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Bleedin' Orange...
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Before we dive into discussion of our Eighth and subsequent head coaches, need to make one correction to the first thread: Tennessee football started in 1891, not 1899. We simply did not have a coach until the latter date. I should have said that more clearly. I've gone back and corrected the first thread.
Okay, back where we left off. We're still in the early years of the Vols football program, and the ongoing rapid evolution of the game itself.
#8 -- Zora G. Clevenger, 1911-1915 
( <--- look! helmets for the first time!)
Remember what Izzy Levene (#6) started, this idea of making a full career out of coaching and administering sports? While Levene somewhat succeeded in his bid, Clevenger perfected the concept.* He served as head coach of three different football programs (and four basketball and baseball teams--Indiana, Nebraska Wesleyann, Tennessee, and Kansas State) over an 18-year period. If you add his time as Athletic Director, his career spanned 42 years and two world wars, from 1904 to 1946. In that context, the Tennessee portion of his service was a brief five seasons--though that almost doubled the tenure of any Knoxville coach before him.
Born in Muncie, Indiana, Zora** played halfback for the Hoosiers in Bloomington, the same program we beat (barely) a few months ago in the Gator Bowl. He was small even for that period of the sport, at only 5'7" and 145 pounds (compare that to fellow halfback Jim Thorpe, at 6'1" and 200 pounds). While still a student, he was captain of his school's football, baseball, and basketball teams, and has since been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player.
Recall in yesterday's thread, Part 2 of the series, we were wondering when we would find the first coach who was clearly not also a player? Well, I think we've found him. By the time Zora arrived in Knoxville, he was eight years out of college, and had already served as head coach for two other programs. I'm pretty sure he never took the field for the Vols. He would not have had time to stay in playing shape, what with coaching the football, basketball, and baseball teams while also serving as our AD. Professional coaching had indeed arrived in East Tennessee.
Coach Clevenger's record broke another trend in Vols coaching, as well (thankfully). Unlike Pierce, Fisher, DePree, and Levene, all of whose first seasons were their best with things going downhill later on, Clevenger's outings actually got better as he went along: 3-4-2 was followed by 4-4, then 6-3, then 9-0 in 1914--the Volunteers' first conference championship, and first undefeated season with a coach at the helm. It is true that Zora's final season in 1915 was a letdown, at 4-4, but still, he broke what some might have seen as a curse and showed that long-term coaching could be good for the lads on Rocky Top. Clevenger's overall record in football with the Vols was 26-15-2 (.628).
I've gone much longer describing Coach Clevenger's tenure than any before him, but it seems deserved as he broke trends (in a positive way) in several directions while a Volunteer.***
#9 -- John R. "Chief" Bender, 1916-1920
Here's a curiosity: our eighth head coach, Clevenger, left Tennessee in 1915 for Kansas State University. Our ninth coach, John Bender, arrived in Knoxville from...yep, Kansas State. We effectively swapped coaches with the Wildcats that year.
Chief played halfback for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, including two undefeated seasons (1902 and 1903) and one year as captain ('03). John was a character as a young man. He somehow got away with playing for six seasons. And reportedly, he refused to play one key game on the Cornhusker's schedule until someone paid him some cash.**** Yep!
Like Clevenger (and others) before him, Bender coached not only football but basketball and baseball as well. Also like Clevenger, Tennessee wasn't Coach Bender's first stop. In fact, he had already coached for South Dakota State Normal School, the Washington State Cougars, Haskell College, Saint Louis University, and Kansas State. In yet another similarity to his predecessor, Chief led the Vols to a conference title--this in his first season in Knoxville, 1916 (8-0-1; 6-0-1 in conference). Then the program went on a two-year hiatus for World War I, and didn't start back up again until 1919. Bender's second season wasn't nearly as successful, at 3-3-3 (0-3-2 in conference). He bounced back in 1920, though, with a 7-2 (4-2) final season. His overall mark with the Vols was 18-5-4 (.741), best among the Vols early coaches.
