 |
University Missourian., December 06, 1912 |
  |
The Evening Missourian., January 04, 1919,Page Three |
 |
| Phog Allen |
 |
| Phog Allen |
DR. FORREST C. "PHOG"
ALLEN,
1908-1909 and
1920-1956
KU
Record: 590-219,
.729, 39 Seasons
|
ARTICLES ABOUT DR. ALLEN
|
PHOG ALLEN
(Player 1905-07, Coach 1908 to 1909, and 1920-1956)
“The game and the sport that it brings is the thing that
makes it all worthwhile, not the winning.” – Phog Allen
Dr. Forrest Clare “Phog” Allen is widely recognized as the ‘Father of Basketball Coaching’, and his legacy is forever etched into Kansas basketball history.
Dr. Forrest Clare “Phog” Allen is widely recognized as the ‘Father of Basketball Coaching’, and his legacy is forever etched into Kansas basketball history.
His nickname was originally Foghorn, stemming from his days
when he umpired baseball games and bellowed his decisions. A sportswriter named
Ward (Pinhead) Coble shortened and fancified it to Phog. Actually, his players
and most people around the KU campus called him Doc although his grandchildren
called him Phoggy.
Early years
Phog was born in 1885 in Jamesport, Missouri, the fourth of six boys in the Allen family. He grew up in Independence, and lived on the same street as future President Harry S. Truman. It was there that he learned and exhibited the athletic and organizational skills that garnered him so much success in later years.
Phog was born in 1885 in Jamesport, Missouri, the fourth of six boys in the Allen family. He grew up in Independence, and lived on the same street as future President Harry S. Truman. It was there that he learned and exhibited the athletic and organizational skills that garnered him so much success in later years.
When basketball was only ten years old, he and his brothers
formed the Allen Brothers Basketball team and played all comers. Basketball was
only 10 years old, and the early rules of basketball specified that one member
of the team should toss all the free throws. Phog performed that duty for the
Allen boys, and he was very good at it. It was reported that their father,
William Allen, had to buy so many shoes for his athletic sons that he gained the
nickname ‘Shoe’.
In 1905 he joined the Kansas City Athletic Club, nicknamed
the Blue Diamonds and became their star forward, free thrower and manager. Phog
came up with a plan to invite the Buffalo Germans, named by the AAU as the
mythical national champion in 1904, to play the Blue Diamonds, a game he billed
as the ‘World’s Championship of Basketball’. He rented the enormous Convention
Hall for the match, which was to be the best of three games. The Germans won
the first game, refereed by a Buffalo substitute. The second game was won by
the KCAC, which was refereed by a Kansas City local. The Germans suggestion of
James Naismith as the referee for the third game was accepted by the KCAC and
Phog sank 17 free throws to lead the KCAC to a 45 to 14 victory in front of
4,000 fans.
Boxing was his second favorite sport. Mick Allen said his
grandfather boxed as a teen-ager under an assumed name to keep knowledge of his
bouts secret.
Going to College
Phog began as a student at the University of Kansas in 1904, where he lettered in basketball under Dr. James Naismith’s coaching. He also played baseball, lettering two years.
Phog began as a student at the University of Kansas in 1904, where he lettered in basketball under Dr. James Naismith’s coaching. He also played baseball, lettering two years.
During his college tenure, he married Bessie E. Milton and
started a family that eventually consisted of two sons and two daughters.
He succeeded Naismith as KU's second coach
in his senior year in 1907-08 at KU, where he led the Jayhawks to an 18-4
record. The next year he also coached at two nearby schools, Baker University
and Haskell Indian Institute. Kansas was 25-3 that season, Baker 22-2, and
Haskell 27-5 for a combined record of 74 wins and 10 losses.
When Allen was first thinking about making a career of
coaching he talked with Naismith and was told, "You don't coach basketball,
Forrest; you play it." "Well," Allen replied, "you can coach them to pass at
angles and run in curves." Despite the bit of advice, Allen went ahead with his
career and disproved Naismith.
Becoming a physician
After coaching KU for two years, Allen took a hiatus for three years to study osteopathic medicine at the Kansas College of Osteopathy, gaining the skill he became famous for in the treatment of athletic injuries.
After coaching KU for two years, Allen took a hiatus for three years to study osteopathic medicine at the Kansas College of Osteopathy, gaining the skill he became famous for in the treatment of athletic injuries.
He returned to coaching in 1912, to coach all sports at
Warrensburg Teachers College (now University of Central Missouri UCM), from 1912-13 through
the 1919 season. His basketball teams won championships all seven seasons, with
an astounding record of 102-7.
