Alex Agase has died at the age of 85. He was a great Big 10 football player, and a fine coach at Northwestern for many years. He was an All-American at Illinois in 1942, at Purdue during Marine training in 1943, and he was the Big Ten MVP in 1946 (playing guard and linebacker) at Illinois.
He served in the Pacific in 1944 and 1945, and was in the battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
He was named to the Walter Camp all-century college football team in 1989.
He was the National Coach of the Year at Northwestern in 1970, and coached the last Wildcat team to win in Columbus (1971). He is in the College Football Hall of Fame.
Here a brief mention of him in the book Expanding Your Horizons, which I just finished reading. The book is by Don Steinberg, a member of the 1942 team, and includes short chapters written by most of the players on that National Championship squad, shortly before the team's 50 year reunion. This excerpt was written by Tommy James, who later on was Agase's teammate from 1948-51 on some Championship teams for the Cleveland Browns.
"Perhaps my most memorable college game was against the University of Illinois in Cleveland in 1942. I ran the opening kickoff for a touchdown. On the first set of Illinois plays they were unsuccessful in making a first down and were forced to punt. I caught the punt and again ran the ball back for a second touchdown. Those two touchdowns along with another scored by Les Horvath had given us a 20 point lead before the first quarter was five or six minutes old. The game was not against a mediocre team as Illinois was ranked among the top twenty teams in the country. The game must have been particularly frustrating to Alex Agase, their All-American Guard. On one play, later in the game, I injured my shoulder and while I was lying on the ground, he came over and said. "And how do you like that, you Blankety Blank".
At the time, Illinois was ranked #13, and tOSU (who would finish #1) was ranked #10 with Illinois, TSUN, and the Iowa Navy Pre-flight Seahawks left on the schedule.
Here's more on Alex Agase.
usatoday
collegefootball.halloffame
wikipedia.Alex_Agase
He served in the Pacific in 1944 and 1945, and was in the battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
He was named to the Walter Camp all-century college football team in 1989.
He was the National Coach of the Year at Northwestern in 1970, and coached the last Wildcat team to win in Columbus (1971). He is in the College Football Hall of Fame.
Here a brief mention of him in the book Expanding Your Horizons, which I just finished reading. The book is by Don Steinberg, a member of the 1942 team, and includes short chapters written by most of the players on that National Championship squad, shortly before the team's 50 year reunion. This excerpt was written by Tommy James, who later on was Agase's teammate from 1948-51 on some Championship teams for the Cleveland Browns.
"Perhaps my most memorable college game was against the University of Illinois in Cleveland in 1942. I ran the opening kickoff for a touchdown. On the first set of Illinois plays they were unsuccessful in making a first down and were forced to punt. I caught the punt and again ran the ball back for a second touchdown. Those two touchdowns along with another scored by Les Horvath had given us a 20 point lead before the first quarter was five or six minutes old. The game was not against a mediocre team as Illinois was ranked among the top twenty teams in the country. The game must have been particularly frustrating to Alex Agase, their All-American Guard. On one play, later in the game, I injured my shoulder and while I was lying on the ground, he came over and said. "And how do you like that, you Blankety Blank".
At the time, Illinois was ranked #13, and tOSU (who would finish #1) was ranked #10 with Illinois, TSUN, and the Iowa Navy Pre-flight Seahawks left on the schedule.
Here's more on Alex Agase.
usatoday
collegefootball.halloffame
wikipedia.Alex_Agase
Last edited:
