George E. Pyle

{{Short description|American football coach and college athletics administrator}}

{{Infobox college coach

| name = George E. Pyle

| image = G. E. Pile (1911 Seminole).png

| alt = Head-and-shoulders photo of G. E. Pyle

| caption = G. E. Pyle from 1911 Seminole yearbook

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1885|8|27}}

| birth_place = Bristol, Tennessee, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1949|8|1|1885|8|27}}

| death_place = Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S.

| alma_mater =

| coach_sport1 = Football

| coach_years2 = 1904

| coach_team2 = Transylvania (assistant)

| coach_years3 = 1906–1908

| coach_team3 = VMI (assistant)

| coach_years4 = 1909–1913

| coach_team4 = Florida

| coach_years5 = 1930

| coach_team5 = Transylvania

| coach_sport6 = Basketball

| coach_years7 = 1914–1917

| coach_team7 = West Virginia

| admin_years1 = 1914–1917

| admin_team1 = West Virginia

| admin_years2 = 1930

| admin_team2 = Transylvania

| overall_record = 27–12–5 (football)
29–25 (basketball)

| bowl_record =

| tournament_record =

| championships =

| awards =

| coaching_records =

}}

George Edmundson Pyle (August 27, 1885 – August 23, 1949) was an American college football coach and college athletics administrator. He was the second head coach of the Florida Gators football team that represents the University of Florida. Pyle was the athletic director of West Virginia University from 1914 to 1917.

Early life

Pyle was born on August 27, 1885, in Bristol, Tennessee.

Coaching career

Pyle was director of physical culture of Transylvania University in 1904.{{cite web |url=http://homepages.transy.edu/~library/Catalog/HistoryFootballTransylvania.pdf |title=History Of Football At Transylvania College |website=homepages.transy.edu |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701165813/http://homepages.transy.edu/~library/Catalog/HistoryFootballTransylvania.pdf |archive-date=1 July 2016 |url-status=dead}}

Pyle replaced Jack Forsythe as the Florida head football coach and held that position for five seasons, from 1909 to 1913.{{cite web|url=http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=1919|title=G.E. Pyle Records by Year|website=College Football Data Warehouse|access-date=March 1, 2010|archive-date=February 15, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215152556/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=1919|url-status=dead}}{{cite book|url=http://web.gatorzone.com/football/media/2012/media_guide.pdf|title=2012 Florida Football Media Guide|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527130648/http://web.gatorzone.com/football/media/2012/media_guide.pdf |archive-date=May 27, 2013|publisher=University Athletic Association|location=Gainesville, Florida|pages=107, 115, 116|date=2011|access-date=September 16, 2012}} During that period, he accumulated a 26–7–3 record and a .764 winning percentage. In 1911, Pyle led Florida to its first and only undefeated season when the newly named Gators posted a 5–0–1 record.{{cite news|url=http://www.sptimes.com/2006/08/27/Sports/100_things_about_100_.shtml|title=100 things about 100 years of Gator football|work=St. Petersburg Times|date=August 27, 2006|author=Antonya English|access-date=February 9, 2009}}

In 1912, Florida posted a 5–2–1 record. After the season, the team participated in its first post-season game, the Bacardi Bowl held in Havana, Cuba. It was actually a two-game series against different Cuban athletic clubs. The first game was played on December 25 under the so-called "old rules" that existed before the American football reforms of 1906. In that game, Florida defeated the Vedado Tennis Club, 28–0.{{cite web|url=http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_game_by_game.php?coachid=1919&year=1912|title=1912 Game by Game Record|website=College Football Data Warehouse|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525230838/http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_game_by_game.php?coachid=1919&year=1912 |archive-date=May 25, 2011|access-date=February 23, 2009}} On December 30, Florida played the Cuban Athletic Club of Havana under the "new rules". According to one source, the game's referee was a former coach for the Cuban team, and the officiating was blatantly biased. After two Florida touchdowns were nullified by questionable officiating, Pyle protested a fifteen-yard penalty. When the referee offered a five-yard penalty instead, Pyle and his team left the game in protest.{{cite book|author=Floyd Conner|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=70WyLIsE5wcC|title=Football's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of the Great Game's Outrageous Characters, Fortunate Fumbles, and Other Oddities|location=Brassey's, Dulles, Virginia|pages=191–192|date=2000|isbn = 9781574883091|access-date=March 1, 2010}} Another source states that the game ended late in the first quarter after a fight broke out between the teams; Florida accused the Cuban team of still playing under "the old rules". Regardless of the reason for the forfeiture, Pyle was arrested by the Cuban authorities. He was charged with violating a law that prohibited a game's suspension after money had been collected.{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/12/29/100076213.pdf|title=Football Row in Havana; Florida University Students Hooted for Breaking Up Game|work=The New York Times|page=S1 |date=December 29, 1912|access-date=July 31, 2010}} After his trial was delayed, Pyle and the Gators left Cuba.

