Skip Stahley

Skip Stahley
Sport(s) Football
Biographical details
Born (1908-09-22)September 22, 1908 [1]
Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Died June 27, 1992(1992-06-27) (aged 83) [2]
Portland, Oregon
Alma mater Pennsylvania State College
Columbia University [3]
Playing career
1928–1930 Penn State
Position(s) Back [3]
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1931–1933 Western Maryland (assistant)
1934 Delaware
1935–1940 Harvard (assistant)
1941–1943 Brown
1946–1947 George Washington
1948–1949 Toledo
1950–1952 Washington (assistant)
1953 Chicago Cardinals (assistant)
1954–1961 Idaho
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1960–1964 Idaho
1964–1972 Portland State
Head coaching record
Overall 56–85–3 (.399)

Statistics

J. Neil "Skip" Stahley (September 22, 1908 – June 27, 1992) was a college football coach and athletic director. In sixteen seasons as a head coach, his overall record was 56–85–3 (.399).[4]

Early years

Born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania,[5] Stahley was a 1931 graduate of Penn State, where he majored in English and played football, earning honorable mention All-American honors. A three-sport letterman, Stahley also captained the basketball and lacrosse teams for the Nittany Lions and later earned a master's degree from Columbia University.[3]

Early coaching career

Stahley began his coaching career in 1931 as an assistant at Western Maryland. In 1934, he became the head coach at Delaware, and compiled a 4–3–1 record, then moved on to Harvard as an assistant. From 1941 to 1943, Stahley was the head coach at Brown,[6] and compiled a 14–11 (.560) record.[4]

He served in the U.S. Navy in San Diego during World War II. From 1946 to 1947, Stahley coached George Washington University to a 5–10–1 record in Washington, DC. He joined the new staff under Howie Odell at Washington in Seattle in March 1948 as the backfield coach, but left two months later to be the head coach at Toledo[7][8] and compiled an 11–10 record in two seasons.

Stahley returned to Seattle in 1950 as backfield coach at Washington for three seasons under Odell, where he mentored notable Huskies Hugh McElhenny[9] and Don Heinrich.[10] Odell was pressured to resign by the athletic director after a 7-3 season in 1952 and was replaced by John Cherberg, the coach of the freshman team.

NFL

Stahley left the Huskies to coach in the NFL as the backfield coach with the Chicago Cardinals under head coach Joe Stydahar. The Cardinals ended 1953 with a win in the final game to finish at 1-10-1 (.125), the worst record in the twelve-team league.[11]

Idaho

Stahley quickly returned to college football in February 1954 as the head coach at Idaho[3][10][12] at an annual salary of $9,000.[13] The Vandals had finished the 1953 season at 1–8 under third-year head coach Babe Curfman.[14][15][16][17]

Stahley compiled a 22–51–1 (.304) record in eight seasons in Moscow.[4] While on the Palouse, he coached future NFL notables Jerry Kramer, Wayne Walker,[9] Jim Prestel, and AFL all-star Jim Norton.[2] The Vandals were members of the Pacific Coast Conference for Stahley's first five seasons, then played as an independent when the conference disbanded. Idaho's only conference victory under Stahley came in his first season: the winless Vandals (0–5) surprised and shut out neighbor Washington State 10–0 in Pullman in the Battle of the Palouse in 1954.[18] It was Idaho's first victory in football over the Cougars in 29 years,[19] and the subsequent march by WSC students from Pullman to Moscow was featured in Life magazine:[20] The win started a four-game winning streak, Idaho's longest in 31 years, to finish at 4–5 for the 1954 season.[21][22] The Vandals waited a full decade before they beat the Cougars again, in 1964.[23]

When Idaho athletic director Bob Gibb left in 1960, Stahley took over those duties in July for four years.[24] He handled both jobs for a year and a half, then stepped down under pressure as football coach in January 1962.[25][26] The following month hired Dee Andros, an assistant coach at Illinois and former player at Oklahoma.[27][28][29]

After a decade in Moscow, Stahley resigned as Idaho's athletic director in 1964 to become the first full-time director of athletics at Portland State College (now PSU),[30] where he served until retirement in 1972.[2] Following the 1964 football season, head coach Andros left Idaho after three years for Oregon State in Corvallis to succeed Tommy Prothro.

Halls of fame

Stahley is a member of the Idaho Sports Hall of Fame, the Western Pennsylvania Hall of Fame, and the National Association of Collegiate athletic directors Hall of Fame.[1]

Personal

Stahley married Mrs. Shirley Sherman Kime (c.1910-93) in Toledo on July 1, 1950. They had two daughters, and she had two sons from a previous marriage.[1][31] Following retirement from PSU in 1972, Stahley and his wife continued to reside in Portland for the next two decades; he died in 1992 at the age of 83,[2][5] and she died the following year.[32][33]

