Ralph Fielding "Hutch" Hutchinson (February 19, 1878 – March 30, 1935) 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 ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player. He served as the head football coach at

Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = Jo ...

(1901), the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

(1903–1905), the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

(1911–1916),

Washington & Jefferson College Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County established by three Presbyterian missionaries t ...

(1918), the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The Universit ...

(1919), and the Idaho Technical Institute (now

Idaho State University , mottoeng = " The truth will set you free" , established = , former_names = Academy of Idaho(1901–1915)Idaho Technical Institute(1915–1927) University of Idaho—Southern Branch(1927–1947)Idaho Sta ...

) (1920–1927), compiling a career

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

record of 62–55–6. Hutchinson was also the head basketball coach at New Mexico (1910–1917), Idaho (1919–1920), and Idaho Technical (1926–1927), amassing a career

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

record of 56–18, and the head baseball coach at Texas from 1904 to 1906 and at New Mexico from 1910 to 1917, tallying a career

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

mark of 69–44–2.

Playing career

Born in

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 censu ...

, Hutchinson played varsity football and baseball and ran track at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. In football, he was a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

and later played the position as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

for the

Greensburg Athletic Association The Greensburg Athletic Association was an early organized football team, based in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, that played in the unofficial Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit from 1890 until 1900. At times referred to as the Greens ...

, an early professional football team out of

Greensburg, Pennsylvania Greensburg is a city in and the county seat of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The city lies within the Laurel Highlands and the ecoregion of the Western Allegheny Plateau. The city is ...

, in

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

. Hutchinson also played minor league baseball. He played for the 1902 Flandreau Indians of the Iowa-South Dakota League. There, his manager was

Art Hillebrand Arthur Ralph Thomas "Doc" Hillebrand (March 9, 1876 – December 14, 1941) was an American football and baseball player and coach. He played college football as a tackle for Princeton University. Hillebrand served as head football coach at the ...

, who played college football with Hutchinson at Princeton and was later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Coaching career

Dickinson

Hutchison was the third head football coach at

Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = Jo ...

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 census, the borough population was 20,118; ...

, serving for one season, in the 1901.

Texas

From 1903 to 1905, Hutchinson coached at

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, where he compiled a 16–7–2 record.

New Mexico

Hutchinson was the first basketball coach at the

, compiling a 32–8 record from 1910 to 1917. New Mexico played games only sporadically before the 1920s, with no regular schedule.

Washington & Jefferson

Hutchinson was hired in August 1918 as head coach at Washington & Jefferson, south of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Idaho

Hutchinson was the head football coach at the

for the 1919 season. A "shorter than normal" season, his team posted a record. He also coached the

basketball team Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's ...

for the 1919–20 season.

Idaho Technical Institute

In 1920, Hutchinson moved south to the Idaho Technical Institute in Pocatello. He coached through the 1927 season, tallying a record at the two-year school, which was renamed the "University of Idaho–Southern Branch" in 1927. It was renamed "Idaho State College" in 1947 after gaining four-year status and became

in 1963. On November 4, 1922, the Idaho Tech football team played its first game on Hutchinson Field, named in his honor. The field was used until partway through the 1936 season, when football games moved to the " Spud Bowl". The former Hutchinson Field area continues to be known as the Hutchinson Memorial Quadrangle.

After coaching

After eight years in Pocatello, Hutchinson returned to the University of Idaho in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in 1928, where he was the athletic director for a year, as well as the head track coach and an assistant football coach. After the hiring of Leo Calland in 1929, Hutchinson was the athletic trainer and a professor of physical education, and the head coach of minor sports. Following a brief illness, he died at the age of 57 on March 30, 1935, of a heart attack at his Moscow home. In 1980, Hutchinson was inducted to Idaho State's athletic hall of fame.

Head coaching record

1921 Idaho Technical Tigers football team

College football

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchinson, Ralph 1878 births 1935 deaths 19th-century players of American football American football quarterbacks Basketball coaches from New York (state) Greensburg Athletic Association coaches Greensburg Athletic Association players Idaho Vandals athletic directors Idaho Vandals men's basketball coaches Idaho Vandals football coaches Idaho State Bengals football coaches Idaho State Bengals men's basketball coaches New Mexico Lobos athletic directors New Mexico Lobos baseball coaches New Mexico Lobos football coaches New Mexico Lobos men's basketball coaches Princeton Tigers baseball players Princeton Tigers football coaches Princeton Tigers football players Texas Longhorns baseball coaches Texas Longhorns football coaches Washington & Jefferson Presidents football coaches College men's track and field athletes in the United States Minor league baseball players Sportspeople from Elmira, New York People from Moscow, Idaho Players of American football from New York (state) Flandreau Indians players