Rudy Lavik
{{Short description|American sports coach, college athletics administrator (1892–1979)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox college coach
| name = Rudy Lavik
| image = Rudy Lavik.png
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|4|30}}
| birth_place = Forman, North Dakota, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1979|9|29|1892|4|30}}
| death_place = Mesa, Arizona, U.S.
| alma_mater =
| player_sport1 = Football
| player_years2 = 1916
| player_team2 = Concordia (MN)
| player_years3 = 1917
| player_team3 = Springfield YMCA
| player_years4 = 1919
| player_team4 = Springfield YMCA
| player_sport5 = Basketball
| player_years6 = 1914–1917
| player_team6 = Concordia (MN)
| player_years7 = 1919–1920
| player_team7 = Springfield YMCA
| player_sport8 = Baseball
| player_years9 = {{Circa|1915}}
| player_team9 = Concordia (MN)
| player_positions = Tackle (football)
Center, guard (basketball)
Pitcher (baseball)
| coach_sport1 = Football
| coach_years2 = 1920–1921
| coach_team2 = Concordia (MN)
| coach_years3 = 1922–1924
| coach_team3 = Colorado College (assistant)
| coach_years4 = 1925–1926
| coach_team4 = Colorado Agricultural (line)
| coach_years5 = 1927–1932
| coach_team5 = Northern Arizona / Arizona State–Flagstaff
| coach_years6 = 1933–1937
| coach_team6 = Arizona State
| coach_sport7 = Basketball
| coach_years8 = 1922–1925
| coach_team8 = Colorado College (assistant)
| coach_years9 = 1925–1927
| coach_team9 = Colorado Agricultural
| coach_years10 = 1927–1931
| coach_team10 = Northern Arizona / Arizona State–Flagstaff
| coach_years11 = 1933–1935
| coach_team11 = Arizona State
| coach_years12 = 1939–1948
| coach_team12 = Arizona State
| coach_sport13 = Baseball
| coach_years14 = 1923–1925
| coach_team14 = Colorado College
| coach_years15 = 1927
| coach_team15 = Colorado Agricultural
| admin_years1 = 1927–1933
| admin_team1 = Northern Arizona / Arizona State–Flagstaff
| admin_years2 = 1933–1949
| admin_team2 = Arizona State
| overall_record = 43–43–9 (football)
152–156 (basketball)
| bowl_record =
| tournament_record =
| championships =
| awards =
| coaching_records =
}}
Rudolph H. Lavik (April 30, 1892 – September 29, 1979) was an American football, basketball, baseball, and track and field coach, college athletics administrator, and educator. He served as the head football coach at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota from 1920 to 1921, at Arizona State Teacher's College of Flagstaff—now known as Northern Arizona University—from 1927 to 1932, and at Arizona State Teachers College at Tempe—now known as Arizona State University—from 1933 to 1937, compiling a career college football head coaching record of 43–43–9. Lavik was also the head basketball coach at Arizona State Flagstaff (1927–1931), Colorado Agricultural College—now known as Colorado State University (1925–1927), and Arizona State Tempe (1933–1935, 1939–1948), tallying a career college basketball head coaching mark of 152–156. In addition, he served as the athletic director at Northern Arizona from 1927 to 1933 and Arizona State from 1933 to 1949. He remained a full-time member of Arizona State's faculty until 1962.
Lavik was a graduate of Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota and the International YMCA College—now known as Springfield College—in Springfield, Massachusetts. He played college football at both schools and also competed in other sports at Concordia.
