Dana X. Bible

Dana X. Bible
Bible from the 1935 Cornhusker
Sport(s) Football, basketball, baseball
Biographical details
Born (1891-10-08)October 8, 1891
Jefferson City, Tennessee
Died January 19, 1980(1980-01-19) (aged 88)
Austin, Texas
Playing career
1910s Carson–Newman
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1913–1915 Mississippi College
1916 LSU
1917 Texas A&M
1919–1928 Texas A&M
1929–1936 Nebraska
1937–1946 Texas
Basketball
1920–1927 Texas A&M
Baseball
1920–1921 Texas A&M
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1932–1936 Nebraska
1937–1956 Texas
Head coaching record
Overall 198–72–23 (football)
90–47 (basketball)
29–10–1 (baseball)
Bowls 3–0–1
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Football
8 SWC (1917, 1919, 1921, 1925, 1927, 1942–1943, 1945)
6 Big Six (1929, 1931–1933, 1935–1936)
Awards
Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (1954)
College Football Hall of Fame
Inducted in 1951 (profile)

Dana Xenophon Bible (October 8, 1891 – January 19, 1980) was an American football player, coach of football, basketball, and baseball, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi College (1913–1915), Louisiana State University (1916),[1] Texas A&M University (1917, 1919–1928),[2] the University of Nebraska (1929–1936), and the University of Texas (1937–1946), compiling a career college football record of 198–72–23. Bible was also the head basketball coach at Texas A&M from 1920 to 1927 and the head baseball coach there from 1920 to 1921. In addition, he was the athletic director at Nebraska from 1932 to 1936 and at Texas from 1937 to 1956. Bible was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1951.

Early life

Bible was born in Jefferson City, Tennessee. He graduated from Jefferson City High School in 1908 and received a B.A. degree from Carson–Newman College in 1912. Bible played football while in college and was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, Iota chapter.

Career

Bible began his coaching career at Brandon Prep School in Shelbyville, Tennessee. Mississippi College recruited him to coach in 1912, and he was recruited to coach for Texas A&M University in 1916.[3]

In his college football coaching career, Bible compiled a record of 198–72–23. His teams had winning records in thirty of the thirty-three seasons he coached. Bible twice won ten games in a season. Bible also coached baseball and basketball at Texas A&M.[2] During his hiatus from Texas A&M in 1918, Bible served as pilot in World War I.

Bible's 1919 Texas A&M Aggies football team, which was undefeated, untied, and outscored its opposition 275–0, was retroactively named a national champion by the Billingsley Report and the National Championship Foundation.

In ten seasons at Texas, Bible brought the Longhorns football program to national prominence, winning three Southwest Conference championships, making three appearances at the Cotton Bowl Classic (two victorious), and placing in the final AP Poll rankings five times.[4]

While at Texas, University of Chicago coach Clark Shaughnessy contacted Bible to organize a clinic on the T formation. Along with Frank Leahy of Notre Dame, they helped create the T formation revolution. Bible was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1959, the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 1960, and the Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame in 1966. He was the 1954 recipient of the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award.

Bible served on the National Collegiate Football Rules Committee for 25 years, and was president of the American Football Coaches Association. His book, Championship Football, was published in 1947.

Family

Bible was the son of Jonathan David Bible (October 9, 1863 in Cocke County, Tennessee – November 23, 1942) and Cleopatra I. Willis (October 19, 1870 – January 25, 1954). The couple married on June 20, 1889. Jonathan was a college professor at Carson–Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee, he could quote biblical scripture and was a Greek and Latin scholar.

Bible married Rowena Rhodes on December 19, 1923. They had two children, William and Barbara. Rowena died in 1942. Dana married Agnes Stacy in 1944 and they would later divorce in 1950. He married Dorothy Gilstrap on February 2, 1952.

Death

Bible died on January 19, 1980, and is interred at Austin Memorial Park Cemetery in Austin, Texas.

Head coaching record

Football

Year Team Overall ConferenceStanding Bowl/playoffs AP#
Mississippi College Collegians (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1913–1915)
1913 Mississippi College 6–31–211th
1914 Mississippi College 4–3–10–1–114th
1915 Mississippi College 3–3–12–315th
Mississippi College: 12–7–23–6–1
LSU Tigers (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1916)
1916 LSU 1–0–2*1–0–1*7th
LSU: 1–0–21–0–1*First 7 games coached were by E. T. MacDonnell and Irving Pray.
Texas A&M Aggies (Southwest Conference) (1917)
1917 Texas A&M 8–02–01st
Texas A&M Aggies (Southwest Conference) (1919–1928)
1919 Texas A&M 10–04–01st
1920 Texas A&M 6–1–15–13rd
1921 Texas A&M 6–1–23–0–21stW Dixie Classic
1922 Texas A&M 5–42–2T–3rd
1923 Texas A&M 5–3–10–3–18th
1924 Texas A&M 7–2–12–2–14th
1925 Texas A&M 7–1–14–1–01st
1926 Texas A&M 5–3–11–3–15th
1927 Texas A&M 8–0–14–0–11st
1928 Texas A&M 5–4–11–3–15th
Texas A&M: 72–19–926–15–7
Nebraska Cornhuskers (Big Six Conference) (1929–1936)
1929 Nebraska 4–1–33–0–21st
1930 Nebraska 4–3–22–2–14th
1931 Nebraska 8–25–01st
1932 Nebraska 7–1–15–01st
1933 Nebraska 8–15–01st
1934 Nebraska 6–34–12nd
1935 Nebraska 6–2–14–0–11st
1936 Nebraska 7–25–01st9
Nebraska: 50–15–733–3–4
Texas Longhorns (Southwest Conference) (1937–1946)
1937 Texas 2–6–11–57th
1938 Texas 1–81–5T–6th
1939 Texas 5–43–34th
1940 Texas 8–24–2T–3rd
1941 Texas 8–1–14–1–12nd4
1942 Texas 9–25–11stW Cotton11
1943 Texas 7–1–15–01stT Cotton14
1944 Texas 5–43–22nd
1945 Texas 10–15–11stW Cotton10
1946 Texas 8–24–23rd15
Texas: 63–31–335–22–1
Total:198–72–23
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

References

  1. ↑ "LSU Year-by-Year Records" (PDF). lsusports.net. p. 107. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  2. 1 2 "Texas A&M recruiting letter from 1919 surfaces authored by Dana X. Bible". sportsday.dallasnews.com. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  3. ↑ "Bible, Dana Xenophon". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Dana X. Bible to Retire Sept. 1". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
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