Gus Welch

Gustavius A. "Gus" Welch (December 18, 1892 – January 29, 1970) was an American football player, track and field athlete, coach of football and lacrosse, and college athletics administrator.

Gus Welch
Welch during his college football days at Carlisle
Born:(1892-12-18)December 18, 1892
Spooner, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died:January 29, 1970(1970-01-29) (aged 77)
Bedford, Virginia, U.S.
Career information
Position(s)Quarterback
Height5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight152 lb (69 kg)
CollegeCarlisle Indian
Dickinson
Career history
As coach
1919–1922Washington State
1923–1928Randolph Macon
1930–1932Virginia
1933–1934Haskell
1937–1938American
As player
1912–1914Canton Professionals
1915–1917Canton Bulldogs
Career highlights and awards
  • 3x Ohio League champion (1915, 1916, 1917)
  • American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame (1973)
  • Second Team All-American Quarterback (1913)
  • Ranked as 1 of the 3 best quarterbacks in the USA (1913)
Military career
AllegianceUnited States United States
Service/branchUnited States Army seal U.S. Army
Years of service1917–1919
Rank Captain
UnitAmerican Expeditionary Forces
Battles/warsWorld War I

Early life

Welch was a full-blood Chippewa born in Spooner, Wisconsin. He attended the Carlisle Indian School, located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and graduated in 1911. Gus was one of Carlisle's first honor students. While at Carlisle, Welch was the quarterback for the school’s football team, which featured Jim Thorpe and was coached by Pop Warner. He was a member of the USA Track and Field team during the 1912 Summer Olympics, although an illness prevented him from competing. After 1912, Welch played professional football for the Canton Bulldogs, coached by Thorpe. In 1917, Welch graduated from the Dickinson School of Law.

Military

In 1917, he entered the American Expeditionary Force during World War I as a Second Lieutenant, 808th Pioneer Infantry, under John J. Pershing. During his time in the military he achieved the rank of captain. He left the service in 1919.

Coaching career

From 1923 to 1929, Welch was the athletic director and head football coach at Randolph Macon College. From 1930 to 1934, he served as the head lacrosse coach at the University of Virginia. From 1935 until 1937, Welch served as the director of athletics and head football coach at Haskell Indian Nations University, located in Lawrence, Kansas. Afterwards he served as the head coach at Georgetown Prep School. From 1937 to 1938, he served as head football coach at American University where he compiled an overall record of two wins, ten losses and one tie.

During World War II he was in charge of Physical Fitness at Georgetown University; and by 1947 taught physical education at Lyndon Hill Junior High School, located in Prince George County, Virginia.

Camps

In 1929, Welch purchased a boy's camp near the Peaks of the Otter in Bedford County, Virginia, which he operated during the next 30 summers as Camp Kewanzee for young people. In 1939, some of his land was condemned by the US Department of the Interior to extend the Blue Ridge Parkway, a seizure Welch fought vigorously. He then purchased a farm near Bedford, Virginia, and continued to work with young athletes. Gus finally served as athletic director at American University in Washington, D.C. prior to his 1970 death.

Honors

In 1973, Welch was named to the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame and in 1975 to National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. In the late 1960s, Welch's help was sought by both the Jim Thorpe Project of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the Jim Thorpe Athletic Award Committee of Yale, Oklahoma.

Family

In 1923, Welch married Julia Carter, daughter of Charles David Carter, Oklahoma Congressman from Boggy Depot. A Chickasaw, Carter descended from David Carter, a white man captured in Connecticut and raised as an Indian who elected to remain with them as an adult, married an Indian woman, and for a time edited The Phoenix, an Indian newspaper. The Welchs had no children but adopted a niece, Serena, who became the model for the figure portrayed on the canning labels of Pocahontas Foods.

Carter's family was also close to Vinnie Ream, after whom Vinita, Oklahoma is named. Ream became a sculptor of several statues in Washington, D.C., including one of Abraham Lincoln placed in the United States Capitol rotunda.

Death

Welch died on January 29, 1970, of a heart attack, at Bedford Memorial Hospital in Bedford, Virginia.[1]

Head coaching record

Football

Year Team Overall ConferenceStanding Bowl/playoffs
Washington State Cougars (Pacific Coast Conference) (1919–1922)
1919 Washington State 5–22–2T–3rd
1920 Washington State 5–11–1T–3rd
1921 Washington State 4–2–12–1–12nd
1922 Washington State 2–51–57th
Washington State: 16–10–16–9–1
Randolph–Macon Yellow Jackets (Independent) (1923–1926)
1923 Randolph–Macon 0–8
1924 Randolph–Macon 1–6–2
1925 Randolph–Macon 0–8
1926 Randolph–Macon 1–7
Randolph–Macon Yellow Jackets (Virginia Conference) (1927–1928)
1927 Randolph–Macon 2–31–25th
1928 Randolph–Macon 0–7–10–4–18th
Randolph–Macon: 4–39–31–6–1
Haskell Indians (Independent) (1933–1934)
1933 Haskell 2–6–3
1934 Haskell 3–6–1
Haskell: 5–12–4
American Eagles (Independent) (1937–1938)
1937 American 1–6–1
1938 American 1–4
American: 2–10–1
Total:27–71–9

References

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