Back to Mt. Oread
Allen left Warrensburg to become Kansas’ Athletic Director in 1919 as well as football coach. He only coached football for a single season where he had a record of 5-2. After the first basketball game of the season, KU coach Karl Schlademan left the job to concentrate on his duties as track coach, so Phog took over the team. After a couple of mediocre seasons in 1920 and ‘21, the team jelled and the Helms Foundation named his 1922 and 1923 squads national champions. His 1924 book, "My Basket-Ball Bible," helped set a course for college basketball. During the next four seasons, his teams compiled a 64-8 record and won four league championships.
Allen left Warrensburg to become Kansas’ Athletic Director in 1919 as well as football coach. He only coached football for a single season where he had a record of 5-2. After the first basketball game of the season, KU coach Karl Schlademan left the job to concentrate on his duties as track coach, so Phog took over the team. After a couple of mediocre seasons in 1920 and ‘21, the team jelled and the Helms Foundation named his 1922 and 1923 squads national champions. His 1924 book, "My Basket-Ball Bible," helped set a course for college basketball. During the next four seasons, his teams compiled a 64-8 record and won four league championships.
When the dribble was abolished in basketball in 1927, Allen
became so angry that he quickly formed a meeting of coaches in Des Moines, Iowa,
after the Drake Relays. He spread so much dissention toward the new rule that
it was overturned, and the dribble was back in the games. From that protest,
the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) was formed and Allen
served as its first president.
In the
fifteen seasons from 1930 through 1943, the Jayhawks captured the conference
crown eleven times, during which they became the NCAA national runner-up in
1940. While Phog’s technical competence was extraordinary, his greatest asset
was his ability to motivate players and establish a winning attitude. “Somehow
he convinced you that when you played for Kansas you were supposed to win”,
recalled Ted O’Leary, former player and later journalist at Sports Illustrated.
“He was a very enthusiastic, positive man, and he made you share his
enthusiasm.” Ray Evans said "He could get you fired up to the
point you wanted to knock the door down."
Above his office desk hung a portrait of the late Dr.
Naismith, inscribed in 1936: “With kindest regards to Dr. Forrest C. Allen, the
father of basketball coaching, from the father of the game.”
Allen coached two of his sons, Mit, who won letters in
1934-36 and went on to law school and Bob, who lettered in 1939-41, and
graduated Phi Beta Kappa and went on to medical school. He became, in time, the
progenitor of a long line of prominent coaches, including Hall-of-Famers Adolph
Rupp at Kentucky, Dutch Lonborg at Northwestern, Dean Smith at North Carolina,
Frosty Cox at Colorado, and Ralph Miller a Wichita State, Iowa and Oregon State.
He was the driving force behind basketball becoming
accepted as an official sport in the Olympics in 1936, and later became an
assistant coach on the 1952 Olympic team. He was also instrumental in the
creation of the NCAA tournament established in 1939. In January 1943, the Helms
Foundation named Allen as “the greatest basketball coach of all time”, based on
their survey of coaches and basketball authorities across the country.
During the war, Doc Allen began his "Jayhawk Rebounds," a series of 18
newsletters communicating with his players and close friends in the armed
forces. Allen, who also served and headed the Douglas County Draft Board, wrote
to the guys about everything, reprinted some of their replies and compiled an
ever-growing list of addresses so they could reach each other.
He was a colorful figure on the
University of Kansas campus, coaching all sports and becoming widely known for
his osteopathic manipulation techniques for ailing athletes. Dr. Allen was a
legend in the field of treatment of athletic injuries and included a long list
of high-profile performers, especially baseball players such as the likes of
Mickey Mantle, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Johnny Mize.
Although there were some relatively down years after WWII,
Allen did an excellent job of recruiting in the late 40’s, building a team led
by All-American Clyde Lovellette that culminated in winning the national
championship in 1952. After the NCAA title game, which the Jayhawks won,
80-63, over St. John’s, Phog wrote a letter to his players, saying: “It’s been
great fun. But twenty-five or thirty years from now you boys will radiate and
multiply the recollections of your struggles and your successes and your defeats
and your dejections. All these will be rolled into a fine philosophy of life
which will give you durable satisfactions down through the years.”
Allen long campaigned loudly to
increase the height of the basket to 12 feet. “The tall men are killing the
passing, the dribbling, the teamwork that makes basketball exciting.”
“If we raised the goals” he
said in 1940, “these mezzanine-peeping goons wouldn’t be able to score like
little children pushing pennies into gum machines. They would have to throw the
ball like anyone else. They would have to make the team on real skill, not
merely on height.”
However, after recruiting Wilt Chamberlain, he said with a quiet smile:
“Twelve-foot baskets? What are you talking about? I’ve developed amnesia.”
Allen Fieldhouse, opened in March 1, 1955, was named for
him, and is still the home court for KU basketball. A mandatory retirement age
of 70 forced him from the bench against his wishes after the 1956 season. He
said with some bitterness he had reached the state of “statutory senility”.
Nonetheless, he then established a successful private
osteopathic practice and many he treated contended he had a "magic touch" for
such ailments as bad backs, knees and ankles.
