Emil Smith "Liz" Liston (August 21, 1890 – October 26, 1949) was an American athletic coach and administrator. He coached

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 ...

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

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 ...

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

and

Baker University Baker University is a private university in Baldwin City, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1858, it was the first four-year university in Kansas and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Baker University is made up of four schools. Th ...

. He was the founder of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

, organized the NAIA college basketball tournament in 1937 and served as the first executive director of the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball (predecessor to the NAIA) from 1940 to 1949. He was posthumously inducted into the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

in 1975.

Early years

A native of

Stockton, Missouri Stockton is a city and the county seat of Cedar County, Missouri, United States. The population was 1,683 at the 2020 census. History Stockton was platted in 1846. It was originally named Lancaster, but was renamed Fremont in 1847 in honor of ...

, Liston attended

in Kansas. From 1916 to 1918, he was the athletic director at Michigan College of Mines (which is now known as

Michigan Technological University Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Uppe ...

). According to some accounts, he also played football at Michigan College of Mines.

Wesleyan

In September 1918, Liston was hired by

as coach of the school's

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

. He left Wesleyan in June 1919 to play professional baseball for the

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

team in the Western League. After spending the summer playing baseball in Wichita, Liston returned to Wesleyan as the head football coach in the fall of 1919. In two years as Wesleyan's football coach, Liston compiled a 10–3 record. His .769 winning percentage at Wesleyan remains the highest of any Wesleyan football coach with at least ten games as coach. Liston also coached the basketball and baseball teams at Wesleyan. In April 1920, Liston announced his resignation from Wesleyan.

Baker

After resigning from Wesleyan, Liston announced he was through with the coaching profession and that it was his intention to move to Kansas to work on the farm of his father-in-law. He returned to coaching in 1920 with

Baldwin City, Kansas Baldwin City is a city in Douglas County, Kansas, United States, about south of Lawrence. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 4,826. The city is home to Baker University, the state's oldest four-year university. Histor ...

. He coached both football and basketball at Baker. He was the coach of the basketball team from 1930 to 1945 and led the school to Kansas Conference championships in 1930 and 1937. He also coached Baker's football teams and was for many years the school's winningest football coach with 97 wins; the career wins record was broken in 1992 by Charlie Richard. The university named their football stadium Liston Stadium in his honor.

NAIA/NAIB

Liston was also the founder of the

, organized the NAIA college basketball tournament, and a close friend of

James Naismith James Naismith (; November 6, 1861November 28, 1939) was a Scottish-Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United State ...

. In 1945, Liston resigned his coaching position at Baker University to become the NAIB's first executive director; he held that position until his death in 1949. He was inducted into the

in 1975. Liston's biography at the Basketball Hall of Fame states: "With sheer initiative, drive, and foresight, Emil Liston fought for uniformity and equality in college athletics. A dedicated administrator, Liston envisioned a small college, national tournament and organized the NAIB (now known as the NAIA). The first NAIA tournament was played in Kansas City with an eight-team field in 1937."

Later years and death

Liston died of a heart attack, on October 26, 1949, while reading at his home in Baldwin, Kansas.

Head coaching record

College football

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Liston, Emil 1890 births 1949 deaths Baker Wildcats athletic directors Baker Wildcats football coaches Baker Wildcats football players Baker Wildcats men's basketball coaches Colorado Springs Millionaires players Emporia Bidwells players Michigan Tech Huskies athletic directors Michigan Tech Huskies football players Wesleyan Cardinals athletic directors Wesleyan Cardinals baseball coaches Wesleyan Cardinals men's basketball coaches Wesleyan Cardinals football coaches Wichita Witches players Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees High school basketball coaches in the United States People from Baldwin City, Kansas People from Stockton, Missouri Coaches of American football from Missouri Players of American football from Missouri Basketball coaches from Missouri