George G. "Chick" Evans (June 18, 1901 – November 23, 1976) 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 ...

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 (appro ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded as "Northern Illinois State Normal School" in 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, initially to provide the state with c ...

from 1929 to 1954, compiling a record of 132–70–20. Evans was also the head basketball coach at Northern Illinois from 1929 to 1940, tallying a mark of 125–93, and served three stints at head baseball coach at the school (1930–1934, 1937–1944, 1946–1947), amassing a record of 118–115–3. Evans was the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

at Northern Illinois from 1929 to 1968. His 132 wins are the most of any head coach in the

Northern Illinois Huskies football The Northern Illinois Huskies football team are a college football program representing Northern Illinois University (NIU) in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. NIU football plays ...

program's history. A native of

El Paso, Illinois El Paso is a city in Woodford County, Illinois, Woodford and McLean County, Illinois, McLean counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 2,756 at the 2020 census. The Woodford County portion of El Paso is part of the Peoria, Illi ...

, Evans attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, where was a member of the

1918 Illinois Fighting Illini football team The 1918 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, University of Illinois during the 1918 Big Ten Conference football season. In their sixth season un ...

led by head coach

Robert Zuppke Robert Carl Zuppke (July 2, 1879 – December 22, 1957) was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Illinois—now known as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign–from 1913 until 1941, compili ...

. He then moved on to the now-defunct

Des Moines University Des Moines University (DMU) is a private medical school in West Des Moines, Iowa. Founded in 1898, Des Moines University is the second oldest osteopathic medical school and the fifteenth largest medical school in the United States. DMU's three c ...

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

, which was later acquired by the

University of Sioux Falls The University of Sioux Falls (USF) is a private university in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. In fall 2014, the university enrolled a total of 1,142 undergraduate students and 311 graduate students. ...

; this should not be confused with the present

. At Des Moines, Evans won 11 varsity letters and captained teams in four different sports directed by head coach Harry M. Bell. Evans began his coaching career at

Boone High School Boone High School is a public high school located in Boone, Iowa, United States. The school's mascot is the Toreadors, and their colors are red and green. It is part of the Boone Community School District. Athletics The Toreadors compete in ...

Boone, Iowa Boone ( ) is a city in Des Moines Township, Boone County, Iowa, Des Moines Township, and county seat of Boone County, Iowa, United States. It is the principal city of the Boone, Iowa Micropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Boone ...

, where he spent four years before moving to DeKalb High School in

DeKalb, Illinois DeKalb ( ) is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 40,290 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is named after decorated Franconian-French war hero Johann de Kalb, who died during the Ameri ...

for one year before becoming head football coach and athletic director of what was then Northern Illinois State Teachers College in 1929. As athletic director and coach, Evans oversaw Northern's growth from a teacher's college to a major university. Evans later earned a master's degree from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He died on November 23, 1976, at Kearney-Mesa Convalesclent Hospital in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

after a short illness. Evans and his wife, Venus, had moved there following his retirement as athletic director at Northern Illinois in 1968.''Daily Messenger'', November 24, 1976, Canandaigua, New York Chick Evans Field House, former home of the Huskies basketball team, is named for him.

Head coaching record

College football

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Chick 1901 births 1976 deaths Basketball coaches from Illinois Des Moines Tigers football players Illinois Fighting Illini football players Northern Illinois Huskies athletic directors Northern Illinois Huskies baseball coaches Northern Illinois Huskies football coaches Northern Illinois Huskies men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in Illinois High school basketball coaches in Iowa High school football coaches in Illinois High school football coaches in Iowa Columbia University alumni People from El Paso, Illinois Coaches of American football from Illinois Players of American football from McLean County, Illinois