James E. Peele (June 12, 1907 – October 17, 1976) 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 ...

player, coach of football 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 ...

, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

from 1936 to 1947, compiling a record of 38–34–1. Peele was also the head baseball coach at Buffalo in 1949 and from 1952 to 1967, tallying a mark of 177–66. A native of

Staunton, Illinois Staunton is the second largest city in Macoupin County, Illinois, Macoupin County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 5,054. History Name origins A settler named Stanton bought land in ...

, Peele 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 ...

as a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

. He came to Buffalo 1934 as an assistant football coach under George Van Bibber and succeeded him as head football coach and

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

in 1936. Peele remained athletic director until 1969. He died on October 17, 1976, in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

Head coaching record

References

1907 births 1976 deaths American football quarterbacks Buffalo Bulls athletic directors Buffalo Bulls baseball coaches Buffalo Bulls football coaches Purdue Boilermakers football players People from Staunton, Illinois {{1930s-collegefootball-coach-stub