Dorsett Vandeventer "Tubby" Graves (November 27, 1886 – January 16, 1960) was an American college head coach in

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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, and

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 a player of football and baseball. A head coach in three sports, Graves was primarily a baseball coach, and led three college programs for a total of 32 seasons. He began at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

for four seasons (1912–1915), spent another four at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

(1916–1919), and finished with 24 seasons the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

(1923–1946). In the sport of football, he was a college head coach for seven seasons: at Alabama (1911–1914), Texas A&M (1918), and the Agricultural College of the State of Montana—now

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana, United States. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's d ...

(1920–1921), compiling a career record of 32–18–4. In basketball, he served as a head coach for six years: at Alabama (1912–1915), Texas A&M (1915–1916), and Montana Agricultural (1920–1922). At Washington, he was a longtime assistant coach in football and basketball, and later an assistant athletic director. In the summer of 1912, Graves was the manager of the

La Junta Railroaders The La Junta Railroaders were a minor league baseball team based in La Junta, Colorado. The Railroaders played in the 1912 season as members of the Class D level Rocky Mountain League. La Junta hosted home games at City Park. History In 1912, mi ...

, a

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

team in

La Junta, Colorado La Junta is a home rule municipality in, the county seat of, and the most populous municipality of Otero County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,322 at the 2020 United States census. La Junta is located on the Arkansa ...

of the short-lived

Rocky Mountain League The Rocky Mountain League was a minor league baseball league that operated in 1912 in sports, 1912. The Class D (baseball), Class D level league featured teams based in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. The short–lived Rocky Mountain League fol ...

Early years

Born in

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, Graves was one of ten children of a doctor, and his two given names were surnames of two physicians. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

from 1906 to 1908, and after his eligibility was used up in the Midwest, he moved to the

Northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

and played at

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 the

Palouse The Palouse ( ) is a geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of North Central Idaho, north central Idaho, southeastern Washington (part of eastern Washington), and by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. ...

for a season in 1909. After college, Graves played baseball in the

minor leagues 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 ...

Coaching career

Baseball

Graves was the head coach at

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 ...

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

, and

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, where he led the Huskies in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

for 24 seasons (1923–1946). Graves had a long-standing amicable rivalry with

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 ...

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

, whom he coached in

and

at Texas A&M.

Football

After several years of playing baseball in the minors, he coached football at

, and what is now

Montana State Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana, United States. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's d ...

. From 1911 to 1914, he led the Alabama program to a 21–12–3 record. In his only season at Texas A&M in 1918, he compiled a 6–1 record. He then served as an assistant coach at Texas A&M in 1919 under head coach Dana X. Bible. At Montana Agricultural in

Bozeman Bozeman ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. The 2020 United States census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it Montana's fourth-largest city. It is the principal city of the Bozeman, Montan ...

, he had a 5–5–1 record over two seasons. While head coach of the

team at Washington, Graves also served as an assistant coach in

to several coaches.

Basketball

Graves was a head basketball coach for six seasons, the first three at

, where he was the program's first coach and compiled a record of 20–12 () from 1912 to 1915. He later headed the

program for a season and two at Montana Agricultural. At

, he was an assistant coach for 24 seasons under head coach

Hec Edmundson Clarence Sinclair "Hec" Edmundson (August 3, 1886 – August 6, 1964) was an American basketball and track coach. A native of Moscow, Idaho, and a 1910 graduate of the University of Idaho, Edmundson coached at his alma mater (1916–18) and ...

. Graves had met Edmundson at Idaho when they were undergraduate athletes, and both were head coaches at Texas A&M in the spring of 1919, Edmundson in track and Graves in baseball.

After coaching

After stepping down as baseball coach at Washington, Graves became an assistant athletic director at the university, where he remained until his death. He was also involved with

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

in the state as a race steward at

Longacres Longacres was a Thoroughbred racing, Thoroughbred horse racetrack in Renton, Washington, Renton, Washington (U.S. state), Washington, United States. Owned by the Gottstein/Alhadeff family and operated by the Washington Jockey Club for the va ...

in Renton and

Playfair Race Course Playfair Race Course (known as the Spokane Interstate Fair from 1901–1935) was the home of horse racing in Spokane, Washington, from 1901 The track started out as a four-furlong (half-mile) flat oval, and expanded to five furlongs () in 1946. ...

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

Death

While visiting Pullman in the spring of 1959, Graves fell and broke a hip. That December, he was hospitalized in Seattle for treatment of a

liver The liver is a major metabolic organ (anatomy), organ exclusively found in vertebrates, which performs many essential biological Function (biology), functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of var ...

ailment and died several weeks later in January 1960 at age 73. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Seattle, about a mile (1.6 km) northeast of the university. The UW athletic office building (1964) and the two former baseball fields (through 1997) were named for Graves; he was posthumously inducted into the Big W Club, the UW athletics hall of fame, in 1980.

Head coaching record

College football

College baseball

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graves, D. V. 1886 births 1960 deaths Alabama Crimson Tide athletic directors Alabama Crimson Tide baseball coaches Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Missouri Idaho Vandals football players Minor league baseball managers Missouri Tigers baseball players Missouri Tigers football players Montana State Bobcats football coaches Montana State Bobcats men's basketball coaches People from Lincoln County, Missouri Texas A&M Aggies baseball coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball coaches Washington Huskies baseball coaches Washington Huskies football coaches Washington Huskies men's basketball coaches Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Seattle)