Amos Alonzo Stagg

Who was Amos Alonzo Stagg?

Amos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and pioneering college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football. He served as the head football coach at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School, the University of Chicago, and the College of the Pacific, compiling a career college football record of 314–199–35. His Chicago Maroons teams of 1905 and 1913 have been recognized as national champions. He was also the head basketball coach for one season at the University of Chicago, and the head baseball coach there for 19 seasons.

At University of Chicago, Stagg also instituted an annual prep basketball tourney and track meet. Both drew the top high school teams and athletes from around the United States.

Stagg played football as an end at Yale University and was selected to the first College Football All-America Team in 1889. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach in the charter class of 1951 and was the only individual honored in both roles until the 1990s. Influential in other sports, Stagg developed basketball as a five-player sport and was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in its first group of inductees in 1959.