Herman James Stegeman (January 21, 1891 – October 22, 1939) was a player and coach 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 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 ...

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 ...

, and

track and field athletics Track and field is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, 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 ...

, and a college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at

Beloit College Beloit College is a private liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin. Founded in 1846, when Wisconsin was still a territory, it is the state's oldest continuously operated college. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and has ...

(1915),

Monmouth College Monmouth College is a private Presbyterian liberal arts college in Monmouth, Illinois. Monmouth enrolls approximately 900 students from 21 countries who choose courses from 40 major programs, 43 minors, and 17 pre-professional programs in a c ...

(1916–1917), and the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

(1920–1922), compiling a career college football coaching record of 29–17–6. At Georgia, Stegeman was also the head basketball coach (1919–1931), head baseball coach (1919–1920), and head track and field coach (1920–1937).

Early years and playing career

Stegeman was born and raised in

Holland, Michigan Holland is a city in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan on Lake Macatawa, which is fed by the Macatawa River (formerly known locally as the Black River). ...

, and was of

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

descent. He attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, where he starred in many sports, including track and field and football under the direction of the legendary

Amos Alonzo Stagg Amos Alonzo Stagg (August 16, 1862 – March 17, 1965) was an American athlete and college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football. He served as the head football coach at the International YMCA Training School (now called Springfie ...

. Stegeman played on the school's 1913 National Championship football squad, and was hailed by his coach, Stagg, as one of the finest athletes he had ever had the privilege of coaching. After playing football for another season in 1914, Stegeman graduated from Chicago with a

Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil, BPh, or PhB; la, Baccalaureus Philosophiae or ) is the title of an academic degree that usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects. Unlike many other bachelor's ...

(

Ph.B. Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil, BPh, or PhB; la, Baccalaureus Philosophiae or ) is the title of an academic degree that usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects. Unlike many other bachelor's ...

) in 1915.

Coaching career

During the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

stationed Stegeman in Athens to create physical training courses for the UGA

Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

program. After arriving, he was hired by UGA's football coach,

W. A. Cunningham William Alexander Cunningham (July 9, 1886 – August 15, 1968) was an American football and basketball coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Georgia from 1910 to 1919, compiling a career college football record of 43-1 ...

, as an assistant for the 1919 season. When Cunningham returned to the Army after that season, Stegeman became the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the football team and served in the position from 1920 to 1922. In addition, he also became the head coach of the basketball, baseball and track and field teams in 1920. His career football record stands at 20–6–3 (.741). He stepped down as baseball coach after one year. After the 1922 football season, Stegeman stepped down from that position to become the UGA athletics director. He remained as head coach of the basketball and track and field teams. As head coach of the Georgia basketball team from 1920 until 1931, he still owns the second-best winning percentage (.686) of any Georgia coach with more than 50 games. His final group of Bulldogs won 23 of 25 games and Stegeman was regarded by many as one of the first great basketball "gurus." Stegeman coached UGA's track and field team for 17 years and was the personal coach of Forrest "Spec" Towns, who won a gold medal at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

. Stegeman led the UGA track team to its only SEC men's team conference championship in 1937 with Towns as the star of the squad.

Later life and honors

In 1946, Stegeman Hall was named in honor of Stegeman and initially served as the home of the University's athletic and physical education departments; however, that building was demolished in the early 1990s in preparation for events hosted by UGA during the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. As a result, Charles Knapp, UGA's president at the time, led the effort to rename Georgia Coliseum as

Stegeman Coliseum Stegeman Coliseum is a 10,523-seat multi-purpose arena in Athens, Georgia, United States. The arena opened in 1964 in honor of C. Sal Stegeman. It is home to the University of Georgia Bulldogs basketball and gymnastics teams. It was also the venu ...

in Stegeman's honor on March 2, 1996. Stegeman died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

in 1939.

Head coaching record

Football

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

Herman Stegeman
at College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stegeman, Herman 1891 births 1939 deaths American football guards American people of Dutch descent Basketball coaches from Michigan Beloit Buccaneers football coaches Chicago Maroons football players College men's track and field athletes in the United States College track and field coaches in the United States Georgia Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs athletic directors Georgia Bulldogs baseball coaches Georgia Bulldogs basketball coaches Georgia Bulldogs football coaches Monmouth Fighting Scots football coaches Monmouth Fighting Scots men's basketball coaches People from Holland, Michigan Players of American football from Michigan