#10 -- Mark Beal "Pops" Banks, 1921-1925 
It will perhaps not surprise anyone reading that Coach Banks was, like many before him, a multi-sport head coach (football, basketball, baseball). But before that, he was an Honorable Mention All-American quarterback for Syracuse University in his home state of New York. He graduated in 1908.
Banks' first coaching stop was at Centre College in Kentucky, followed by Ohio Wesleyan, Ohio U, Drake University in Iowa, and then Tennessee. Banks' tenure with the Vols would include a shift from the SIAA to the Southern Conference in 1922. His second season--first in the new conference--was his best, at 8-2 (4-2). The Volunteers' performance with Coach Banks at the helm totaled 27 wins, 15 losses, and 3 ties (.633) over five seasons.
Curiously, when he left the university in 1926, Coach Banks went to a high school rather than another college: Central High School in Knoxville (is anyone here an alum of Central?). Banks would later go on to another college job, Hartwick College back in his home state of New York, where he would finish his career and--similar to Z.G. Clevenger--have an Athletic Award named after him, the M. Beal (Pops) Banks Award.
~ ~ ~
And that's it, friends. In this thread and the two before it, we have spanned the formative years of Tennessee football, and the sport itself, and gotten ourselves to the brink of greatness which would arrive in the form of a young U.S. Army officer by the name of Robert Neyland.
But that's a story for another day.
Go Vols!
* not that full-time, professional coaching was new to the world: the idea emerged in the Victorian era and was fully established as a career option by 1914, according to Dave Day in his book, Professionals, Amateurs, and Performance: Sports Coaching in England. Levene and especially Clevenger were simply the first coaches of the Vols to follow this path.
** curiously, Zora is a predominantly female first name. It comes from the Slavic languages of southeastern Europe--Czech, Slovakian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, etc. The name translates as "dawn" or "aurora." The Vols have never had a boy named Sue as our coach, but we have had a man named Zora.
*** and beyond. In fact, Coach Clevenger's greatest impact was at his native Indiana University, whose Alumni Association to this day presents the Z.G. Clevenger Award as its highest honor.
**** you really should read this article from the 2005 Lincoln, Nebraska, Journal-Star -- it mentions Bender and is fascinating for its insight into the early game: JournalStar.com :: Printable Version
#8 -- Zora G. Clevenger, 1911-1915 ( <--- look! helmets for the first time!)Remember what Izzy Levene (#6) started, this idea of making a full career out of coaching and administering sports? While Levene somewhat succeeded in his bid, Clevenger perfected the concept.* He served as head coach of three different football programs (and four basketball and baseball teams--Indiana, Nebraska Wesleyann, Tennessee, and Kansas State) over an 18-year period. If you add his time as Athletic Director, his career spanned 42 years and two world wars, from 1904 to 1946. In that context, the Tennessee portion of his service was a brief five seasons--though that almost doubled the tenure of any Knoxville coach before him.
Born in Muncie, Indiana, Zora** played halfback for the Hoosiers in Bloomington, the same program we beat (barely) a few months ago in the Gator Bowl. He was small even for that period of the sport, at only 5'7" and 145 pounds (compare that to fellow halfback Jim Thorpe, at 6'1" and 200 pounds). While still a student, he was captain of his school's football, baseball, and basketball teams, and has since been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player.
Recall in yesterday's thread, Part 2 of the series, we were wondering when we would find the first coach who was clearly not also a player? Well, I think we've found him. By the time Zora arrived in Knoxville, he was eight years out of college, and had already served as head coach for two other programs. I'm pretty sure he never took the field for the Vols. He would not have had time to stay in playing shape, what with coaching the football, basketball, and baseball teams while also serving as our AD. Professional coaching had indeed arrived in East Tennessee.
