Dale R. Sprankle
Biographical details | |
---|---|
Born | Beach City, Ohio, U.S. | August 4, 1898
Died | November 11, 1963 Albion, Michigan, U.S. | (aged 65)
Playing career | |
Football | |
c. 1920 | Mount Union |
Basketball | |
c. 1920 | Mount Union |
Baseball | |
c. 1920 | Mount Union |
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
Football | |
1923–1935 | Adrian |
1936–1946 | Albion |
Basketball | |
1923–1936 | Adrian |
Baseball | |
1924–1929 | Adrian |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | 91–85–12 (football) 130–122 (basketball) 24–40–1 (baseball) |
Accomplishments and honors | |
Championships | |
Football 6 Michigan-Ontario (1930–1935) 2 MIAA (1939–1940) | |
Dale Reese Sprankle (August 4, 1898 – November 11, 1963) was an American sports coach and athletic director at both Adrian College and Albion College in Michigan. Over the course of his 35-year career, Sprankle won 23 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) conference championships in four sports, making him one of the winningest coaches in that conference's history.
Early life
[edit]Sprankle was born on August 4, 1898, in Beach City, Ohio. He was the younger brother of LeRoy Sprankle, who would also become an athletics icon, most notably in Eastern Tennessee and South Florida. At the age of 12, his family moved to Canton, Ohio, where he participated in athletics and attended high school. Upon graduation, Sprankle completed his education at the nearby Mount Union College.
Coaching career
[edit]In 1923, Sprankle was hired as the director of physical education (athletic director) at Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan. From 1923 to 1936, he was the head coach of basketball, cross country, football, and track and field at the college, compiling a 55–51–8 record in football and a .516 winning percentage in basketball. In 1936, he left to become the assistant athletic director and head coach of cross country, football, and indoor and outdoor track at Albion College. Five years later, Sprankle was promoted to athletic director, the position from which he served at the college until his retirement in 1958. Over the course of the 22 years he coached at Albion, his teams won 23 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) championships which is currently tied for seventh all-time in that conference. In the nine seasons that he coached football, between 1936 and 1946, the team went 36–33–4 and won two MIAA championships. In indoor track, Sprankle coached the team for five years and won MIAA championships in each. His outdoor track team also had great success, winning six MIAA championships over the course of eight years. Sprankle's greatest success, however, came with the cross country team, which won 10 MIAA championships in his 12 years of coaching, from 1947 to 1958. In 1958, due to declining health, he retired from his position, but still kept up a close relationship with the school. Sprankle died on November 11, 1963, at the age of 65, following a four-year illness.[1] In 1976, the football stadium at Albion College was renamed Sprankle-Sprandel Stadium in honor of the school's two greatest sports coaches. Thirteen years later, in 1989, Sprankle was inducted into the Albion College Sports Hall of Fame.[2]
Notable players coached
[edit]Name | Graduation year: sports | Achievements after college |
---|---|---|
Louis Black | 1949: cross country, basketball, football | Played professional basketball with the Detroit Vagabond Kings (NBL) |
James L. Chapman | 1956: cross country, track | President of West Liberty State College (1970–84) |
Theodore E. Hagadone | 1951: cross country, track | Superintendent of schools in Vanderbilt, Iron Mountain, Milford, and Riverview, Michigan |
Lewis F. Moon | 1948: baseball, basketball, football, track | Played with Cardinal's minor league franchise, AD at Lawrence Tech (1964–89) |
Gary R. Noble | 1957: cross country, track | Rhodes Scholar, deputy director at the CDC, asst. surgeon general in the U.S. Public Health Service |
Raymond A. Wauthier | 1946: basketball, football | head baseball and basketball coach at Iowa Wesleyan College (1946–48), head baseball and golf coach at Kansas State (1949–86) |
Head coaching record
[edit]Football
[edit]Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adrian Bulldogs (Independent) (1923–1929) | |||||||||
1923 | Adrian | 4–4 | |||||||
1924 | Adrian | 6–1–2 | |||||||
1925 | Adrian | 6–3 | |||||||
1926 | Adrian | 4–4–1 | |||||||
1927 | Adrian | 2–5–1 | |||||||
1928 | Adrian | 5–3 | |||||||
1929 | Adrian | 1–7–1 | |||||||
Adrian Bulldogs (Michigan-Ontario Collegiate Conference) (1930–1935) | |||||||||
1930 | Adrian | 5–4 | 1st | ||||||
1931 | Adrian | 5–4 | 1st | ||||||
1932 | Adrian | 2–6–1 | T–1st | ||||||
1933 | Adrian | 5–3–1 | T–1st | ||||||
1934 | Adrian | 3–5–1 | 1st | ||||||
1935 | Adrian | 7–3 | 1st | ||||||
Adrian: | 55–52–8 | ||||||||
Albion Britons (Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1936–1946) | |||||||||
1936 | Albion | 2–5–2 | 2–4–2 | 4th | |||||
1937 | Albion | 4–4 | 1–3 | T–4th | |||||
1938 | Albion | 5–2–1 | 2–1–1 | 2nd | |||||
1939 | Albion | 7–1 | 6–0 | 1st | |||||
1940 | Albion | 7–1 | 5–0 | 1st | |||||
1941 | Albion | 3–4–1 | 3–1–1 | 2nd | |||||
1942 | Albion | 4–4 | 2–2 | T–2nd | |||||
1943 | No team—World War II | ||||||||
1944 | No team—World War II | ||||||||
1945 | Albion | 1–7 | |||||||
1946 | Albion | 3–5 | 2–3 | T–4th | |||||
Albion: | 36–33–4 | ||||||||
Total: | 91–85–12 | ||||||||
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth |
References
[edit]- ^ The Holland Evening Sentinel, November 12, 1963, Holland, Michigan
- ^ "1989 Inductees". Albion College Sports Hall of Fame. Albion College. 9 Aug. 2008. "1989". Archived from the original on July 6, 2008. Retrieved August 10, 2008.
External links
[edit]- 1898 births
- 1963 deaths
- American men's basketball players
- Adrian Bulldogs athletic directors
- Adrian Bulldogs baseball coaches
- Adrian Bulldogs football coaches
- Adrian Bulldogs men's basketball coaches
- Albion Britons athletic directors
- Albion Britons football coaches
- Mount Union Purple Raiders baseball players
- Mount Union Purple Raiders football players
- Mount Union Purple Raiders men's basketball players
- College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
- College track and field coaches in Michigan
- People from Beach City, Ohio