Pyle left the University of Florida after the 1913 season and became the athletic director for West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia."{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GsgaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8EkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3915,4668889&dq=george-pyle&hl=en|title=West Virginia Is Coming Along Well|work=The Pittsburg Press (Sporting Section)|page=3|date=September 20, 1914|access-date=March 23, 2010}} Pyle served one season, in 1930, as the head football coach at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/107034695/|title=Football Work Starts Monday|work=The Courier-Journal|date=April 1, 1930|access-date=March 2, 2018}}

Late life and death

After leaving college athletics, Pyle worked as an insurance agent in Bristol, Tennessee.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PuEcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fWQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5893,3292513&dq=george-pyle&hl=en|title=Former Gator Coach Praises Florida Pilot|work=Sarasota Herald-Tribune|page=8|date=November 4, 1938|agency=Associated Press|access-date=March 23, 2010}} He died in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on August 23, 1949, at the age of 63.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jawyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KeoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4434,3485305&dq=ge-pyle&hl=en|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715065706/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jawyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KeoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4434,3485305&dq=ge-pyle&hl=en|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 15, 2012|title=G.E. Pyle Dies, Ex-Florida Coach|work=Miami Daily News|page=2A|agency=Associated Press|access-date=March 23, 2010}}

Head coaching record

=Football=

{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no }}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

|name = Florida / Florida GatorsThe University of Florida football team adopted the nickname "Gators" in 1911.

| conf = Independent

| startyear = 1909

| endyear = 1911

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1909

| name = Florida

| overall = 6–1–1

| conference =

| confstanding =

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1910

| name = Florida

| overall = 6–1

| conference =

| confstanding =

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1911

| name = Florida

| overall = 5–0–1

| conference =

| confstanding =

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Florida Gators

| conf = Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association

| startyear = 1912

| endyear = 1913

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1912

| name = Florida

| overall = 5–2–1

| conference = 1–2

| confstanding =

| bowlname = Bacardi

| bowloutcome = W

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1913

| name = Florida

| overall = 4–3

| conference = 2–3

| confstanding =

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Florida

| overall = 26–7–3

| confrecord = 3–5

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Transylvania Pioneers

| conf = Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association

| startyear = 1930

| endyear = single

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1930

| name = Transylvania

| overall = 1–5–2

| conference = 1–4–1

| confstanding = T–24th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Transylvania

| overall = 1–5–2

| confrecord = 1–4–1

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record End

| overall = 27–12–5

| bowls = no

| poll = no

| polltype =

| legend = no

}}

References

Bibliography

[https://web.archive.org/web/20130527130648/http://web.gatorzone.com/football/media/2012/media_guide.pdf 2012 Florida Football Media Guide], University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida (2012).
Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). {{ISBN|0-7948-2298-3}}.
Conner, Floyd, [https://books.google.com/books?id=70WyLIsE5wcC Football's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of the Great Game's Outrageous Characters, Fortunate Fumbles, and Other Oddities], Brassey's, Dulles, Virginia, pp. 191–192 (2000). {{ISBN|1-57488-309-7}}.
Golenbock, Peter, Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory, Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). {{ISBN|0-9650782-1-3}}.
McCarthy, Kevin M., [https://books.google.com/books?id=_Tk-IQepI6cC Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football], Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). {{ISBN|978-0-7385-0559-6}}.
McEwen, Tom, The Gators: A Story of Florida Football, The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama (1974). {{ISBN|0-87397-025-X}}.
Proctor, Samuel, & Wright Langley, Gator History: A Pictorial History of the University of Florida, South Star Publishing Company, Gainesville, Florida (1986). {{ISBN|0-938637-00-2}}.

External links

{{Find a Grave|157240552}}

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Category:1885 births

Category:1949 deaths

Category:Basketball coaches from Tennessee

Category:Florida Gators athletic directors

Category:Florida Gators football coaches

Category:Transylvania Pioneers athletic directors

Category:Transylvania Pioneers football coaches

Category:VMI Keydets football coaches

Category:West Virginia Mountaineers athletic directors

Category:West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball coaches

Category:Transylvania University alumni

Category:People from Bristol, Tennessee