Why is amos alonzo stagg important

Hutchin's commitment to academics over athletic meant the end of Chicago as a football powerhouse. The Amos Alonzo Stagg collection treats the period from until and includes diverse correspondence, scrapbooks, notebooks, photographs and other ephemera. His voluminous records stretch linear feet and are comprised of an astonishing archival boxes.

Such comprehensive material defies easy categorization, however, the majority of his donation relates to his time as the Athletic Director and Head Coach of the University of Chicago Football Team. Amos Alonzo Stagg was one of the most important figures in the development of football into a great national game. And even though Walter Camp was responsible for the rules that changed football from a rugby- soccer derivative into a uniquely American sport, Stagg -- in his long career as player, coach, innovator, spokesman, and conscience of the game -- may have done more to popularize it.

Stagg first achieved prominence as a baseball player at Yale, pitching the Elis to perennial Big Three Yale, Harvard, and Princeton championships. As a football player, he was named an end on the first All-American team in He coached the Springfield football team and also took part in the first basketball game, aiding Dr.

James Naismith in that sport 's creation. Considered one of the great innovators in the development of college football, Amos Alonzo Stagg served as head football coach at the University of Chicago from to During his tenure, Stagg compiled a record of and led the Maroons to seven Big Ten Conference championships , , , , , , Under Stagg's guidance, UChicago emerged as one of the nation's most formidable football powers during the first quarter of the 20th century.

Much of their correspondence was conducted by letters like this one, which Stagg sent in May of I hope that I will not pass on until we have recovered most of the prestige in athletics which the University of Chicago once had. Coach Stagg would not pass on for more than three decades. But as it happened, two years after he wrote that letter, Stagg left the University of Chicago. He was His superiors felt he was too old.

College of the Pacific in Stockton, California disagreed. Stagg coached there until , meaning, of course, that he was in California when President Roosevelt decided that Americans of Japanese descent represented a potential danger to the U. All of which might not have mattered particularly to Ph. On April 15, I am presiding at a large meeting for discussion of the resettlement of Japanese-Americans of this community.

Since the War Department was responsible for their withdrawal from California, I would deeply appreciate you telegraphing me a brief statement endorsing our endeavors for fair play for those returning. He took what he could get, and he ran with it. Or, more precisely, he used it in a community meeting he attended.