Dudley Sargent DeGroot (November 10, 1899 – May 5, 1970) was an American athlete and coach, primarily of

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 ...

. He served as the head coach for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

of 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 ...

(NFL) from 1944 and 1945, tallying a mark of 14–5–1; his winning percentage of .737 is the best in franchise history for coaches with at least one full season. DeGroot was also the head football coach at Santa Barbara State College—now the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

(1926–1928),

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

(1932–1939), the University of Rochester (1940–1943), West Virginia University (1948–1949), and the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

(1950–1952), compiling a career college football record of 117–67–9. In addition, he served as the head coach of the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) from 1946 to 1947.

Playing career

DeGroot's collegiate participation in sports records that at Stanford University he competed in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, football,

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

, and water polo. Playing under the head coach, Pop Warner, he became the Stanford Cardinal football team captain in 1922 and their first All-American athlete. In both 1923 and 1924, DeGroot was the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America, 4A, ICAAAA, or

IC4A IC4A Championships (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) is an annual men's competition held at different colleges every year. Association was established in 1875, the competition (started in 1876) served as the top level col ...

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disadvantage of swimm ...

champion. DeGroot was a member of the United States rugby team that won an Olympic gold medal during the 1924 competition in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. A journal by DeGroot about the activities of this Olympic rugby team was published throughout 23 days during July 1924 by the newspaper, The Call.

Coaching career

DeGroot's early coaching career included Santa Barbara State College, which is now one of the University of California campuses, and Menlo Junior College, the college level portion of Menlo School which became

Menlo College Menlo College is a private college specializing in business and is located in Atherton, California. Campus Menlo College is situated on 45-acre (0.18 km2) campus in Atherton, California, 25 miles southeast of San Francisco and 20 miles nort ...

in 1927 and now is independent, although they continue to share the same campus. From 1932 through 1939, DeGroot was the head football coach at

, where he put together a 60–19–8 record for the Spartans. His best season there came in 1939, when his team went undefeated and had outscored opponents 324 to 29. As of 2006 on a list published on Mercury News of the seven biggest turnarounds for a single season in the history of the Spartans, only DeGroot is listed twice, for 1932 and 1937. The statistics for these are: the record for the 1932 season is 7–0–2 with a previous season of 1–7 and a margin of six and, the record for the 1937 season is 11–2–1 with a previous season of 5–4 and another margin of six. His next team leadership was at the University of Rochester, where he was football coach from 1940 through 1943. DeGroot's record there was 24–6. Moving to

professional sports In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought l ...

, he then took over the

, a

(NFL) team, in Washington, D.C. Although they lost the NFL championship for that year by one point, 15–14, to the

Cleveland Rams The Cleveland Rams were a professional American football team that played in Cleveland from 1936 to 1945. The Rams competed in the second American Football League (AFL) for the 1936 season and the National Football League (NFL) from 1937 to 19 ...

, the Redskins won the Eastern Division title in 1945 with DeGroot as their coach. During two seasons with the Los Angeles Dons of the new All-America Football Conference, DeGroot's record was 14–12–2. DeGroot returned to collegiate coaching as the head football coach at West Virginia University during 1948 through 1949. His record for the

West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University, an American university located in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. The Mou ...

was 13–9–1. At the

from 1950 through 1952, DeGroot's record was 13–17 for the Lobos.

Scientific recognition

DeGroot received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

degree in education and was recognized as one of the foremost oologists and

ornithologists __NOTOC__ This is a list of ornithologists who have articles, in alphabetical order by surname. See also :Ornithologists. A * John Abbot – US * Clinton Gilbert Abbott – US * William Louis Abbott – US * Joseph H. Acklen – US *Humayun Ab ...

in the United States. His work in oology continues to be discussed in scientific publications.

Personal and family information

Notable members of his immediate family include his son, Dudley E. DeGroot, who obtained his doctorate degree in anthropology, and one of his daughters, Alice A. DeGroot, who became a large animal veterinarian holding patents for her inventions.

Death

DeGroot died at the age of 70 on May 5, 1970, at his home in El Cajon, California.

Head coaching record

College football

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Degroot, Dudley 1899 births 1970 deaths American football centers American men's basketball players American rugby union players Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in rugby Rugby union players at the 1924 Summer Olympics United States international rugby union players Los Angeles Dons coaches New Mexico Lobos football coaches Rochester Yellowjackets football coaches San Jose State Spartans football coaches Stanford Cardinal football players Stanford Cardinal men's basketball players Stanford Cardinal men's swimmers Stanford Cardinal men's water polo players UC Santa Barbara Gauchos athletic directors UC Santa Barbara Gauchos baseball coaches UC Santa Barbara Gauchos football coaches UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's basketball coaches Washington Redskins coaches West Virginia Mountaineers football coaches UC Santa Barbara Gauchos track and field coaches Water polo players from Chicago Sportspeople from El Cajon, California Oologists American ornithologists 20th-century American zoologists Basketball players from Chicago Swimmers from Chicago Players of American football from Chicago Sportspeople from Chicago Washington Redskins head coaches