Head coaching record

Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs
Delaware Fighting Blue Hens (Independent) (1934)
1934 Delaware 4–3–1
Delaware: 4–3–1
Brown Bears (Independent) (1941–1943)
1941 Brown 5–4
1942 Brown 4–4
1943 Brown 5–3
Brown: 14–11
George Washington Colonials (Southern) (1946–1947)
1946 George Washington 4–3
1947 George Washington 1–7–1
George Washington: 5–10–1
Toledo Rockets (Independent) (1948–1949)
1948 Toledo 5–6
1949 Toledo 6–4
Toledo: 11–10
Idaho Vandals (Pacific Coast) (1954–1958)
1954 Idaho 4–5 1–2 7th
1955 Idaho 2–7 0–4 9th
1956 Idaho 4–5 0–4 9th
1957 Idaho 4–4–1 0–3 9th
1958 Idaho 4–5 0–3 9th
Idaho Vandals (Independent) (1959–1961)
1959 Idaho 1–9
1960 Idaho 1–9
1961 Idaho 2–7
Idaho: 22–51–1 1–16
Total: 56–85–3

References

  1. 1 2 3 The University of Idaho Magazine, Oct 1992, Vol.10, No.4, p.20.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Former Idaho coach dies". Moscow-Pullman Daily News (Idaho-Washington). July 2, 1992. p. 1C.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Stahley chosen Idaho grid pilot". Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington). February 2, 1954. p. 10.
  4. 1 2 3 CFB Data Warehouse - Skip Stahley - accessed 2009-10-03
  5. 1 2 "J. Neil (Skip) Stahley, 83, UI athletic director". Lewiston Morning Tribune (Idaho). Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Skip Stahley named head coach at Brown; was at Harvard". Lewiston Daily Sun (Maine). Associated Press. February 13, 1941. p. 9.
  7. ↑ "Stahley to coach at Toledo". Meriden Record (Connecticut). Associated Press. May 5, 1948. p. 12.
  8. ↑ Rothman, Seymour (August 5, 1948). "TU's new kicking device". Toledo Blade (Ohio). p. 31.
  9. 1 2 Missildine, Harry (May 24, 1964). "Stahley's departure conjures memories". Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington). p. 1-sports.
  10. 1 2 "Skip Stahley named Idaho grid mentor". Ellensburg Daily Record (Washington). Associated Press. February 12, 1954. p. 6.
  11. ↑ "1953 Chicago Cardinals". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Stahley seeking three assistants; new Idaho coach to get free hand". Spokane Daily Chronicle (Washington). February 12, 1954. p. 10.
  13. ↑ "O.K. Stahley's $9,000 salary". Ellensburg Daily Record (Washington). Associated Press. February 23, 1954. p. 8.
  14. ↑ "Idaho regents meet in January; Babe Curfman position unsettled". Spokane Daily Chronicle (Idaho). November 23, 1953. p. 15.
  15. ↑ "Curfman and three aides resign posts at Idaho". Spokane Daily Chronicle (Washington). December 21, 1953. p. 21.
  16. ↑ "'Circumstances' force Curfman's resignation". Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington). December 22, 1953. p. 12.
  17. ↑ "Idaho plans thorough search for coach; Curfman out". Spokane Daily Chronicle (Washington). December 22, 1953. p. 12.
  18. ↑ Boni, Bill (October 24, 1954). "Idaho thumps WSC, 10-0". Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington). p. 1-sports.
  19. ↑ ""Win made us ballclub," says Skip Stahley". Spokane Daily Chronicle (Washington). October 25, 1954. p. 17.
  20. ↑ "The March on Moscow". Life. November 15, 1954. p. 63.
  21. ↑ "Vandals win fourth in a row". Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. November 21, 1954. p. 1-sports.
  22. ↑ "Stahley is satisfied with Vandals' season". Spokane Daily Chronicle. November 22, 1954. p. 17.
  23. ↑ Missildine, Harry (October 25, 1964). "Thunder Ray leads Idaho's charge". Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington). p. 1-sports.
  24. ↑ "Stahley new Idaho "A.D." in addition to grid post". Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington). March 22, 1960. p. 13.
  25. ↑ "Idaho regents drop Stahley from grid post". Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington). January 15, 1962. p. 10.
  26. ↑ "Idaho fires grid coach Skip Stahley". Eugene Register-Guard (Oregon). UPI. January 15, 1962. p. 2B.
  27. ↑ Carter, Jack (February 18, 1962). "Illinois aide Dee Andros named Idaho football coach". Lewiston Morning Tribune (Idaho). p. 8.
  28. ↑ Missildine, Harry (February 18, 1962). "Former Sooner guard new Idaho coach". Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington). p. 1-sports.
  29. ↑ "New Vandal coach". Spokane Daily Chronicle (Washington). (photo). February 19, 1962. p. 11.
  30. ↑ "Stahley quits Idaho post for job at Portland State". Lewiston Morning Tribune (Idaho). May 21, 1964. p. 10.
  31. ↑ "Stahley weds". Toledo Blade (Ohio). July 4, 1950. p. 35.
  32. ↑ "Shirley Stahley". Moscow-Pullman Daily News (Idaho-Washington). (obituary). September 21, 1993. p. 3A.
  33. ↑ "Shirley Sherman Stahley". Toledo Blade (Ohio). (obituary). September 15, 1993. p. 14.

External links

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