 1930s * Beaumont Street, Oxford France (communes) * Beaumont, Ardèche * ...

. He then attended Peacock Military Academy in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

and Marshall Training School, and from 1912 to 1916 was a student at the University of Texas, where he earned twelve letters, in football, basketball, and track.

Coaching career

Littlefield was head football coach at Greenville High School in Greenville for four years, and then in 1920 returned to the University of Texas as head track coach, freshman football coach, freshman basketball coach, and instructor in physical training. He remained there until 1961, winning 25 Southwest conference championships in track, and also serving as head football coach from 1927 to 1933, during which time the university won two Southwest Conference championships. He served as an instructor of an officers' training corps during

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, ...

and was on the United States track and field coaching staff at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. He served for many years on the NCAA track and field rules committee and was president of the NCAA Track Coaches Association.

Honors

Littlefield was awarded the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award and was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor at the University of Texas, the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, and the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. The University of Texas has a plaque in his honor and named a graduate fellowship for him in 1963. The

Texas Relays The Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays are an annual track and field competition held at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. The University of Texas serves as host for the event, held on either the first or second weekend of April. Events are he ...

, which he co-founded in 1925, were named the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in his honor.

Private life and death

Littlefield married Henrietta Rabb in 1920; they had a son. He was a

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

and Shriner. Littlefield died on May 20, 1981, at his home in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Littlefield, Clyde 1892 births 1981 deaths American men's basketball players Texas Longhorns football coaches Texas Longhorns football players Texas Longhorns men's basketball players Texas Longhorns men's track and field athletes Texas Longhorns track and field coaches All-American college men's basketball players All-Southern college football players People from Beaumont, Texas People from Sistersville, West Virginia Coaches of American football from Texas Players of American football from Texas Basketball players from Texas