Percy P. Locey (November 28, 1894 – August 1981) 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, coach, and a college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

from 1932 to 1935. He was the

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 an ...

the latter at Oregon State College from 1937 to 1947. Locey was inducted into the

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame The Oregon Sports Hall of Fame honors Oregon athletes, teams, coaches, and others who have made a significant contribution to sports in Oregon. The first class was inducted in 1980, with new inductees added in the fall. Operated by the Oregon Sports ...

in 1981 and into the Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.

Playing career

Locey enrolled at Oregon State in 1915 and played competitive football as a freshman. His career and education, however, was put on hold for a short period during

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 ...

. Returning to Oregon State in 1921, he became an outstanding tackle on the Oregon State Aggies football team. Locey lettered in 1915 and again from 1921 to 1923 and was team captain in 1923. Locey was chosen to play in the 1925 East–West Shrine Game for his on-field achievements. He also served as student body president his senior years at Oregon State (1923–24). In 1926, Locey played football at the Olympic Club in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. He was a member of the Olympic's "Winged-O" football eleven that handed the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

's "Wonder Team" their first loss in five seasons.

Coaching career

In 1928, Locey took over as the head football coach at the Olympic Club in

. In his first year with the Olympic Club, his team posted an undefeated season, with wins over future Pac-10 schools Stanford and California. After the success of that season, Locey was promoted to head coach of all sports at the athletic club. He was named the coach of the West team in the annual East-West Shrine game in 1929, though his team was defeated that year, 19–7. His next head coaching position was at the

, where he spent four seasons coaching in Denver and posted an overall record of 20–14–3, never having a losing season.

Athletic director

In 1937, Locey returned to Corvallis to become the

at his alma mater. His most significant achievement as athletic director may have occurred shortly after the Beavers won the Pacific Coast Conference title in 1941, earning the right to play in the

1942 Rose Bowl The 1942 Rose Bowl was the 28th edition of the college football bowl game, played on Thursday, January 1, 1942. Originally scheduled for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, it was moved to Durham, North Carolina, due to fears about an attack b ...

against

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

. As Beaver fans hurried to buy tickets to the game in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

, the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

by Japan on December 7 soon put the game's future in doubt. The Army canceled the game, citing the potential of the game as a target, leaving Locey and Oregon State to scramble to find an alternative site. Locey chose Duke's home campus in Durham, North Carolina, and then oversaw the refund and reissue of game and train tickets as well as hotel reservations for the Beaver faithful. Despite being 3-to-1 underdogs, the Beavers upset Duke, 20–16, in what remains the Beavers' only Rose Bowl victory. Locey stepped down as athletic director in 1947.

Legacy

Locey was named to the

in 1981 and the Oregon State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990, both for his football prowess. He died in Corvallis in 1981. His grandson, Jay Locey, was assistant head coach for the Oregon State Beavers football team from 2006 to 2014 and is now the head football coach at

Lewis & Clark College Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Originally chartered in 1867 as the Albany Collegiate Institute in Albany, Oregon, the college was relocated to Portland in 1938 and in 1942 adopted the name Lewis & C ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Locey, Percy 1894 births 1981 deaths American football tackles Denver Pioneers football coaches Oregon State Beavers athletic directors Oregon State Beavers football players Sportspeople from Corvallis, Oregon Players of American football from Oregon