Wallace Wade

Early life and playing career

Wade was born in Trenton, Tennessee. He first played football under Tuck Faucett at Peabody High School in Trenton. Wade also attended Chicago's Morgan Park Academy. He went on in 1913 to play football at Brown University. Wade played guard on the Brown football team, which went to the 1916 Rose Bowl. One of his teammates at Brown was Fritz Pollard, who went on to become the first African American coach in the National Football League.

Fitzgerald & Clarke

After spending time in the Army and rising to the rank of cavalry captain, W. S. Fitzgerald hired him as head coach at the Fitzgerald and Clarke Military School in Tullahoma, Tennessee. He went 15–2 in football, winning a state prep-school championship in 1920. Among his players were future consensus All-Americans Lynn Bomar and "Hek" Wakefield. He also posted successful basketball teams at Fitzgerald–Clarke. '

Vanderbilt University

In 1921 Wade was hired as an assistant and line coach at Vanderbilt University under Dan McGugin. He also coached basketball. Soon after, on March 14, 1922, Fitzgerald & Clarke burned to the ground and was never rebuilt. Vanderbilt posted an undefeated 15–0–2 with Wade, and shared conference titles both years he was there.

1921

Defending Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) champion Georgia was undefeated, having not allowed a score through its powerful line all year. Its line was composed of four All-Southerns: Joe Bennett, Bum Day, Owen Reynolds, and Puss Whelchel. Jim Taylor was a substitute. Vanderbilt, too, was undefeated, and so the game was figured to decide the conference champion. It was described by The New York Times as an "important clash." Sporting editor for the Birmingham News "Zipp" Newman had written weeks ago, "Stegeman has a powerful team and with all the regulars in the game, the team has a chance of going through the season undefeated unless it be Vanderbilt that stops her." The Bulldogs were the favorite to win this meeting of the two schools, first since 1912, in part because the Bulldogs may have outplayed Harvard and defeated Auburn earlier in the season. Lynn Bomar starred at the linebacker position. "Georgia would have trampled Vanderbilt to atoms but for Lynn Bomar," observed Nashville Tennessean sportswriter Blinkey Horn. His play was again noted, "Lynn Bomar was the stellar performer of the game. In the first-half he made two-thirds of the tackles." It is also said he stopped five Georgia touchdowns that day. The Commodores remained down 7 to 0 until late into the fourth quarter when Rupert Smith scored on an onside punt. He made the extra point as well and the game ended a tie. Both teams won the rest of their games as expected and remained co-champions.

1922

In 1922, Vanderbilt again went undefeated and its defense ranked top in the nation as measured by points against per game. Vanderbilt held Michigan to a scoreless tie in the inaugural game at the new Dudley Field, including a goal line stand. One account reads "Thousands of cheering Vanderbilt fans inspired the surge of center Alf Sharpe, guard Gus Morrow, tackle Tex Bradford, and end Lynn Bomar, who stopped Michigan cold in four attempts."

University of Alabama

After working as an assistant for Vanderbilt, Wade was hired as the head coach at the University of Alabama in 1923. Over the next seven years, Wade's team won three national championships after appearing in the Rose Bowl in 1925, 1926, and 1930.

1923

In 1923, Alabama was undefeated in Southern Conference play until upset by the Florida Gators 16 to 6 in the rain on Thanksgiving Day. Edgar C. Jones scored all of Florida's points. The loss would give Wade's former school Vanderbilt the conference.

1925

The 1925 team went undefeated and was the first Southern team to win a Rose Bowl. The 1926 Rose Bowl, which Alabama won over Washington 20 to 19, is thus commonly referred to as "the game that changed the south."

1930

Wade was under fire after lackluster seasons in 1928 and 1929, which included narrow losses to Robert Neyland's Tennessee Volunteers. Wade submitted his resignation on April 30, with the caveat that he coach next season. John Suther described the feeling before the Tennessee game that year, which Alabama won 18–6. "Coach Wade was boiling mad. He was like a blood-thirsty drill sergeant anyway, and those critics made him more fiery ... He challenged us to help him shut up the loudmouths that were making his life miserable."

