Dr. Eddie Anderson, Hall of Fame College Football Coach

For 39 seasons at four schools, Dr. Edward N. Anderson spent autumn afternoons roaming the sidelines of college and university gridirons across America. Throughout his career, dignity, composure and a penetrating focus were hallmarks of his sideline decorum. This biography catalogues the life of that “good doctor” who became dean of America’s college football coaches and was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame for lasting influence.
Beginning with his young life as a star player, the book relates how Anderson mastered the game as an All-American end under Notre Dame’s legendary Knute Rockne. Then, armed with a firm command of the so-called Notre Dame system of football, Anderson entered the collegiate coaching ranks in 1922 and served as a head coach for all but four of the next 43 years. Simultaneously he devoted himself to the practice of medicine and guided his teams to hundreds of victories.
Dr. Anderson is a football icon not only for the indelible impression he made on hundreds of young men who had played for him but also for his role as one of the last of an era of gentlemen coaches who had cut their teeth on football during the Rockne era. On the eve of his retirement from college football in 1964, Dr. Anderson was the game’s elder statesman, revered by players, fellow coaches, fans and members of the press. His football odyssey, during which he crossed paths with the most influential and colorful personalities of the game, is chronicled in depth.

Kevin Carroll is a history teacher at Albuquerque Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He also served as their head football coach for 30 years.

Kevin Carroll
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 324
Bibliographic Info: 37 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2007
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3007-9
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii

Preface      1

Introduction      5

1. The Early Years      11

2. Under the Golden Dome      14

3. George Gipp      24

4. Captain Eddie Anderson      35

5. The Carlinville Eight      47

6. Columbia (Loras) College      56

7. 1923–1924      69

8. The 1925 NFL Championship      77

9. 1926: One Whirlwind Year      90

10. The DePaul Years      98

11. Holy Cross      105

12. 1936–1937      119

13. Iowa Comes Calling      129

14. A Coaching Moses Comes to Iowa      140

15. 1939: One Magic Season      151

16. Nile Kinnick      166

17. The Forties at Iowa      176

18. The Post-War Years at Iowa      186

19. Return to Mount St. James      201

20. A New Deal at Holy Cross      225

21. Eddie Anderson: The Coach      234

22. Eddie Anderson: Doctor and Teacher      251

23. The Sixties      257

24. The Final Curtain      273

25. Life After Football      284

Appendix: Anderson’s Career Coaching Record      291

Chapter Notes      293

Bibliography      301

Index      305

“fascinating, beautifully written and frank portrayal”—Holy Cross Magazine; “well researched…well written…long overdue biography about one of college football’s most colorful names…a definite recommendation”—College Football Historical Society.