1914–1916 Utah Name Dick Romney 1919–1948 Utah Agricultural Role American football player | 1919–1941 Utah Agricultural Education University of Utah 1919–1948 Utah Agricultural | |
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Sport(s) Football, basketball, track Born February 12, 1895
Salt Lake City, Utah ( 1895-02-12 ) 1949–1959 Mountain States Conf. (comm.) Died February 5, 1969, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States | ||
Ernest Lowell "Dick" Romney (February 12, 1895 – February 5, 1969) was an American football, basketball and baseball player and coach, track athlete, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach and athletic director at the Agricultural College of Utah, now Utah State University, from 1918 to 1949, compiling a career college football record of 128–91–16. Romney was also the head basketball coach at Utah Agricultural from 1919 to 1941, tallying a college basketball mark of 224–158. He served as the commissioner of the Mountain States Conference from 1949 to 1959. Romney was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1954 and was elected to the Helms Athletic Foundation and Hall of Fame as a football coach in 1958.
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Early life, family, and playing career
Romney was born in Salt Lake City to George Romney and Hannah Ottinger Romney. "Dick" was a nickname to given him by his mother. He married Elizabeth ("Beth") Horlick of Salt Lake City in 1917.
He graduated from the University of Utah where he lettered in football (playing as a running back), basketball, baseball, and track. He was a member of the A.A.U. national championship basketball team of 1916. In 1916, he was chosen by the Helms Foundation as an All-American Collegiate and A.A.U. Basketball player.
As a member of the U.S. Army's 362nd Infantry, Romney played halfback for the Fort Lewis football team, scoring the only touchdown in a loss to Mare Island's team in the wartime 1918 Rose Bowl.
Romney's brothers—G. Ottinger 'Ott' Romney, W. W. "Woody" Romney, Milton 'Mitt' Romney and Floyd Romney—were all gifted athletes and four were coaches. 'Ott' coached the champion 'Golden Bobcats' (Basketball, 1928) at Montana State Agricultural College, now Montana State University, Bozeman. Floyd played football for 'Ott' at Montana State, and went on to a long coaching career at East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. 'Mitt' played college football at Utah and Chicago as a quarterback and later coached at Texas and for the Racine Cardinals. From 1925 to 1928, 'Mitt' was a quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the NFL. 'Mitt' Romney is a first cousin to former Governor George Romney of Michigan and his son, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts was named for him.
==Coaching career==Between 1925 and 1948, Romney organized and operated a summer school for football and basketball coaches that he ran in Logan, Utah. Noteworthy football speakers included Knute Rockne, Pop Warner, "Pappy" Waldorf, "Fritz" Kreisler, Clark Schaunnessy and Henry Frankel. Basketball greats presented at Romney's clinics.
Honors
A new football stadium built in 1968 (replacing an earlier facility built in 1927, also named for him) at Utah State University, was re-named Romney Stadium. Romney Stadium honored the Hall of Fame coach from 1969 to 2015, when it was re-named for a corporate sponsor.