Mike Ahearn

Michael Francis Ahearn (November 28, 1878 – February 5, 1948) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, college athletics administrator, and professor. He served as the tenth head football coach at Kansas State Agricultural College, now Kansas State University, holding the position for six seasons, from 1905 until 1910, and compiling a record of 39–12. His 39 wins are second most in the history of Kansas State Wildcats football, and his winning percentage of .765 is the highest of any coach in program history. Ahearn was also the head basketball coach at Kansas State from 1906 to 1911, tallying a mark of 28–27, and the head baseball coach at the school from 1904 to 1910, amassing a record of 90–35–12. From 1920 until 1947, he was the athletic director at Kansas State, during which time the school built Memorial Stadium, the Wildcats home football venue from 1922 until 1967.

Ahearn was born on November 28, 1878 in Rotherham, England. He attended Massachusetts Agricultural College, now the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he lettered in football, basketball, baseball, and ice hockey. Over the years, he served Kansas State in a variety of roles that included coach, professor, head of the Department of Physical Education, and Director of Athletics. Ahearn died on February 5, 1948 in Manhattan, Kansas. Kansas State honored his memory in 1950 with the opening of Ahearn Field House, which currently houses the school's volleyball and indoor track and field teams, and was home to the men's and women's basketball teams until 1988.