Fielding H. Yost

Fielding H. Yost

Yost in 1902
Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	(1871-04-30)April 30, 1871 Fairview, West Virginia
Died	August 20, 1946(1946-08-20) (aged 75) Ann Arbor, Michigan
Playing career
1894–1896	West Virginia
1896	Lafayette
Position(s)	Tackle
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1897	Ohio Wesleyan
1898	Nebraska
1899	Kansas
1900	Stanford
1900	San Jose State
1901–1923	Michigan
1925–1926	Michigan
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1921–1940	Michigan
Head coaching record
Overall	198–35–12
Bowls	1–0
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
6 National (1901–1904, 1918, 1923) 10 Big Ten (1901–1904, 1906, 1918, 1922–1923, 1925–1926)
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1951 (profile)

Fielding Harris Yost (April 30, 1871 – August 20, 1946) was an American football player and coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Ohio Wesleyan University (1897), the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (1898), the University of Kansas (1899), Stanford University (1900), San Jose State University (1900), and the University of Michigan (1901–1923, 1925–1926), compiling a career college football record of 198–35–12. During his 25 seasons as the head football coach in Ann Arbor, Yost's Michigan Wolverines won six national championships, captured ten Big Ten Conference titles, and amassed a record of 165–29–10.

From 1901 to 1905, his "Point-a-Minute" squads went 55–1–1, outscoring their opponents by a margin of 2,821 to 42. The 1901 team beat Stanford, 49–0, in the 1902 Rose Bowl, the first college football bowl game ever played. In 1921, Yost became Michigan's athletic director and served in that capacity until 1940. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1951.^[1]

Early life

Yost was born in Fairview, West Virginia, in April 1871. Yost's family had settled in West Virginia, in 1925. He was the oldest of four children of Parmenus (sometimes Permenus) Wesley Yost (1845–1920) and Elzena Jane (Ammons) Yost (1852–1943), both natives of West Virginia. His father was a farmer.

Yost was educated in the local schools and became a deputy marshal in Fairview as a teenager.^[2]

College

Yost began his college education at Fairmont Normal School in Fairmont, West Virginia. He then taught school at Patterson Creek, West Virginia, during the 1889–90 school year.^[2]

Yost next enrolled at Ohio Normal School (now known as Ohio Northern University). Yost played for the Ohio Normal baseball team.^[3] After three years at Ohio Normal, Yost returned to West Virginia to work in the oil fields.

In 1895, Yost enrolled at West Virginia University where he studied law, receiving an LL.B. He also played football for West Virginia University football team.^[4] A 6-foot, 200 pounder, Yost was a standout at tackle at West Virginia into the 1896 season.

In October 1896, after his team lost three times to Lafayette in home games played on three different fields over the course of three days,^[5][6] Yost became a remarkable personification of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." He transferred in mid-season to join Coach Parke H. Davis's national championship team at Lafayette. Just a week after playing against Davis in West Virginia, Yost was playing for Davis in Lafayette's historic 6–4 win over the Penn Quakers.^[6]

The fortuitous timing of Yost's appearance on the Lafayette roster did not go unnoticed by Penn officials. They called it "the Yost affair." The Philadelphia Ledger quoted Yost as saying that he came to Lafayette only to play football. The fact that Yost appeared in a Lafayette uniform only once, in the Penn game,^[7] and that he returned to West Virginia within two weeks of the contest did not help appearances. He assured all concerned that he would return to Lafayette for at least three years of study.^[8]

Coaching career

Ohio Wesleyan

Yost began his coaching career in 1897 at age 26 as the football coach at Ohio Wesleyan University. The 1897 Ohio Wesleyan team compiled a 7–1–1 record, shut out six of its nine opponents, outscored all opponents by a combined total of 144 to 32, and won the Ohio Conference championship. On October 9, 1897, Yost's team played Michigan to a scoreless tie in Ann Arbor.

Nebraska

In 1898, Yost was the head coach of the Nebraska football team that compiled an 8–3 record. The season included victories over Iowa State (23–10), Missouri (47–6), Kansas (18–6), and Colorado (23–10), and losses to Drake (6–5) and Iowa (6–5).

Kansas

In June 1899, the University of Kansas Athletic Association offered Yost $350 and an additional $150 conditionally to coach the school's football team.^[9] Yost coached the 1899 Kansas team to an undefeated 10–0 record, outscoring opponents 280 to 37. The season included victories over the Haskell Indians (12–0 and 18–0), Nebraska (36–20), and Missouri (34–6).

Stanford

In May 1900, Yost was hired as the football coach at Stanford University,^[10] and, after traveling home to West Virginia, he arrived in Palo Alto, California, on August 21, 1900.^[11] Yost led the 1900 Stanford team to a 7–2–1, outscoring opponents 154 to 20.

Michigan

Yost (on the sideline at right) coaching Michigan against Minnesota in 1902

Yost was hired in 1901 by Charles A. Baird as the head football coach for the Michigan Wolverines football team.

