Sport(s) Football 1925–1929 Minnesota Education Dartmouth College 1921–1924 West Virginia Role American football player | 1917–1920 Dartmouth Name Clarence Spears 1914–1915 Dartmouth 1930–1931 Oregon Positions Guard | |
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Born July 24, 1894
De Witt, Arkansas ( 1894-07-24 ) Died February 1, 1964, Jupiter, Florida, United States | ||
(1991)-Bring On The Mountaineers-100 Years of WVU Football-1/6
Clarence Wiley "Doc" Spears (July 24, 1894 – February 1, 1964) was an American football player, coach, and doctor. He was an All-American guard at Dartmouth College (1914–1915) and served as the head football coach at Dartmouth (1917–1920), West Virginia University (1921–1924), the University of Minnesota (1925–1929), the University of Oregon (1930–1931), the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1932–1935), the University of Toledo (1936–1942), and University of Maryland, College Park (1943–1944), compiling a career college football record of 148–83–14. Spears was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1955.
Contents
- 1991 Bring On The Mountaineers 100 Years of WVU Football 16
- Playing career
- Coaching career
- Medical career
- References
Playing career
Spears attended Dartmouth College, where he played guard and was selected to the College Football All-America Team in 1914 and 1915.
Coaching career
Spears was the head coach for the Dartmouth Indians football team from 1917 to 1920. From 1921 to 1924, he coached the West Virginia Mountaineers football team, winning 79.5% of the games he coached during his tenure there. Following that, Spears coached the Minnesota Golden Gophers from 1925 to 1929, leading the team to a 6–0–2 record and a share of the Big Ten Conference title in 1927. He had a 28–9–3 record at Minnesota.
Spears was the coach at Oregon in 1930 and 1931. From 1932 to 1935 he coached the Wisconsin Badgers. From 1936 to 1942, Spears was Toledo's coach. Finally, he was the coach at Maryland in 1943 and 1944, tallying a mark of 5–12–1.
Spears had two undefeated seasons as a coach, 1922 at West Virginia and 1927 at Minnesota. In 1955, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Medical career
While coaching, Spears studied medicine at the University of Chicago and the Rush Medical College. Following his football career, he maintained a medical practice for many years.