Stub Allison
{{Short description|American sports coach (1892–1961)}}
{{for|the Boise Junior College coach also nicknamed "Stub" Allison|George Allison (coach)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox college coach
| name = Stub Allison
| image = Stub Allison, assistant coach of Cal, 1934.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Allison in 1934
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|11|15}}
| birth_place = Mazeppa, Minnesota, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1961|12|12|1892|11|15}}
| death_place = Oakland, California, U.S.
| alma_mater =
| player_sport1 = Football
| player_years2= 1916
| player_team2 = Carleton
| player_positions = End
| coach_sport1 = Football
| coach_years2 = 1919
| coach_team2 = Washington (assistant)
| coach_years3 = 1920
| coach_team3 = Washington
| coach_years4 = 1922–1926
| coach_team4 = South Dakota
| coach_years5 = 1927–1930
| coach_team5 = Wisconsin (line)
| coach_years6 = 1931–1934
| coach_team6 = California (assistant)
| coach_years7 = 1935–1944
| coach_team7 = California
| coach_sport8 = Basketball
| coach_years9 = 1919–1920
| coach_team9 = Washington
| coach_sport10 = Baseball
| coach_years11 = 1920–1921
| coach_team11 = Washington
| admin_years1 = 1922–1927
| admin_team1 = South Dakota
| admin_years2 = 1927–1931
| admin_team2 = Wisconsin (assistant AD)
| overall_record = 80–66–5 (football)
7–8 (basketball)
15–8–1 (baseball)
| bowl_record =
| tournament_record =
| championships = Football
1 National (1937)
3 PCC (1935, 1937–1938)
| awards =
| coaching_records =
}}
Leonard Blaine "Stub" Allison (November 15, 1892 – December 12, 1961) was an American football, basketball, and baseball coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Washington (1920), the University of South Dakota (1922–1926), at the University of California, Berkeley (1935–1944), compiling a career college football record of 80–66–5. At California, Allison amassed a 58–42–2 record. In 1937 and 1938, he guided the Bears to back-to-back ten-win seasons, which was at the time the only such occurrence in school history. His 1937 squad, dubbed the "Thunder Team", won the 1938 Rose Bowl, was named the national champions by a number of selectors, and is considered by some sportswriters to have been the best team in school history. While at Washington, Allison also coached the baseball team, in 1920 and 1921, and the basketball team, in 1920.
Early life
Allison was born in Mazeppa, Minnesota{{cite web|title=Minnesota Births and Christenings, 1840-1980 for Leonard Blaine Allison|url=https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FDQZ-HX1|work=Minnesota-EASy|publisher=Minnesota Department of Health|access-date=January 13, 2012}} and raised in Anoka, Minnesota by Alexander J. & Elizabeth Hauxhurst Allison.{{cite web|title=History Center News - July — August 2009|url=http://www.ac-hs.org/julaug2009.pdf|work=Newsletter of the Anoka County Historical Society|publisher=Anoka County Historical Society|access-date=January 12, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707154423/http://www.ac-hs.org/julaug2009.pdf|archive-date=7 July 2010}} He attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he played football.{{cite web|title=Leonard Allison|url=https://apps.carleton.edu/alumni/c-club/hall_of_fame/year/1914_1929/l_allison/|publisher=Carleton College}} He graduated from Carleton in 1917. He also served for four years in the United States Army.
Coaching career
In its obituary for Allison, The Milwaukee Journal called him a Knute Rockne disciple who mostly relied on the single-wing offense. Allison's first coaching experience came on the staff of his former college coach Claude J. Hunt, at the University of Washington in 1919.[https://web.archive.org/web/20121102182606/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/csmonitor_historic/access/294339222.html?dids=294339222:294339222&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Oct+21,+1919&author=Special+to+The+Christian+Science+Monitor+from+its+Pacific+Coast+News+Office&pub=Christian+Science+Monitor&desc=BIG+SQUAD+OUT+AT+WASHINGTON&pqatl=google Big Squad Out At Washington; No Less Than Three Captains Who Have Never Served Among the Candidates Out for the Varsity Football Eleven], Christian Science Monitor, October 21, 1919. The following season, he took over as head coach, and his team amassed a 1–5 record. At Washington, Allison also spent time as the head coach of the baseball and basketball teams. In 1920, he led the basketball team to a 7–8 record,[http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/wash/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/mbk-guide-history111109.pdf 2009–10 Men's Basketball Media Guide] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101116230105/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/wash/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/mbk-guide-history111109.pdf |date=2010-11-16 }} (PDF), University of Washington, p. 142, 2009. and in 1920 and 1921, he led the baseball team to 7–4–1 and 8–4 records, respectively.[http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/wash/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/2010BSBRecordBook.pdf 2009–2010 University of Washington All-Sports Guide] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101116215423/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/wash/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/2010BSBRecordBook.pdf |date=2010-11-16 }} (PDF), p. 14, University of Washington, 2009.
Allison served as head coach at the University of South Dakota from 1922 to 1926 and compiled a 21–19–3 mark. He then moved on to the University of Wisconsin, where he was the head boxing instructor, football line coach, and assistant athletic director from 1927 until 1931. That year, he went to the University of California, Berkeley to take a position as an assistant football coach.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=alEaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6yYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3707,5018815&hl=en Stub Allison, Coach, Dies; Coached Boxing, Football at Wisconsin for Four Years], The Milwaukee Journal, December 18, 1961.
