Sheldon Beise (September 15, 1911 – April 1, 1960) 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 ...

player and coach.

Biography

Beise was a native of

Mound, Minnesota Mound is a city in western Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 9,052 at the 2010 census. Mound was the birthplace of the Tonka truck that is named after Lake Minnetonka, which the eastern part of town sits on. Mound is ...

, where he was an all-around athlete, winning varsity letters in basketball, track, baseball and football at Mound High School. Beise began his collegiate career at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

during the 1931–32 academic year. After one year, he transferred to the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. Beise played at the

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

position for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers football The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represents the University of Minnesota in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Founded in 1882, Minnesota has been a member of the Big Ten Conference since its incep ...

teams from 1933 to 1935 and was selected as a first-team All-American in 1935 by the North American Newspaper Alliance, and the

Central Press Association The Central Press Association was American newspaper syndication company based in Cleveland, Ohio. It was in business from 1910 to 1971. Originally independent, it was a subsidiary of King Features Syndicate from 1930 onwards. At its peak, the ...

(based on a poll of college football captains taken). He was also named as a second-team All-American by the Associated Press, United Press, Newspaper Editors Association and New York Sun. He played on

Bernie Bierman Bernard W. Bierman (March 11, 1894 – March 7, 1977) was an American football player and coach of football and basketball. He coached from 1919 to 1950 except for a span during World War II when he served in the U.S. armed forces. Bierman was t ...

's national championship teams of 1934 and 1935 and never played in a losing game for Minnesota. He was considered a powerful plunger and one of the most effective blockers in the Bernie Bierman era of single wing football." He has been described as a "battering ram fullback," and one contemporary account notes that Minnesota's winning streak in the 1934 and 1935 seasons was due in no small measure to Biese's powerful drive." In addition to the All-American honors in 1935, he was an All-Big Ten Conference fullback for three consecutive years. He was also selected to play in the East-West Shrine game in San Frandsco after the 1935 season. Beise also participated in baseball and track at the University of Minnesota. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1936 NFL Draft. After graduating, Beise served as a backfield coach and physical education instructor at the University of Minnesota. He also coached football at the College of the Holy Cross,Worcester. After retiring from football, Beise worked in an insurance business. He was insurance superintendent for the Western Life Insurance Co., an affiliate of St. Paul Fire and Marine. Beise was killed in an automobile accident in 1960. He was driving on Minnesota's Highway 7 when his car left the highway ten miles west of Minneapolis and hit a tree. He was alone in the car and suffered a fractured skull. He reportedly fell asleep at the wheel while driving to his home in rural

Excelsior, Minnesota Excelsior is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. Excelsior's historic commercial district along Water Street is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the town has many Victorian archi ...

. Upon learning of Beise's death, Bierman told reporters, "This comes as a great shock to me. Shelly was a great football player, a real personal friend and a grand fellow in every way." Beise was survived by wife and two children, Barbara and Grant. He was posthumously inducted into the University of Minnesota's "M" Club Hall of Fame in 2006.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beise, Sheldon 1911 births 1960 deaths American football fullbacks Holy Cross Crusaders football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football players People from Mound, Minnesota Players of American football from Hennepin County, Minnesota Road incident deaths in Minnesota