Early life, playing career, and education
Lavik was born on April 30, 1892 in Forman, North Dakota.{{cite news |author= |title=Lavik Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-daily-sun/136613594/ |newspaper=Arizona Daily Sun |location=Flagstaff, Arizona |agency=United Press International |date=October 1, 1979 |page=5 |access-date=December 10, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }} Both of his parents were born in Norway. Lavik played football, basketball, baseball, and track in college, but he later recalled, "college scholarships were something I had never heard of. My father was a country minister with a salary of $600 a year, a free house and 10 children. All of them went to college, most became professional people and we were used to working our own way."{{cite news |last=Boatner |first=Verne |title=Colorful Lavik remains spunky despite 86 years |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-republic/136612950/ |newspaper=Arizona Republic |location=Phoenix, Arizona |date=July 9, 1979 |page=D5 |access-date=December 10, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}
As a student-athlete, Lavik lettered in football, baseball, and basketball at Concordia College, and then football, basketball, and track and field at the International YMCA College.{{cite web |title='Arizona's first jogger' Age hasn't slowed runner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-arizona-republic-arizonas-first-jo/159510058/ |website=Newspapers.com |access-date=22 November 2024 |date=17 July 1977}} Lavik first attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, where was elected captain of the football team in 1916.{{cite news |author= |title=Concordia Gets Into Football; First Work |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-fargo-forum-and-daily-republican/136614063/ |newspaper=The Fargo Forum and Daily Republican |location=Fargo, North Dakota |date=September 29, 1916 |page=6 |access-date=December 10, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }} He majored in English and minored in history at Concordia. After graduating from Concordia, Lavik enrolled at the International YMCA College—now known as Springfield College—in Springfield, Massachusetts. He played football at Springfield at the tackle position, as he had at Concordia. Lavik also played basketball at Springfield at the center and guard positions and was a teammate of Carl Eggebrecht.{{cite news |author= |title=Springfield Beats Pratt Institute |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-eagle/137024846/ |newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |location=Brooklyn, New York |date=January 10, 1920 |page=14 |access-date=December 18, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}
Lavik time's at Springfield was interrupted by military service during World War I. He served with the American Expeditionary Forces in the United States Army Corps of Engineers.{{cite news |last=Nixon |first=Bill |title=Lavik is 80 today |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-republic/136626392/ |newspaper=Arizona Republic |location=Phoenix, Arizona |date=April 30, 1972 |page=4E |access-date=December 10, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}
Lavik met his wife, Ethel Charlotte Larsen, at Concordia. The two were married in 1922.{{cite news |last=Alexander |first=Mary Jane |title=Age hasn't slowed runner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-republic/136649576/ |newspaper=Arizona Republic |location=Phoenix, Arizona |date=July 17, 1977 |page=K21 |access-date=December 11, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}
Coaching career
Lavik returned to Concordia in 1920 to begin his coaching career. In 1922, he was hired at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado to serve as head baseball coach and as an assistant in football and basketball under Telfer L. Mead.{{cite news |author= |title=Rudolph Lavik To Resign As Assistant C. C. Coach |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-collins-coloradoan/136627365/ |newspaper=Fort Collins Coloradoan |location=Fort Collins, Colorado |date=March 10, 1925 |page=5 |access-date=December 11, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}
In July 1927, Lavik attended a coaches clinic in Logan, Utah led by Knute Rockne, head football coach at the University of Notre Dame and Norwegian-American.{{cite news |title=Rockne Tells 'Em How It's Done |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-salt-lake-tribune-knute-rockne-and-r/137760245/ |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=July 10, 1927 |page=13 |access-date=December 31, 2023}} Later that summer, Lavik was hired as athletic director and coach of all sports at Northern Arizona State Teacher's College of Flagstaff—now known as Northern Arizona University.{{cite news |author= |title=Physical Training Given Special Attention At Flagstaff Teachers College |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-republic/137025315/ |newspaper=Arizona Republic |location=Phoenix, Arizona |date=September 1, 1927 |page=3, section 2 |access-date=December 18, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}
In 1933, Lavik was hired at athletic director, head football coach, and head basketball coach at Arizona State Teachers College—now known as Arizona State University—located in Tempe, Arizona. He retained his post as athletic director and chairman of the health and physical education department until 1949, when he was succeeded by Donn Kinzle.{{cite news |author= |title=Kinzle New Devil Athletic Boss |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-republic/136651028/ |newspaper=Arizona Republic |location=Phoenix, Arizona |date=April 17, 1949 |page=1, section 4 |access-date=December 11, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}
Later life and death
Lavik remained a full-time member of the Arizona State's faculty until 1962 and subsequently taught part-time at the school for several years. He also pitched batting practice for the Arizona State Sun Devils baseball team from 1955 to 1967.