He became the head coach at California for the 1935 season. The ESPN College Football Encyclopedia rates the 1937 California team as the best in school history.ESPN College Football Encyclopedia, p. 187, New York: ESPN Books, 2005, {{ISBN|1-4013-3703-1}}. Allison led the "Thunder Team" (a play on California's "Wonder Teams" of the 1920s) to the Rose Bowl, where they defeated Alabama, 13–0, to finish with a 10–0–1 record. ESPN noted that team relied on "power runs and a nasty, opportunistic defense that allowed only 33 points and shut out seven teams." Allison's final record at California was 58–42–2.[http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=35 All-Time Coaching Records by Year] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213175322/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=35 |date=2010-02-13 }}, College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved June 28, 2010. Aside from being named national champions in 1937, under Allison, California captured a share of the Pacific Coast Conference title in 1935 and 1938, and outright in 1937.[http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/pac10/california/championships.php California Championships] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409224841/http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/pac10/california/championships.php |date=2010-04-09 }}, College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved June 28, 2010.
In April 1945, after Allison declined the opportunity to resign, California notified him that they would not renew his expiring contract.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_TcbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sEwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2937,3043322&dq=stub-allison&hl=en Allison Fired From Grid Post By California], The Pittsburgh Press, April 11, 1945. The Pittsburgh Press noted that after peaking in 1937, "five dismal years were climaxed last fall" in 1944, and that his firing was "no surprise since it was well known that an influential alumni bloc was lobbying against him on grounds that he shackled good material with a dull offense."
Later life
From about 1946 until his death, Allison was the director of industrial relations at the Oakland Naval Supply Center. Allison died on December 12, 1961, in the Alta Bates Hospital in Oakland, California hospital, to which he had been confined for three weeks because of a heart ailment.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1DI0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=3k8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4505,3911007&dq=stub-allison&hl=en Death Claims Bears' Coach 'Stub' Allison], Prescott Evening Courier, December 20, 1961. He was 69 years old and survived by his wife Ethyl.
Head coaching record
=Football=
{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = AP }}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Washington Sun Dodgers
| conf = Pacific Coast Conference
| startyear = 1920
| endyear = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1920
| name = Washington
| overall = 1–5
| conference = 0–3
| confstanding = 6th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Washington
| overall = 1–5
| confrecord = 0–3
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = South Dakota Coyotes
| conf = North Central Conference
| startyear = 1922
| endyear = 1926
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1922
| name = South Dakota
| overall = 3–6–1
| conference = 0–2–1
| confstanding = T–8th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1923
| name = South Dakota
| overall = 4–3–1
| conference = 1–3–1
| confstanding = 7th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1924
| name = South Dakota
| overall = 6–2
| conference = 4–1
| confstanding = 2nd
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1925
| name = South Dakota
| overall = 3–5
| conference = 1–4
| confstanding = 7th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1926
| name = South Dakota
| overall = 5–3–1
| conference = 3–1–1
| confstanding = 2nd
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = South Dakota
| overall = 21–19–3
| confrecord = 9–11–3
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = California Golden Bears
| conf = Pacific Coast Conference
| startyear = 1935
| endyear = 1944
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship = conference
| year = 1935
| name = California
| overall = 9–1
| conference = 4–1
| confstanding = T–1st
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1936
| name = California
| overall = 6–5
| conference = 4–3
| confstanding = 4th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship = national
| year = 1937
| name = California
| overall = 10–0–1
| conference = 6–0–1
| confstanding = 1st
| bowlname = Rose
| bowloutcome = W
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = 2
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship = conference
| year = 1938
| name = California
| overall = 10–1
| conference = 6–1
| confstanding = T–1st
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = 14
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1939
| name = California
| overall = 3–7
| conference = 2–5
| confstanding = 8th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1940
| name = California
| overall = 4–6
| conference = 3–4
| confstanding = 6th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1941
| name = California
| overall = 4–5
| conference = 3–4
| confstanding = 7th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1942
| name = California
| overall = 5–5
| conference = 3–4
| confstanding = 7th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1943
| name = California
| overall = 4–6
| conference = 2–2
| confstanding = 2nd
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1944
| name = California
| overall = 3–6–1
| conference = 1–3–1
| confstanding = 4th
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking =
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = California
| overall = 58–42–2
| confrecord = 34–27–2
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record End
| overall = 80–66–5
| bowls = no
| poll =
| polltype = Rankings from final AP Poll
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Navboxes
|list =
{{Washington Huskies men's basketball coach navbox}}
{{Washington Huskies football coach navbox}}
{{Washington Huskies baseball coach navbox}}
{{South Dakota Coyotes football coach navbox}}
{{South Dakota Coyotes athletic director navbox}}
{{California Golden Bears football coach navbox}}
{{1937 California Golden Bears football navbox}}
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allison, Leonard}}
Category:American football ends
Category:California Golden Bears football coaches
Category:Carleton Knights football players
Category:South Dakota Coyotes athletic directors
Category:South Dakota Coyotes football coaches
Category:Washington Huskies baseball coaches
Category:Washington Huskies football coaches
Category:Washington Huskies men's basketball coaches
Category:Wisconsin Badgers athletic directors
Category:Wisconsin Badgers football coaches
Category:United States Army soldiers
Category:Sportspeople from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area
Category:Sportspeople from Oakland, California
Category:Sportspeople from Anoka, Minnesota
Category:People from Wabasha County, Minnesota
Category:Coaches of American football from Minnesota
Category:Players of American football from Minnesota
Category:Basketball coaches from Minnesota
Category:United States Navy civilians
Category:Players of American football from Oakland, California