Thomas Moran "Spook" Dowler (July 3, 1908 – December 6, 1986) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, 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 and coach of football and basketball. He served as the head football coach at

The College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William I ...

in 1935 and at the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classifie ...

in 1939 and 1940, compiling a career college football record of 10–13–5. Dowler also coached the William & Mary men's basketball team from 1934 to 1937William & Mary men's basketball history - Media Guide 2007-08
. Accessed March 24, 2008. and the Akron Zips men's basketball team in 1939–40, tallying 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 ...

mark of 30–43. Dowler played football, basketball, and baseball at Colgate University. He played with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for two games in 1931.

Coaching career

William & Mary had not yet joined an athletic conference during Dowler's first two seasons as head basketball coach, but for his third and final season, the Tribe had become a member of the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly k ...

. Dowler holds the dubious distinction of being the only men's basketball coach in school history to guide his team to a winless season. The Tribe went 0–13 in conference play and 0–18 overall during the 1936–37 season. Dowler went 21–29 over his three years at William & Mary. He finished his one-year stint as basketball coach at Akron with a 9–14 record.

Later life and death

Dowler served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

as a lietenant 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 ...

. He later resided in

Atlanta 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 498,715 ...

and died on December 6, 1986.

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowler, Thomas 1908 births 1986 deaths American football quarterbacks Akron Zips football coaches Akron Zips men's basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Baseball players from Pennsylvania Basketball coaches from Pennsylvania Basketball players from Pennsylvania Brooklyn Tigers players Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Colgate Raiders baseball players Colgate Raiders football coaches Colgate Raiders football players Colgate Raiders men's basketball players College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Players of American football from Pennsylvania William & Mary Tribe football coaches William & Mary Tribe men's basketball coaches United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy officers Sportspeople from Erie, Pennsylvania