Arthur Marvin "Tonto" Coleman (July 7, 1907 – October 18, 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 wi ...

coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Abilene Christian University from 1942 to 1949, compiling a record of 28–15–2. After working as an assistant football coach at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

and the Georgia Institute of Technology, Coleman was appointed the commission of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) in 1966, a position he filled until 1972.

Early life and education

Coleman was born in

Phil Campbell, Alabama Phil Campbell is a town in Franklin County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 992. It is one of two towns in Alabama to have the first and last name of an individual; the other is Susan Moore. Geography Phil Campbe ...

, but moved to Texas with his family when he was 12 years old. After graduating from high school, he attended Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, where he was a varsity letterman in three sports—football, basketball and baseball. Coleman graduated from Abilene Christian with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in English in 1928, and subsequently earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in post-secondary education in 1949. He served in the

U.S. Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Coaching career

Coleman was the sixth head football coach at Abilene Christian University serving for five seasons, from 1942 to 1949 with a three-year interruption during

, and compiling a record of 28–15–2. In 1950,

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division o ...

head coach

Bob Woodruff Robert Warren Woodruff (born August 18, 1961) is an American television journalist. Since 1996, he has served as a reporter for ABC News. Woodruff co-anchored ABC World News Tonight in 2006 alongside ABC News journalist Elizabeth Vargas. He was ...

recruited Coleman to be his assistant at the

in Gainesville, Florida. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football head coach

Bobby Dodd Robert Lee Dodd (November 11, 1908 – June 21, 1988) was an American college football player and coach, college baseball coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Georgia Tech from 1945 to 1966, compil ...

subsequently invited him to become part of the Georgia Tech coaching staff in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

. While coaching at Georgia Tech, he also was the assistant athletic director and the coach of Georgia Tech's freshmen football team.

SEC commissioner

Coleman became the fourth commissioner of the

(SEC) in 1966, serving until 1972.

Death

Coleman died of a heart attack on October 18, 1973, at his home in Abilene, Texas.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Tonto 1907 births 1973 deaths Abilene Christian Wildcats baseball players Abilene Christian Wildcats football coaches Abilene Christian Wildcats football players Abilene Christian Wildcats men's basketball players Florida Gators football coaches Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football coaches Southeastern Conference commissioners United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II People from Franklin County, Alabama Players of American football from Texas American men's basketball players Military personnel from Alabama