William Henry Jackson Beckett (1882 – March 15, 1954) was an American football coach.
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1882 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | March 15, 1954 (aged 71) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Alma mater | International YMCA (BA, 1906) Pennsylvania (MA) |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1917 | Howard |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1917 | Howard |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 0–4 |
Springfield YMCA Training School edit
Becket was the first African American person to ever be awarded a degree at Springfield College–then known as the International YMCA Training School–in Springfield, Massachusetts.[1] He was awarded the school's Tarbell Medallion in 1947.[2]
Howard University edit
Beckett became the head football coach and first full-time athletic director at Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1917.[3]
Late life and death edit
Beckett taught physical education at Sumner High School in St. Louis, Missouri for 35 years before retiring in 1954. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage on March 15, 1954, at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis.[4]
Head coaching record edit
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howard Bison (Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1917) | |||||||||
| 1917 | Howard | 0–4 | 0–3 | 4th | |||||
| Howard: | 0–4 | 0–3 | |||||||
| Total: | 0–4 | ||||||||
References edit
- ^ "William Beckett Obituary in St. Lois Argus". digitalcommonwealth.org. March 13, 1954. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
- ^ "Tarbell Medallion Recipients". Springfield College. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
- ^ Logan, Rayford W. (1969). Howard University: the First Hundred Years, 1867-1967. NYU Press. ISBN 9780814702635. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
- ^ "William Beckett Funeral; Active In Negro Recreation". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis, Missouri. March 16, 1954. p. 19. Retrieved October 25, 2019 – via Newspapers.com
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