Clyde Littlefield (October 6, 1892 – May 20, 1981) was an American sports and athletics coach. The head

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

coach at

The University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

from 1920 to 1961 as well as its football coach from 1927 to 1933. In his 41 years at Texas, his athletic teams won 25

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

championships and in football the Longhorns had a 44–18–6 record and won two Southwest Conference championships. He was also on the US coaching staff at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Early life and education

Littlefield was born in

Oil City, Pennsylvania Oil City is the largest city in Venango County, Pennsylvania, United States. Known for its prominence in the initial exploration and development of the petroleum industry, it is located at a bend in the Allegheny River at the mouth of Oil Cre ...

, and raised in Sistersville, West Virginia, and Southeast Texas, where he graduated from South Park High School in Beaumont. He then attended Peacock Military Academy in

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

and Marshall Training School, and from 1912 to 1916 was a student at the University of Texas, where he earned twelve letters, in football, basketball, and track.

Coaching career

Littlefield was head football coach at Greenville High School in Greenville for four years, and then in 1920 returned to the University of Texas as head track coach, freshman football coach, freshman basketball coach, and instructor in physical training. He remained there until 1961, winning 25 Southwest conference championships in track, and also serving as head football coach from 1927 to 1933, during which time the university won two Southwest Conference championships. He served as an instructor of an officers' training corps during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and was on the United States track and field coaching staff at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. He served for many years on the NCAA track and field rules committee and was president of the NCAA Track Coaches Association.

Honors

Littlefield was awarded the

Amos Alonzo Stagg Award :''There is a separate " Amos Alonzo Stagg Coaching Award". The Amos Alonzo Stagg Award is presented annually by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) to the "individual, group or institution whose services have been outstanding in ...

and was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor at the University of Texas, the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, and the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. The University of Texas has a plaque in his honor and named a graduate fellowship for him in 1963. The Texas Relays, which he co-founded in 1925, were named the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in his honor.

Private life and death

Littlefield married Henrietta Rabb in 1920; they had a son. He was a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and Shriner. Littlefield died on May 20, 1981, at his home in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Littlefield, Clyde 1892 births 1981 deaths American men's basketball players Texas Longhorns football coaches Texas Longhorns football players Texas Longhorns men's basketball players Texas Longhorns men's track and field athletes Texas Longhorns track and field coaches All-American college men's basketball players All-Southern college football players People from Sistersville, West Virginia Coaches of American football from Texas Players of American football from Beaumont, Texas Basketball players from Texas