Walter Raleigh "Okey" Okeson (October 3, 1875 – November 4, 1943) 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 and coach. He was a

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

for the first all-professional football team, the

Latrobe Athletic Association The Latrobe Athletic Association was a professional football team located in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, from 1895 until 1909. A member of the unofficial Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit, the team is best known for being the first ...

club in 1897. Okeson was the head football coach at

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, is a private university, private research university. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Lehigh University's undergraduate programs have been mixed ...

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...

for one season, in 1900, compiling a record of 5–6. Okeson was also an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

end End, END, Ending, or ENDS may refer to: End Mathematics *End (category theory) * End (topology) * End (graph theory) * End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) * End (endomorphism) Sports and games *End (gridiron football) *End, a division ...

at Lehigh. In

1897 Events January * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedit ...

he was a

for the

and led the team to a 10–2–1 record. He was later named to the "All Western Pennsylvania Team" by ''

The Pittsburg Times ''The Pittsburg Times'' was a morning daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1880 to 1906. It was a predecessor of ''The Gazette Times'', which in turn was succeeded by the present-day ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''. History T ...

'' after the season. In 1898, he played for the

Duquesne Country and Athletic Club The Duquesne Country and Athletic Club was a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1895 until 1900. The team was considered one of the best, if not the best, professional football teams in the country from 1898 until 1 ...

. At the end of that season, Okeson played for Duquesne against the

1898 Western Pennsylvania All-Star football team The 1898 Western Pennsylvania All-Star football team was a collection of early American football, football players, from several teams in the area, to form an all-star team. The team was formed by Dave Berry (American football), Dave Berry, the ...

, formed by Latrobe manager Dave Berry. Duquesne won the game, 16–0. Okeson was the chairman of the College Football Rules Committee for a time. He was also the editor for the 1933–1940 editions of ''Spalding's Foot Ball Guide''. The 1934 edition of the ''Guide'' contained a "National Champion Foot Ball Teams" list compiled by football historian Parke H. Davis, who died before publication. As editor, Okeson was responsible for the subsequent additions to this list in the 1935 and 1936 editions of the ''Guide'', which were then titled "Outstanding Nationwide and Sectional Teams" that were "Originally Compiled by the late Parke H. Davis." In the 1939 ''Guide'', Okeson wrote, Okeson was elected to the Lehigh University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999.

Head coaching record

College

References

1875 births 1943 deaths 19th-century players of American football American football ends Player-coaches Duquesne Country and Athletic Club players Latrobe Athletic Association coaches Latrobe Athletic Association players Lehigh Mountain Hawks football coaches Lehigh Mountain Hawks football players People from Juniata County, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania {{1900s-collegefootball-coach-stub