Herman Stegeman

Herman Stegeman
Biographical details
Born	January 21, 1891; Holland, Michigan, U.S.
Died	October 22, 1939 (aged 48); Athens, Georgia, U.S.
Playing career
Football
1913–1914	Chicago
Position(s)	Guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1915	Beloit
1916–1917	Monmouth (IL)
1919	Georgia (assistant)
1920–1922	Georgia
Basketball
1916–1917	Monmouth (IL)
1919–1931	Georgia
Baseball
1919–1920	Georgia
Track & field
1920–1937	Georgia
Head coaching record
Overall	29–17–6 (football); 178–89 (basketball); 31–13–2 (baseball)

Herman James Stegeman (January 21, 1891 – October 22, 1939) was a player and coach of American football, basketball, baseball, and track and field athletics, and a college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Beloit College (1915), Monmouth College (1916–1917), and the University of Georgia (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, and was of Dutch descent. He attended the University of Chicago, where he starred in many sports, including track and field and football under the direction of the legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg. Stegeman played on the 1913 Chicago Maroons football team, later recognized as a national champion, and was hailed by his coach, Stagg, as one of the finest athletes he had ever had coached. After playing football for another season in 1914, Stegeman graduated from Chicago with a Bachelor of Philosophy (Ph.B.) in 1915.

Coaching career

During the end of World War I, the United States Army stationed Stegeman in Athens to create physical training courses for the UGA Reserve Officers' Training Corps program. After arriving, he was hired by UGA's football coach, W. A. Cunningham, as an assistant for the 1919 season. When Cunningham returned to the Army after that season, Stegeman became the head coach 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. 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. As a result, Charles Knapp, UGA's president at the time, led the effort to rename Georgia Coliseum as Stegeman Coliseum in Stegeman's honor on March 2, 1996.

Stegeman died of a heart attack in Athens, Georgia in 1939.

Head coaching record

Football


Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing
Beloit Gold (Independent) (1915)
1915	Beloit	0–6–1
Beloit:		0–6–1
Monmouth Fighting Scots (Little Five Conference) (1916–1917)
1916	Monmouth	5–2–1
1917	Monmouth	4–3–1
Monmouth:		9–5–2
Georgia Bulldogs (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1920–1921)
1920	Georgia	8–0–1	8–0–1	T–1st
1921	Georgia	7–2–1	6–0–1	T–1st
Georgia Bulldogs (Southern Conference) (1922)
1922	Georgia	5–4–1	1–3–1	T–16th
Georgia:		20–6–3	15–3–3
Total:		29–17–6

References

Sources

Reed, Thomas Walter (c. 1949). "Athletics at the University from the Beginning Through 1947". History of the University of Georgia. dlg.galileo.usg.edu. pp. 3537–3542. Retrieved December 21, 2006.
Magill, Dan (February 8, 2001). "University should honor Dooley by renaming stadium". www.onlineathens.com. Retrieved January 11, 2007.
Board of Regents (February 1996). Meeting Minutes. University System of Georgia. Archived from the original on July 20, 2008. Retrieved January 11, 2007.
Stegeman, John F.; Willingham, Robert M. Jr. Touchdown: A Pictorial History of the Georgia Bulldogs. Athens, Georgia: Agee Publishers, Inc. p. 23. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 83-070625.