Israel George "Izzy" Levene (May 1, 1885 – November 12, 1930) 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 ...

player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

from 1907 to 1909 and at

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

in 1922, compiling a career record of 18–15–5.

Player career

Levene played college football at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, and was named an All-American in

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia ( Shostakovich's 11th Symphony ...

and

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

. In 1905, Penn went 12–0–1. Levene was known for being a football player who worked hard to help out his team, as well as one of the first good pass catching

ends End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: **End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games ** End (gridiron footbal ...

. The forward pass was legalized for the 1906 season.

Assistant coaching career

Levene coached under head coach John Heisman at the

Head coaching career

During his three-year tenure at Tennessee, Levene compiled a 15–10–3 record. His best season came in 1907, when his team went 7–2–1. His worst season came in 1909, when his team went 1–6–2, with the one win coming against

Transylvania University Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded in 1780 and was the first university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern ...

. In 1922, Levene served as the head coach at Wake Forest. He compiled a 3–5–2 record there.

Later life

After coaching, Levene was a football official and wrote a book, ''Twenty Modern Football Plays''.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Levene, George 1885 births 1930 deaths American football ends Penn Quakers football coaches Penn Quakers football players Tennessee Volunteers football coaches Wake Forest Demon Deacons football coaches Jewish American sportspeople