Coach Clevenger's record broke another trend in Vols coaching, as well (thankfully). Unlike Pierce, Fisher, DePree, and Levene, all of whose first seasons were their best with things going downhill later on, Clevenger's outings actually got better as he went along: 3-4-2 was followed by 4-4, then 6-3, then 9-0 in 1914--the Volunteers' first conference championship, and first undefeated season with a coach at the helm. It is true that Zora's final season in 1915 was a letdown, at 4-4, but still, he broke what some might have seen as a curse and showed that long-term coaching could be good for the lads on Rocky Top. Clevenger's overall record in football with the Vols was 26-15-2 (.628).
I've gone much longer describing Coach Clevenger's tenure than any before him, but it seems deserved as he broke trends (in a positive way) in several directions while a Volunteer.***
#9 -- John R. "Chief" Bender, 1916-1920Here's a curiosity: our eighth head coach, Clevenger, left Tennessee in 1915 for Kansas State University. Our ninth coach, John Bender, arrived in Knoxville from...yep, Kansas State. We effectively swapped coaches with the Wildcats that year.
Chief played halfback for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, including two undefeated seasons (1902 and 1903) and one year as captain ('03). John was a character as a young man. He somehow got away with playing for six seasons. And reportedly, he refused to play one key game on the Cornhusker's schedule until someone paid him some cash.**** Yep!
Like Clevenger (and others) before him, Bender coached not only football but basketball and baseball as well. Also like Clevenger, Tennessee wasn't Coach Bender's first stop. In fact, he had already coached for South Dakota State Normal School, the Washington State Cougars, Haskell College, Saint Louis University, and Kansas State. In yet another similarity to his predecessor, Chief led the Vols to a conference title--this in his first season in Knoxville, 1916 (8-0-1; 6-0-1 in conference). Then the program went on a two-year hiatus for World War I, and didn't start back up again until 1919. Bender's second season wasn't nearly as successful, at 3-3-3 (0-3-2 in conference). He bounced back in 1920, though, with a 7-2 (4-2) final season. His overall mark with the Vols was 18-5-4 (.741), best among the Vols early coaches.
#10 -- Mark Beal "Pops" Banks, 1921-1925 It will perhaps not surprise anyone reading that Coach Banks was, like many before him, a multi-sport head coach (football, basketball, baseball). But before that, he was an Honorable Mention All-American quarterback for Syracuse University in his home state of New York. He graduated in 1908.
Banks' first coaching stop was at Centre College in Kentucky, followed by Ohio Wesleyan, Ohio U, Drake University in Iowa, and then Tennessee. Banks' tenure with the Vols would include a shift from the SIAA to the Southern Conference in 1922. His second season--first in the new conference--was his best, at 8-2 (4-2). The Volunteers' performance with Coach Banks at the helm totaled 27 wins, 15 losses, and 3 ties (.633) over five seasons.
Curiously, when he left the university in 1926, Coach Banks went to a high school rather than another college: Central High School in Knoxville (is anyone here an alum of Central?). Banks would later go on to another college job, Hartwick College back in his home state of New York, where he would finish his career and--similar to Z.G. Clevenger--have an Athletic Award named after him, the M. Beal (Pops) Banks Award.
~ ~ ~
But that's a story for another day.
Go Vols!
* not that full-time, professional coaching was new to the world: the idea emerged in the Victorian era and was fully established as a career option by 1914, according to Dave Day in his book, Professionals, Amateurs, and Performance: Sports Coaching in England. Levene and especially Clevenger were simply the first coaches of the Vols to follow this path.
** curiously, Zora is a predominantly female first name. It comes from the Slavic languages of southeastern Europe--Czech, Slovakian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, etc. The name translates as "dawn" or "aurora." The Vols have never had a boy named Sue as our coach, but we have had a man named Zora.
*** and beyond. In fact, Coach Clevenger's greatest impact was at his native Indiana University, whose Alumni Association to this day presents the Z.G. Clevenger Award as its highest honor.
**** you really should read this article from the 2005 Lincoln, Nebraska, Journal-Star -- it mentions Bender and is fascinating for its insight into the early game: JournalStar.com :: Printable Version
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