Sport(s) Football, baseball 1927–1930 Florida (assistant) Positions Guard 1924–1926 Rice (assistant) Role American football player | 1922–1923 Penn State Name Joe Bedenk 1921–1923 Penn State 1949 Penn State | |
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Died May 2, 1978, State College, Pennsylvania, United States Education Pennsylvania State University | ||
Fred Joseph "Joe" Bedenk (July 14, 1897 – May 2, 1978) was an American football and baseball player and coach. He served as the head baseball coach at Rice University from 1925 to 1926 and at Pennsylvania State University from 1931 to 1962. Bedenk was also the head football coach at Penn State for one season in 1949, tallying a mark of 5–4.
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Playing career
Bedenk played guard for the Penn State Nittany Lions football team. He was elected team captain and earned All-America honors in 1923. He graduated from Penn State with a Bachelor of Arts in finance in 1924.
Coaching career
Bedenk served for several years as Penn state's offensive line coach before being promoted to head coach for the 1949 season. After finishing the year at 5–4, Bedenk requested a return to coaching the offensive line and the university brought in Rip Engle as head coach, and Engle's quarterback from Brown University, Joe Paterno as an assistant coach.