Yost coached at Michigan from 1901 through 1923, and again in 1925 and 1926. He was highly successful at Michigan, winning 165 games, losing only 29, and tying 10 for a winning percentage of .833. Under Yost, Michigan won four straight national championships from 1901 to 1904 and two more in 1918 and 1923. Yost's first Michigan team in 1901 outscored its opposition by a margin of 550–0 en route to a perfect season and victory in the inaugural Rose Bowl on January 1, 1902 over Stanford, the team Yost had coached the year before. From 1901 to 1904, Michigan did not lose a game, and was tied only once in a legendary game with the Minnesota Golden Gophers that led to the establishment of the Little Brown Jug, college football's oldest trophy.

Yost from the 1915 Michiganensian

Before Michigan finally lost a game to Amos Alonzo Stagg's Chicago Maroons squad at the end of the 1905 season, they had gone 56 straight games without a defeat, the second longest such streak in college football history. During their first five seasons under Yost, Michigan outscored its opponents 2,821 to 42,^[12] earning the Michigan team the nickname "Point-a-Minute."^[13]

In tribute to the school where Yost began his coaching career, Yost arranged for Michigan to play its first game at Ferry Field (September 30, 1905) and its first game at Michigan Stadium (October 1, 1927) against Ohio Wesleyan.^[14]

Legacy

After retiring from coaching, Yost remained at Michigan as the school's athletic director, a position he held until 1940, thereafter holding the title of athletic director emeritus. Under his leadership, Michigan Stadium, Yost Fieldhouse, now Yost Ice Arena, and the university's golf course were constructed.

Yost invented the position of linebacker; co-created the first ever bowl game, the 1902 Rose Bowl, with then legendary UM athletic director Charles Baird; invented the fieldhouse concept that bears his name; and supervised the building of the first on-campus building dedicated to intramural sports.

Yost from the 1928 Michiganensian

Arguably, no one has left a larger mark on University of Michigan athletics and varsity football than Fielding Yost. A longtime football coach and athletic director, his career was marked with great achievements both on and off the field. Yost was also a successful business person, lawyer, author, and a leading figure in pioneering the explosion of college football into a national phenomenon. A devout Christian, he nevertheless was among the first coaches to allow Jewish players on his teams, including Joe Magidsohn and Benny Friedman. However, Murray Sperber's book Shake Down the Thunder places principal responsibility for the Big Ten blackballing and boycotting of Notre Dame on Yost, as well as the charge that this was motivated by anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant prejudice common in the early 20th century. Although John Kyrk's book Natural Enemies points out that there was a bitter feud between Yost and Knute Rockne, head coach of the Notre Dame football team.

Yost initiated the concept of coaching as an actual profession near the turn of the century when he was paid as much as a UM professor. The professionalization of coaches that started with Yost and earlier, Walter Camp at Yale University, symbolized how serious college football was becoming, and Yost symbolized this more so than any of his peers. It was Yost who first articulated the now accepted premise about student-athletes in the sport that: "Football builds character." Yost was also known for a series of admonitions to his players beginning with the words, "Hurry up," for example, "Hurry up and be the first man down the field on a punt or kick-off." This inclination earned him the nickname, "Hurry up" Yost. He also was an innovator of the hurry up offense. A native of West Virginia, Yost's unusual pronunciation of the school's name, "MEE-she-gan," copied by long-time Michigan football broadcaster Bob Ufer, is affectionately carried on by many Michigan football fans and often referenced by ESPN sportscaster Chris Fowler.

Yost was among the inaugural class of inductees to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951. Yost's all-time All-America backfield was Heston, Walter Eckersall, Jim Thorpe, and Elmer Oliphant.^[15]

Coaching tree

No fewer than 72 men who either played for Yost or coached under him as an assistant went on to become head coaches in college football. Two, Benny Friedman and Tommy Hughitt, helmed teams in the National Football League (NFL). Yost's disciples include:

Later years and death

Yost's grave

Yost was in poor health for several years before his death and was hospitalized at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in May 1946.^[19] He reportedly suffered from a stroke, but was released after two weeks and returned to his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan.^[20] In August 1946, Yost died of a gall bladder attack at his home. He was survived by his wife, whom he married in 1906, a son, Fielding H. Yost, Jr., two brothers, Ellis and Nichola, and a sister, Mrs. Charles Barry.^[21] Yost was buried at Ann Arbor's Forest Hill Cemetery near the University of Michigan campus.^[22]

Head coaching record

See also

• List of college football head coaches with non-consecutive tenure
• University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor

Notes

References

Bibliography

Gruver, Edward (2002), Nitschke. Lanham:Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 1-58979-127-4

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fielding H. Yost.

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Fielding H. Yost

• Profile at Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan Athletics History
• Fielding Yost at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Fielding Yost at the College Football Data Warehouse
• Fielding Yost at Find a Grave
• Fielding Yost at the Internet Movie Database