Willard Harvey Gildersleeve (September 17, 1886 – July 19, 1976) was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

coach. He served as the head coach at the

New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts (NHC) was founded and incorporated in 1866, as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College. In 1893, NHC moved to Durham, where it became the University of New Ha ...

, Massachusetts Agricultural College, and Westminster College.''2009 Westminster Titans Football Media Guide''
(PDF), p. 40, Westminster College, 2009.

Early life and college

Gildersleeve was born on September 17, 1886 in Gildersleeve, Connecticut.''Alumni Record of Wesleyan University, Fifth Edition''
p. 61, Wesleyan University, 1921. He graduated from Middletown High School in 1903, and attended college at Wesleyan University, where he played baseball and football.Gildersleeve, p. 69. The ''Meriden Daily Record'' called him a "star" athlete at Wesleyan. He graduated with a B.S. in 1908. He then undertook postgraduate studies at

Harvard Summer School Harvard Summer School, founded in 1871, is a summer school run by Harvard University. It serves more than 5,000 students per year. History Harvard Summer School was founded in 1871. It is the first academic summer session established and the ol ...

of physical training from 1909 to 1910. Gildersleeve served as the " physical director" at St. Lawrence University during that same time.Capt. Mansell Starts Work This Week; William Gildersleeve is New Football Coach at Westminster College
''The Gazette Times'', September 10, 1911.

Coaching career

Gildersleeve coached at New Hampshire in 1909 and amassed a 3–4 record.All-Time Coaching Records by Year
, College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved July 5, 2010. He coached the 1910 Massachusetts Aggies (now known as the UMass Minutemen) and amassed a 1–6–2 record. He then coached Westminster in 1911 and amassed a 2–4–1 record. On October 7, 1911, he was arrested after a brawl erupted during the game against Pittsburgh. '' The Pittsburgh Gazette Times'' criticized the law enforcement response in the incident:

"The arrest of Gildersleeve appeared ridiculous, in that he was the only one of the crowd taken by the police. He is a small man and two big policemen grabbed him and took him across the field in full view of the crowd. The police acted as though Gildersleeve was a desperate criminal. This act failed to make a hit with the crowd, who were inclined to poke fun at the police for their brave act."

In 1913, Meriden High School hired Gildersleeve as a teacher and head football coach.Pigskin Chasers First Practice; Over Twenty Candidates Assemble at Hanover; Gildersleeve, Former Wesleyan Star, Will Coach
''Meriden Morning Record'', September 5, 1913. He also coached baseball at the school. In 1917, he coached baseball at Hyannis High School, and in his one season tenure, guided the team to the Cape Cod High School Championship.

Personal life

Gildersleeve married Gertrude Isabell née Sugden in 1909, and as of 1921, the couple had two children, a son and a daughter. He wrote extensively on genealogy, and in 1914, authored a book on his own family titled ''Gildersleeves of Gildersleeve, Conn. and the Descendants of Philip Gildersleeve''. In the foreword he noted, "Ignorance of one's family is inexcusable and a source of future trouble. The family is the key of all progress, of all permanent success." During the 1930s, he wrote to a number of distant Gildersleeve cousins to share his knowledge of their common ancestors, Richard Gildersleeve and his wife Joanna, pioneers who arrived at Boston in 1634 on a ship of the Winthrop line, and of their descendants. In 1941, he published ''Gildersleeve Pioneers'', "a series of sketches and biographies, with an appendix of lineages", beginning with their pioneer ancestor, Richard Gildersleeve. He died in July 1976 at the age of 89 in Wayne, New Jersey. He is interred at the Portland Burial Ground in Portland, Connecticut.

Head coaching record

College

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gildersleeve, Willard 1886 births 1976 deaths New Hampshire Wildcats football coaches St. Lawrence Saints athletic directors UMass Minutemen football coaches Wesleyan Cardinals baseball players Wesleyan Cardinals football players Westminster Titans football coaches High school baseball coaches in the United States High school football coaches in Connecticut High school football coaches in Massachusetts Harvard Summer School alumni People from Portland, Connecticut Players of American football from Connecticut Coaches of American football from Connecticut