Lavik continued to jog daily well into his 80s, running as much as two miles per day at Arizona State's track. He died on September 29, 1979, at Desert Samaritan Hospital in Mesa, Arizona, following a short illness.{{cite news |author= |title=Former Sun Devil coach Lavik dies |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DxwLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KFADAAAAIBAJ&pg=4087,6425592 |newspaper=The Prescott Courier |location=Prescott, Arizona |agency=Associated Press |date=October 1, 1979 |page=9 |access-date=January 9, 2014 |via=Google News }}
Frank Kush, Arizona State's head football coach at the time of Lavik's death, said of Lavik, "I had a great deal of respect for him, not only as an individual, but as a teacher. In addition, he was an extremely fine football coach."
Head coaching record
=Football=
{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no }}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Concordia Cobbers
| conf = Independent
| startyear = 1920
| endyear = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1920
| name = Concordia
| overall = 0–3
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Concordia Cobbers
| conf = Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
| startyear = 1921
| endyear = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1921
| name = Concordia
| overall = 2–3–1
| conference = 0–2
| confstanding = T–6th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Concordia
| overall = 2–6–1
| confrecord = 0–2
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Northern Arizona / Arizona State–Flagstaff Lumberjacks
| conf = Independent
| startyear = 1927
| endyear = 1930
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1927
| name = Northern Arizona
| overall = 6–1–2
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1928
| name = Northern Arizona
| overall = 7–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1929
| name = Arizona State–Flagstaff
| overall = 5–0
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1930
| name = Arizona State–Flagstaff
| overall = 4–2–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Arizona State–Flagstaff Lumberjacks
| conf = Border Conference
| startyear = 1931
| endyear = 1932
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1931
| name = Arizona State–Flagstaff
| overall = 3–5
| conference = 2–3
| confstanding = 4th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1932
| name = Arizona State–Flagstaff
| overall = 3–2–2
| conference = 2–2–1
| confstanding = T–3rd
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Northern Arizona / Arizona State–Flagstaff
| overall = 28–11–5
| confrecord = 4–5–1
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Arizona State Bulldogs
| conf = Border Conference
| startyear = 1933
| endyear = 1937
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1933
| name = Arizona State
| overall = 3–5
| conference = 2–3
| confstanding = 5th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1934
| name = Arizona State
| overall = 4–3–1
| conference = 2–2–1
| confstanding = 4th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1935
| name = Arizona State
| overall = 2–5–1
| conference = 2–3–1
| confstanding = 4th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1936
| name = Arizona State
| overall = 4–5
| conference = 2–4
| confstanding = 5th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1937
| name = Arizona State
| overall = 0–8–1
| conference = 0–5
| confstanding = 7th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Arizona State
| overall = 13–26–3
| confrecord = 8–17–2
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record End
| overall = 43–43–9
| bowls = no
| poll = no
| polltype =
| legend = no
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{navboxes|list=
{{Concordia Cobbers football coach navbox}}
{{Colorado State Rams men's basketball coach navbox}}
{{Colorado State Rams baseball coach navbox}}
{{Northern Arizona Lumberjacks athletic director navbox}}
{{Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football coach navbox}}
{{Northern Arizona Lumberjacks men's basketball coach navbox}}
{{Arizona State Sun Devils athletic director navbox}}
{{Arizona State Sun Devils football coach navbox}}
{{Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball coach navbox}}
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavik, Rudy}}
Category:20th-century American academics
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