Daniel P. Boisture Jr. (February 22, 1925 – May 18, 2007) 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 was the head coach of the

Eastern Michigan Eagles football The Eastern Michigan Eagles are a college football program at Eastern Michigan University. They compete in NCAA Division I, Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and the Mid-American Conference. Past names include "Michigan State Normal Col ...

team from 1967 to 1973, compiling a record of 45–20–3. Boisture was a star athlete in high school, playing both basketball and football at Detroit Holy Redeemer. He served in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

in the

Pacific Theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

during

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 ...

, and was wounded in the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa Island, Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific War, Impe ...

, for which he was awarded a

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

. After returning home, he was recruited as a basketball player by Notre Dame, but instead attended the

University of Detroit The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catho ...

, where he lettered four times in football as an

end End, END, Ending, or ENDS may refer to: End Mathematics *End (category theory) * End (topology) * End (graph theory) * End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) * End (endomorphism) Sports and games *End (gridiron football) *End, a division ...

, and twice in basketball. In 1949, Boisture helped the University of Detroit football team win the Missouri Valley Conference championship in the school's first year in the conference. Boisture began his coaching career as a high school football coach at Dearborn St. Alphonsus High School and Ecorse St. Francis Xavier High School. From 1954 through 1958, he coached at Detroit St. Mary's of Redford High School in the Detroit Catholic League, where his teams accumulated a 37–4–2 record and won the Catholic League championship four of the five years he coached there. In 1959, at the age of 33, he became an assistant coach at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

, under

Duffy Daugherty Hugh Duffy Daugherty (September 8, 1915 – September 25, 1987) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Michigan State University from 1954 to 1972, compiling a record of 109–69–5. His 1955 and 1957 and 1965 ...

, where he stayed through the 1966 season. During his time at Michigan State, the team won two national championships, in 1965 and 1966. In July 1967, Boisture was hired as head coach at

Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, EMich, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern) is a public university, public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Michigan State Normal School, it was the fourth normal ...

. He later commented that he was willing to go to a smaller school, saying, "There weren't many jobs open...Joan and I looked at the campus. It was a cute campus." Under his leadership, the team produced the longest period of sustained success since

Elton Rynearson Elton James Rynearson Sr. (April 7, 1893 – February 8, 1967) was an American athlete, coach, and college athletics administrator. He was affiliated with Eastern Michigan University (known as Michigan State Normal College prior to 1956) for most ...

's days. The team posted winning seasons in all seven years of Boisture's coaching, including a 13-game winning streak that remains a school record. His 1971 squad finished the regular season 7–0–2, only allowing one touchdown in the last five games, before losing to Louisiana Tech in the Pioneer Bowl, the first bowl trip in school history. Boisture was named NCAA District Four "coach of the year" in 1971. Boisture's tenure at Eastern Michigan is also notable for the construction of

Rynearson Stadium Rynearson Stadium, nicknamed "The Factory", is a stadium in Ypsilanti, Michigan. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Eastern Michigan University Eagles. Currently, the stadium has seating for 30,200 people. T ...

. Boisture's teams played their first two seasons at the old field, near the corner of Oakwood and Washtenaw, just west of

McKenny Union McKenny Hall, previously called McKenny Union and Charles McKenny Union, was the first student union on the campus of the Michigan State Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University) in Ypsilanti, Michigan. At various times the building has in ...

. In 1969, the new stadium, which was considered off-campus at the time, opened with a capacity of 15,500. Boisture's bowl-bound 1971 team played for one of the few sellout crowds in the stadium's history, a 0–0 tie against Eastern Kentucky on October 16, 1971, which drew 17,360 spectators. In February 1974, Boisture left Eastern Michigan to coach the

Detroit Wheels The Detroit Wheels were an American football team, a charter member of the defunct World Football League. Founding Soon after Gary Davidson announced the WFL's formation in October 1973, he was approached by a man named Bud Hucul about putting ...

, in the Central Division of the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 in sports, 1974 and most of its second in 1975 in sports, 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a w ...

, who also played home games at Rynearson Stadium. After playing a partial 1974 season of 14 games (out of a planned 20-game season), for a 1–13 record, the Wheels folded. Following his experience with the World Football League, Boisture decided to leave coaching. "It was a hardship on the family, moving like we were moving...When the Wheels went defunct, I could have gone with a couple pro teams, and I said, 'That's it.'...I was in a position to continue in pro ball or get something more stable. I made the right choice." He and his family settled in Wyandotte,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, and started a marketing firm dealing internationally with military equipment, from which he retired in 1990. Boisture was inducted into Eastern Michigan University's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005. Boisture was the older brother of Tom Boisture, who played football at

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

and later coached at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

and the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by educators Benedict Joseph Fenwick and Thomas F. Mulledy in 1843 under the auspices of the Society of Jesus. ...

. His grandson, Joe, played quarterback for

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boisture, Dan 1925 births 2007 deaths American football ends American men's basketball players Detroit Titans football players Detroit Mercy Titans men's basketball players Detroit Wheels coaches Eastern Michigan Eagles football coaches Michigan State Spartans football coaches High school football coaches in Michigan United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II United States Marines Sportspeople from Wyandotte, Michigan Players of American football from Wayne County, Michigan Coaches of American football from Michigan Players of American football from Detroit Basketball players from Detroit Military personnel from Michigan 20th-century American sportsmen