Thomas Moran "Spook" Dowler (July 3, 1908 – December 6, 1986) 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 ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

player and coach of football and basketball. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary in 1935 and at the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public university, public research university in Akron, Ohio, United States. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM fields, STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advance ...

in 1939 and 1940, compiling a career

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 ...

record of 10–13–5. Dowler also coached the William & Mary men's basketball team from 1934 to 1937William & Mary men's basketball history - Media Guide 2007-08
. Accessed March 24, 2008. and the Akron Zips men's basketball team in 1939–40, tallying a career

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

mark of 30–43. Dowler played football, basketball, and baseball at

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

. He played with the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for two games in 1931.

Coaching career

William & Mary had not yet joined an athletic conference during Dowler's first two seasons as head basketball coach, but for his third and final season, the Tribe had become a member of the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

. Dowler holds the dubious distinction of being the only men's basketball coach in school history to guide his team to a winless season. The Tribe went 0–13 in conference play and 0–18 overall during the 1936–37 season. Dowler went 21–29 over his three years at William & Mary. He finished his one-year stint as basketball coach at Akron with a 9–14 record.

Later life and death

Dowler served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

as a lieutenant 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 ...

. He later resided in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

and died on December 6, 1986.

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowler, Thomas 1908 births 1986 deaths American football quarterbacks Akron Zips football coaches Akron Zips men's basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Baseball players from Erie, Pennsylvania Basketball coaches from Pennsylvania Basketball players from Pennsylvania Brooklyn Tigers players Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Colgate Raiders baseball players Colgate Raiders football coaches Colgate Raiders football players Colgate Raiders men's basketball players College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Players of American football from Erie, Pennsylvania William & Mary Tribe football coaches William & Mary Tribe men's basketball coaches United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy officers 20th-century American sportsmen