Wade's last Alabama squad outscored their opponents 271-13 over the course of the season and completed a perfect (10-0) campaign with a 24-0 victory over Washington State in the Rose Bowl. The team was voted #1 by several organizations during the pre-AP poll era, and the University of Alabama officially claims the 1930 national championship.

Duke University

Following his third national championship, Wade shocked the college football world by moving to Duke University, which had less of a football tradition than Alabama. Though Wade refused to answer questions regarding his decision to leave Alabama for Duke until late in his life, he eventually told a sports historian he believed his philosophy regarding sports and athletics fit perfectly with the philosophy of the Duke administration and that he felt being at a private institution would allow him greater freedom. Wade continued to succeed at Duke, most notably in 1938, when his "Iron Dukes" went unscored upon until reaching the 1939 Rose Bowl.

1932

The 1932 team upset Tennessee and featured North Carolina's first All-American in Fred Crawford.

1938

The "Iron Dukes" went unscored upon until reaching the 1939 Rose Bowl, where they lost, 7–3, to the USC in Duke's first Rose Bowl appearance.

1941

Wade's Blue Devils lost the 1942 Rose Bowl to Oregon State. The game was held at Duke Stadium, the Blue Devils' home stadium in Durham, North Carolina, because the recent attack on Pearl Harbor made the event's organizers skittish of hosting the game in California.

World War 2

Wade entered military service after the 1942 Rose Bowl loss and the legendary Eddie Cameron filled in for him as head football coach from 1942 to 1945.

1946

Wade returned to coach the Blue Devils in 1946 and continued until his retirement in 1950. In 16 seasons, Wade's Duke teams compiled a record of 110 wins; 36 losses; and 7 ties.

Later life and honors

From 1951 to 1960 Wade was the commissioner of the Southern Conference. He was inducted College Football Hall of Fame in 1955. In 1967, Duke's football stadium was renamed Wallace Wade Stadium in his honor. Wade died in 1986 in Durham at the age of 94 and was buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Durham.

In 2006, a bronze statue of Wade was erected outside of the University of Alabama's Bryant–Denny Stadium alongside the statues of Frank Thomas, Bear Bryant, Gene Stallings, and now Nick Saban, the other head coaches who led Alabama to national championships.

Coaching tree

Wade's coaching tree includes:

1. Paul Burnum
2. Johnny Cain: played for Alabama (1930–1931), head coach for Louisiana-Lafayette. (1937–1941; 1946).
3. Herschel Caldwell: played for Alabama (1925–1926), assistant for Duke (1930–1971)
4. Eddie Cameron, assistant for Duke (1930–1941), head coach for Duke (1942–1945).
5. Russ Cohen, assistant for Alabama (1923–1926), head coach for LSU (1928–1931), Cincinnati (1935–1937).
6. Albert Elmore: played for Alabama (1929–1930), head coach for Troy (1931–1937).
7. Ellis Hagler: played for Alabama (1926–1928), assistant for Duke (1930–1957)
8. Jimmy R. Haygood
9. Orville Hewitt
10. Frank Howard: played for Alabama (1928–1930), head coach for Clemson (1940–1969)
11. Pooley Hubert: played for Alabama (1922–1925), head coach for Southern Miss (1931–1936), VMI (1937–1946).
12. Garland Morrow: played for Vanderbilt (1922), head coach for Cumberland (1932–1935).
13. Jess Neely: played for Vanderbilt (1921–1922), assistant for Alabama (1928–1930), head coach for Clemson (1931–1939), Rice (1940–1966).
14. Putty Overall: played for Vanderbilt (1921), head coach for Tennessee Tech (1923–1946).
15. Clyde Propst: played for Alabama (1922–1924), assistant for Alabama (1925–1932), head coach for Howard (1934), Rhodes (1935–1937).
16. Tommy Prothro: played for Duke (1938–1941), head coach for Oregon State (1955–1964), UCLA (1965–1970).
17. Dutch Stanley, assistant for Duke (1939–1946)
18. William T. Van de Graaff: assistant for Alabama (1921–1926), head coach for Colorado College (1926–1939).
19. Carl Voyles
20. Hek Wakefield: played for Vanderbilt (1921–1924), assistant for Vanderbilt (1925–1928).
21. Jennings B. Whitworth: played for Alabama (1930–1931), head coach for Oklahoma State (1950–1954), Alabama (1955–1957).