Orin Ercel "Babe" Hollingbery (July 15, 1893 – January 12, 1974) was an
American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
coach. He served as the head football coach at the State College of Washington—now known as
Washington State University
Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...
—for 17 seasons, from 1926 to 1942, and compiled a record of 93–53–14 ().
Hollingbery's 93 wins are the most by any head coach in the history of the
Washington State Cougars football
The Washington State Cougars football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Washington State University, located in Pullman, Washington. The team competes at the NCAA Division I level in the FBS and is a member of the Pac-12 ...
program.
He was inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...
in 1979.
Early years
Born in
Hollister, California
Hollister is a city in and the county seat of San Benito County, located in the Central Coast region of California, United States. With a 2020 United States census population of 41,678, Hollister is one of the most populous cities in the M ...
, Hollingbery was raised in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
and never attended college. He coached local high school football, even leading three teams one fall, and later coached at the
Olympic Club
The Olympic Club is an sports club, athletic club and private social club in San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
First named the "San Francisco Olympic Club", it is the oldest sports club, athletic club in the United States. Established ...
.
One of his players at Olympic was Buck Bailey
Arthur Buckner Bailey (June 2, 1896 – October 28, 1964) was a college baseball head coach; he led the Washington State Cougars for 32 seasons, from 1927 through 1961, except for three seasons during World War II, and had an overall record of
...
, who became his line coach at Washington State in 1926 and headed the Cougar baseball program until 1961.
Washington State
Hollingbery coached at Washington State during what is generally agreed as its greatest football era. The Cougars did not lose a home game from 1926 to 1935, and the 1930 team won the Pacific Coast Conference
The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a collegiate athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (includin ...
(PCC) title and advanced to the Rose Bowl against Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
. He coached some of the greatest names in Washington State history, including Turk Edwards
Albert Glen "Turk" Edwards (September 28, 1907 – January 10, 1973) was an American professional football player who was a tackle in the National Football League (NFL). He played his entire career for the Washington Redskins, starting with t ...
, Mel Hein
Melvin Jack Hein (August 22, 1909 – January 31, 1992), nicknamed "Old Indestructible", was an American professional American football, football player. In the era of One-platoon system, one-platoon football, he played as a Center (gridiron foo ...
, Mel Dressel, Dale Gentry, Ed Goddard, Harold Ahlskog, Elmer Schwartz, Bob Kennedy, Nick Suseoff, Bill Sewell, John Bley, and Herbert "Butch" Meeker.
Before the 1943 season, the football program went on hiatus due to World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
; Hollingbery trained U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
troops on campus and coached eighth-grade football. He was also an advisory coach for the 1943 Spokane Air Service Commandos football team.
Hollingbery took a one-year leave of absence, beginning in mid-1944, moved to Yakima
Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, United States, and the state's 11th most populous city. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The ...
, and started a lucrative hop-growing business. When the Cougar football program was restarted, Hollingberry was asked to take a pay cut and did not return to Pullman.
Hollingbery Fieldhouse at Washington State University, a facility serving many different sports, was built in 1929 and renamed for the coach in 1963; the dedication ceremony was at halftime of the Battle of the Palouse
The Battle of the Palouse refers to an athletic rivalry in the northwest United States, between the Vandals of the University of Idaho and Cougars of Washington State University.
The two land-grant universities are less than apart on the ...
football game with Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
on November 2. Hired after three consecutive Cougar losses to Idaho, Hollingberry never lost to the Vandals, with 16 wins and a tie ().
East-West Shrine Game
Hollingbery also was the creator of the East–West Shrine Game
East West (or East and West) may refer to:
*East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture
Arts and entertainment
Books, journals and magazines
*'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...
and the head coach of the West team in the first Shrine Game in 1925. He coached in a total of 18 Shrine Games,[ leading players such as ]Harold Muller
Harold Powers "Brick" Muller (June 12, 1901 – May 17, 1962) was an American professional football player-coach for the Los Angeles Buccaneers during their only season in the National Football League (NFL) in 1926. He was also a track ...
, Rags Matthews, and George Sauer
George Henry Sauer Sr. (December 11, 1910 – February 5, 1994) was an American football player, coach, college sports administrator, and professional football executive.
Career
Sauer attended the University of Nebraska where he was an All-Amer ...
.
Northwest League
Involved in minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...
baseball in Yakima, Hollingbery was the president of the new Northwest League
The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseba ...
for the 1955 season. Hired in June after the resignation of Arthur Pohlman, Hollingbery stepped down that November.
Death
In late December 1973, Hollingbery suffered a stroke, fell into a coma, and died several weeks later at age 80.[ His wife, Hazel, died eleven years later, days before her 91st birthday;] they are buried at Terrace Heights Memorial Park in Yakima.[
]
Head coaching record
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hollingbery, Babe
1893 births
1974 deaths
Spokane Air Service Commandos football coaches
Washington State Cougars football coaches
High school football coaches in California
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
People from Hollister, California
Sportspeople from San Benito County, California
Sportspeople from San Francisco