Joshua Wilder Tasker (June 25, 1887 – March 14, 1974) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at Connecticut Agricultural College—now known as the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

—from 1921 to 1922, the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William II ...

from 1923 to 1927, and

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and wa ...

from 1931 to 1937, compiling a career college football record of 67–52–11. Wilder was also the head basketball coach at Connecticut from 1921 to 1923 and William & Mary from 1923 to 1928, tallying a career

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

mark of 66–49. In addition he served as the head baseball coach at Connecticut (1922–1923), William & Mary (1924–1928), and Rutgers (1932–1937), amassing a career

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

record of 88–108–4.

Coaching career

Tasker became athletic coach at Connecticut Agricultural College—now known as the

—in 1921. He resigned as coach at Connecticut in January 1923. Connecticut's

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

Roy J. Guyer Roy Jones Guyer (October 25, 1885 – April 3, 1956) was an American college football player and college football, basketball, baseball, and soccer coach. He served as the head football coach at Lebanon Valley College from 1908 to 1910 and again f ...

, took over coaching of the Connecticut Aggies men's basketball team. In March 1923, Tasker was hired at athletic director and coach at the

Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. It is b ...

Later life and death

After leaving from coaching, Tasker ran an insurance business in

Orange, New Jersey The City of Orange is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 30,134, reflecting a decline ...

. He retired in the 1960s and moved to

Kilmarnock, Virginia Kilmarnock is a town in Lancaster and Northumberland counties in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 1,487 at the 2010 census. It is located near the mouth of the Rappahannock River and is located within the Northern Neck G ...

, where he died at his home, on March 14, 1974.

Head coaching record

Football

Basketball

Baseball

The following table depicts Tasker's record as head baseball coach at Connecticut.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tasker, J. Wilder 1887 births 1974 deaths Rutgers Scarlet Knights baseball coaches Rutgers Scarlet Knights football coaches Syracuse Orangemen baseball players Syracuse Orange football players UConn Huskies baseball coaches UConn Huskies football coaches UConn Huskies men's basketball coaches Union Garnet Chargers baseball players Union Garnet Chargers football players William & Mary Tribe athletic directors William & Mary Tribe baseball coaches William & Mary Tribe football coaches William & Mary Tribe men's basketball coaches High school baseball coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in New York (state) High school football coaches in New York (state) People from Richmond, Maine Basketball coaches from Maine