Wilfred Charles Bleamaster (June 8, 1883 – December 19, 1973) 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 with ...

and

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 ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at Carroll College—now

Carroll University Carroll University is a private university affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Established in 1846, Carroll was Wisconsin's first four-year institution of higher learning. History Prior to its esta ...

—in

Waukesha, Wisconsin Waukesha ( ) is the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Its population was 71,158 at the 2020 census. The city is adjacent to the Village of Waukesha. History The area that ...

from 1909 to 1911,

Alma College Alma College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Alma, Michigan. It enrolls approximately 1,400 students and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Alma College is affiliat ...

from 1912 to 1915, and the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

from 1916 to 1917, and Albany College—now known as

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 & Cl ...

—from 1926 to 1927. Bleamaster was also the head basketball coach at Alma from 1912 to 1916 and at Idaho for the season, tallying a career

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

mark of Bleamaster was

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

Grinnell College Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-st ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

and graduated in 1908.

Coaching career

Carroll

Bleamaster the eighth head football coach for the

Carroll College Carroll College is a private Catholic college in Helena, Montana. The college has 21 buildings on a 63-acre campus, has over 35 academic majors, participates in 15 NAIA athletic sports, and is home to All Saints Chapel. The college motto, in L ...

located in

, and he held that position for three seasons, from 1909 until 1911. His coaching record at Carroll was

Alma

Bleamaster was the head football coach at

Alma, Michigan Alma is the largest city in Gratiot County, Michigan, Gratiot County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,383 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It was incorporated as the Village of Alma in 1872 and became a city in 1905 ...

for four seasons and compiled a record of

Idaho

Bleamaster went west in 1916 to the

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

to become its eighth head football coach and the athletic director. He coached the

Idaho Vandals The Idaho Vandals are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing the University of Idaho, located in Moscow. The Vandals compete at the NCAA Division I level as a member of the Big Sky Conference. The football team was an independent for th ...

for the 1916 and 1917 seasons, and his teams posted a record of in two seasons. Idaho did not field a football team in 1918, but Bleamaster succeeded

Hec Edmundson Clarence Sinclair "Hec" Edmundson (August 3, 1886 – August 6, 1964) was an American basketball and track coach. A native of Moscow, Idaho, and a 1910 graduate of the University of Idaho, Edmundson coached at his alma mater (1916–18) and th ...

as head coach of the

basketball team 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 ...

for one season. He led Idaho to a record and a championship in the Pacific Northwest Intercollegiate Conference in 1919, and also led the

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 ...

program for three seasons.

Corvallis High School and Albany College

In August 1924, Bleamaster was hired as

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 and ...

and football coach at

Corvallis High School Corvallis High School may refer to: *Corvallis High School (California) *Corvallis High School (Montana) *Corvallis High School (Oregon) Corvallis High School (CHS) is a four-year public secondary school in Corvallis, Oregon. Originally estab ...

Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 United ...

. He also coached basketball, baseball,

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

at Corvallis. In August 1926, Bleamaster moved on to Albany College—now known as

—in

Albany, Oregon Albany is the county seat of Linn County, Oregon, and is the eleventh largest city in that state. Albany is located in the Willamette Valley at the confluence of the Calapooia River and the Willamette River in both Linn and Benton counties, just ...

, to take charge of all athletics at the school. He resigned from his post at Albany College after two years.

Late life and death

Bleamaster returned to Corvallis in 1929 and worked as salesman there until 1958. From 1964 to 1969, he lived at the Hotel Benton in Corvallis. Bleamaster later resided with his daughter in

Stanford, California Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the home of Stanford University. The population was 21,150 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. Stanford is ...

. He died after a brief illness, on December 19, 1973, at a convalescent hospital in

Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 census. Most of the city's growth occurred between 1950 and 1980. Originally a ...

Head coaching record

College football

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bleamaster, Wilfred 1883 births 1973 deaths Alma Scots football coaches Alma Scots men's basketball coaches Carroll Pioneers football coaches Carroll Pioneers men's basketball coaches Grinnell College alumni Grinnell Pioneers football players Idaho Vandals athletic directors Idaho Vandals baseball coaches Idaho Vandals football coaches Idaho Vandals men's basketball coaches Lewis & Clark Pioneers athletic directors Lewis & Clark Pioneers football coaches High school baseball coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in Oregon High school football coaches in Oregon High school track and field coaches in the United States People from Clinton, Iowa Coaches of American football from Iowa Players of American football from Iowa Baseball coaches from Iowa Basketball coaches from Iowa