The legacy
He coached college basketball for 49 seasons and compiled a 771-223 record, retiring with the all-time best coaching record in collegiate basketball history.
He coached college basketball for 49 seasons and compiled a 771-223 record, retiring with the all-time best coaching record in collegiate basketball history.
The fruits of his efforts are forever
etched into Kansas basketball history. In 39 seasons at KU, Allen won an amazing
590 games, a winning percentage of 73%, including three national championships
and 24 conference championships.
He was named National Coach of the Year in
1950 and was a charter inductee to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
in 1959. He was also inducted into the University of Kansas Athletic Hall of
Fame and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
Phog died on September 16, 1974 at the age of 88 and is
buried in Lawrence Oak Hill Cemetery, not far from the grave of Dr. Naismith.
 |
| Phog Allen Gravesite
From the UCM Alumni Magazine below 2002
In what some saw as a David and Goliath
basketball match-up, Central faced the
University of Kansas Jayhawks Dec. 4 in
Lawrence with most of the crowd unaware of
the strong coaching history that links both
teams. An important piece of this history will
soon be preserved through a gift of legendary
KU Coach Forrest C. “Phog” Allen research
materials and original
items to Central’s Archives
and Museum. Allen, who
has been called “The
Father of Basketball
Coaching,” made history
at Central prior to his
renowned career at KU.
The gift is made
possible by Judy McClure,
Warrensburg, and details
many aspects of Allen’s
life. It is a compilation of
items that were collected
over several years by
McClure’s late husband,
Arthur, who chaired and
taught for approximately
30 years in Central’s
Department of History
and Anthropology.
In addition to being an
educator, McClure was an
accomplished author who
had co-written at least one
sports book, Remembering
Their Glory, a collaboration
with Central Professor
Emeritus Jim Young
detailing their childhood
memories of sports and its
heroes. He planned to
write a biography about
Allen, and collected several boxes of
informational materials to aid in the process.
All of these items have been turned over to
John Sheets and Vivian Richardson in the
Archives and Museum, located on the ground
floor of Central’s James C. Kirkpatrick Library.
“I knew that Mr. Allen had served CMSU as
well as KU, and after considering both places,
I felt like the materials would be in good
hands with Vivian and John, who could sort
through them and preserve them so they
could be used by other researchers,”
Mrs. McClure said.
Richardson is now taking the lead role in
archiving the items.
“When the donation has been processed,
arranged, and a computerized finding aide
developed, the material will be available to the
campus community and public for research,”
Richardson said. “We will also use the material
in future exhibits in the Archives and Museum
and at other campus locations.”
Items in the collection include clippings
from newspapers, magazines and journals;
sports publications and programs;
photographs; copies of letters written to and
from Allen; radio scripts featuring Allen’s
interviews with sports figures; Jayhawk
newsletters; files about
famous sports players
during his coaching years;
information about
basketball history, as well
as Allen’s mentor,
James Naismith, the
inventor of basketball;
and much more.
McClure visited with
Allen’s grandchildren,
Judy Allen Morris, and
her brother, Gary “Mick”
Allen Jr., in Lawrence,
Kan. They provided him
with original items such
as a sign-in book of
people who visited his
home; letters and copies
of letters from his former
players; and copies of
letters he had written to
players during the war
years. Mrs. Morris, who
was contacted along with
her brother before the gift
was made, said both of
them are pleased that
Central will make these
items available. They
want others to learn more
about their grandfather’s
legacy, possibly with the
same passion that McClure enjoyed.
“Art McClure was so dear, and I really felt
that he understood the essence of Phog. I
was so excited that someone was going to
write something that was about the man.
He was very important in making basketball
an international as well as national sport,”
Morris said.
Born in Jamesport in 1885, Allen’s career
in athletics began as a student at KU in 1904,
where he lettered three years in basketball
under Naismith’s coaching, and two years
in baseball.
Allen launched his coaching career at his
alma mater in 1908, but took a hiatus after
graduating in 1909 to study osteopathic
medicine. When basketball was still in its
infancy, he returned to his beloved sport in
1912 as coach at the State Normal School
No. 2, now Central Missouri State University.
Known as “Doc” to his players and students,
he was reputed to be a colorful figure on the
campus, coaching all sports and becoming
known for his osteopathic remedies for
ailing athletes.
His enthusiasm as a coach was evidenced
by his first gridiron victory, a 127-0 thrashing
of Kemper Military Academy. His football,
basketball and baseball teams won numerous
league championships during his seven years
in Warrensburg, at a time when the MIAA was
just beginning.
In 1919, he returned to KU where he was
the head basketball coach, in addition to
serving as director of athletics and football
coach. He served as KU’s basketball coach
until forced into mandatory retirement in
1956 to become professor emeritus of physical
education.
During the 46 years he spent at KU,
he won 771 games and lost only 233.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment