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Stub Allison

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For the Boise Junior College coach also nicknamed "Stub" Allison, see George Allison (coach).

Stub Allison
Allison in 1934
Biographical details
Born(1892-11-15)November 15, 1892
Mazeppa, Minnesota, U.S.
DiedDecember 12, 1961(1961-12-12) (aged 69)
Oakland, California, U.S.
Playing career
Football
1916Carleton
Position(s)End
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1919Washington (assistant)
1920Washington
1922–1926South Dakota
1927–1930Wisconsin (line)
1931–1934California (assistant)
1935–1944California
Basketball
1919–1920Washington
Baseball
1920–1921Washington
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1922–1927South Dakota
1927–1931Wisconsin (assistant AD)
Head coaching record
Overall80–66–5 (football)
7–8 (basketball)
15–8–1 (baseball)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Football
1 National (1937)
3 PCC (1935, 1937–1938)

Leonard Blaine "Stub" Allison (November 15, 1892 – December 12, 1961) was an American football, basketball, and baseball coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Washington (1920), the University of South Dakota (1922–1926), at the University of California, Berkeley (1935–1944), compiling a career college football record of 80–66–5. At California, Allison amassed a 58–42–2 record. In 1937 and 1938, he guided the Bears to back-to-back ten-win seasons, which was at the time the only such occurrence in school history. His 1937 squad, dubbed the "Thunder Team", won the 1938 Rose Bowl, was named the national champions by a number of selectors, and is considered by some sportswriters to have been the best team in school history. While at Washington, Allison also coached the baseball team, in 1920 and 1921, and the basketball team, in 1920.

Early life

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Allison was born in Mazeppa, Minnesota[1] and raised in Anoka, Minnesota by Alexander J. & Elizabeth Hauxhurst Allison.[2] He attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he played football.[3] He graduated from Carleton in 1917.[4] He also served for four years in the United States Army.[4]

Coaching career

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In its obituary for Allison, The Milwaukee Journal called him a Knute Rockne disciple who mostly relied on the single-wing offense.[4] Allison's first coaching experience came on the staff of his former college coach Claude J. Hunt, at the University of Washington in 1919.[4][5] The following season, he took over as head coach, and his team amassed a 1–5 record.[6] At Washington, Allison also spent time as the head coach of the baseball and basketball teams. In 1920, he led the basketball team to a 7–8 record,[7] and in 1920 and 1921, he led the baseball team to 7–4–1 and 8–4 records, respectively.[8]

Allison served as head coach at the University of South Dakota from 1922 to 1926 and compiled a 21–19–3 mark.[6] He then moved on to the University of Wisconsin, where he was the head boxing instructor, football line coach, and assistant athletic director from 1927 until 1931.[4] That year, he went to the University of California, Berkeley to take a position as an assistant football coach.[4]

He became the head coach at California for the 1935 season.[6] The ESPN College Football Encyclopedia rates the 1937 California team as the best in school history.[9] Allison led the "Thunder Team" (a play on California's "Wonder Teams" of the 1920s) to the Rose Bowl, where they defeated Alabama, 13–0, to finish with a 10–0–1 record.[4] ESPN noted that team relied on "power runs and a nasty, opportunistic defense that allowed only 33 points and shut out seven teams."[9] Allison's final record at California was 58–42–2.[6] Aside from being named national champions in 1937, under Allison, California captured a share of the Pacific Coast Conference title in 1935 and 1938, and outright in 1937.[10]

In April 1945, after Allison declined the opportunity to resign, California notified him that they would not renew his expiring contract.[11] The Pittsburgh Press noted that after peaking in 1937, "five dismal years were climaxed last fall" in 1944, and that his firing was "no surprise since it was well known that an influential alumni bloc was lobbying against him on grounds that he shackled good material with a dull offense."[11]

Later life

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From about 1946 until his death, Allison was the director of industrial relations at the Oakland Naval Supply Center.[4] Allison died on December 12, 1961, in the Alta Bates Hospital in Oakland, California hospital, to which he had been confined for three weeks because of a heart ailment.[12] He was 69 years old and survived by his wife Ethyl.[4]

Head coaching record

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Football

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Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs AP#
Washington Sun Dodgers (Pacific Coast Conference) (1920)
1920 Washington 1–5 0–3 6th
Washington: 1–5 0–3
South Dakota Coyotes (North Central Conference) (1922–1926)
1922 South Dakota 3–6–1 0–2–1 T–8th
1923 South Dakota 4–3–1 1–3–1 7th
1924 South Dakota 6–2 4–1 2nd
1925 South Dakota 3–5 1–4 7th
1926 South Dakota 5–3–1 3–1–1 2nd
South Dakota: 21–19–3 9–11–3
California Golden Bears (Pacific Coast Conference) (1935–1944)
1935 California 9–1 4–1 T–1st
1936 California 6–5 4–3 4th
1937 California 10–0–1 6–0–1 1st W Rose 2
1938 California 10–1 6–1 T–1st 14
1939 California 3–7 2–5 8th
1940 California 4–6 3–4 6th
1941 California 4–5 3–4 7th
1942 California 5–5 3–4 7th
1943 California 4–6 2–2 2nd
1944 California 3–6–1 1–3–1 4th
California: 58–42–2 34–27–2
Total: 80–66–5
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

References

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  1. ^ "Minnesota Births and Christenings, 1840-1980 for Leonard Blaine Allison". Minnesota-EASy. Minnesota Department of Health. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
  2. ^ "History Center News - July — August 2009" (PDF). Newsletter of the Anoka County Historical Society. Anoka County Historical Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 7, 2010. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
  3. ^ "Leonard Allison". Carleton College.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Stub Allison, Coach, Dies; Coached Boxing, Football at Wisconsin for Four Years, The Milwaukee Journal, December 18, 1961.
  5. ^ Big Squad Out At Washington; No Less Than Three Captains Who Have Never Served Among the Candidates Out for the Varsity Football Eleven, Christian Science Monitor, October 21, 1919.
  6. ^ a b c d All-Time Coaching Records by Year Archived 2010-02-13 at the Wayback Machine, College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved June 28, 2010.
  7. ^ 2009–10 Men's Basketball Media Guide Archived 2010-11-16 at the Wayback Machine (PDF), University of Washington, p. 142, 2009.
  8. ^ 2009–2010 University of Washington All-Sports Guide Archived 2010-11-16 at the Wayback Machine (PDF), p. 14, University of Washington, 2009.
  9. ^ a b ESPN College Football Encyclopedia, p. 187, New York: ESPN Books, 2005, ISBN 1-4013-3703-1.
  10. ^ California Championships Archived 2010-04-09 at the Wayback Machine, College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved June 28, 2010.
  11. ^ a b Allison Fired From Grid Post By California, The Pittsburgh Press, April 11, 1945.
  12. ^ Death Claims Bears' Coach 'Stub' Allison, Prescott Evening Courier, December 20, 1961.
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