Bill Roper (American football)

William Winston Roper (August 22, 1880 – December 10, 1933) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the Virginia Military Institute (1903–1904), Princeton University (1906–1908, 1910–1911, 1919–1930), the University of Missouri (1909), and Swarthmore College (1915–1916), compiling a career college football record of 112–38–18. Roper's Princeton Tigers football teams of 1906, 1911, 1920, and 1922 have been recognized as national champions. His 89 wins are the most of any coach in the history of the program. Roper was also the head basketball coach at Princeton for one season in 1902–03, tallying a mark of 8–7. Roper played football as an end, basketball, and baseball as an outfielder at Princeton, from which he graduated in 1902. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1951.

Bill Roper
Roper in 1909
Biographical details
Born(1880-08-22)August 22, 1880
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedDecember 19, 1933(1933-12-19) (aged 53)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Playing career
1899–1902Princeton
Position(s)End (football)
Outfielder (baseball)
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1903–1904VMI
1906–1908Princeton
1909Missouri
1910–1911Princeton
1915–1916Swarthmore
1919–1930Princeton
Basketball
1902–1903Princeton
Head coaching record
Overall112–38–18 (football)
8–7 (basketball)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Football
4 National (1906, 1911, 1920, 1922)
1 MVC (1909)
College Football Hall of Fame
Inducted in 1951 (profile)

Roper served on the NCAA Football Rules Committee.[1]

Early life and playing career

Roper was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 22, 1880. He attended the William Penn Charter School where he played football, basketball, and baseball. He continued all three sports in college at Princeton University.[1]

Coaching career

VMI

Roper was the sixth head football coach at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington, Virginia, serving for two seasons, from 1903 to 1904, and compiling a record of 5–6. Roper had planned to study medicine, but was unable to, for health reasons. While a coach at VMI, he studied law, and later in life he became qualified as an attorney.[1]

Princeton

In 1906, Roper was the head coach at Princeton and held that position through the 1908 season. During his first stint as the head coach at Princeton, he compiled a 21–4–4 record.

Missouri

Roper coached football at the University of Missouri for the 1909 season, where his team went 7–0–1 and won the Missouri Valley Conference title.

Return to Princeton

His second stint at Princeton lasted from 1910 to 1911. During that tenure, he compiled a 15–1–2 record.

Swarthmore

In 1915 and 1916, Roper coached at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. In his two seasons at Swarthmore, the team compiled a record of 11–4–1.

Third term at Princeton

In his final stint at Princeton, Roper held his longest-tenured coaching position. His term lasted from 1919 to 1930, but ended due to an illness. He continues to hold the record for most wins by a Princeton coach.

William Winston Roper Trophy

Princeton University's highest honor for a male athlete, the William Winston Roper Trophy, is named in his honor and awarded annually.[2] Some of the more recent honorees have included NFL football player Dennis Norman (’01), lacrosse player Ryan Boyle (‘04), Olympic and world champion fencer Soren Thompson (‘05), MLB baseball player Will Venable (‘05), squash player Yasser El Halaby ('06), and lacrosse player Peter Trombino ('07).[3]

Political and business career

In 1912, United States President Woodrow Wilson appointed Roper as the appraiser of merchandise at the Port of Philadelphia.[4] He was later a member of the Philadelphia City Council and the local manager of the Prudential Insurance Company. As a politician he worked successfully to repeal prohibition, though he himself was a teetotaller, and to change Pennsylvania's blue laws, which did not allow sports on Sundays.[1]

Head coaching record

Football
Year Team Overall ConferenceStanding Bowl/playoffs
VMI Keydets (Independent) (1903–1904)
1903 VMI 2–1
1904 VMI 3–5
VMI: 5–6
Princeton Tigers (Independent) (1906–1908)
1906 Princeton 9–0–1
1907 Princeton 7–2
1908 Princeton 5–2–3
Missouri Tigers (Missouri Valley Conference) (1909)
1909 Missouri 7–0–14–0–11st
Missouri: 7–0–1
Princeton Tigers (Independent) (1910–1911)
1910 Princeton 7–1
1911 Princeton 8–0–2
Swarthmore Quakers (Independent) (1915–1916)
1915 Swarthmore 5–3
1916 Swarthmore 6–1–1
Swarthmore: 11–4–1
Princeton Tigers (Independent) (1919–1930)
1919 Princeton 4–2–1
1920 Princeton 6–0–1
1921 Princeton 4–3
1922 Princeton 8–0
1923 Princeton 3–3–1
1924 Princeton 4–2–1
1925 Princeton 5–1–1
1926 Princeton 5–1–1
1927 Princeton 6–1
1928 Princeton 5–1–2
1929 Princeton 2–4–1
1930 Princeton 1–5–1
Princeton: 89–28–16
Total:112–38–18
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

See also

References
  1. "Bill Roper Is Dead" (PDF). The New York Times. December 11, 1933. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
  2. "Awards". Princeton Varsity Club. Archived from the original on February 11, 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
  3. "William Winston Roper Trophy". Princeton Varsity Club. Archived from the original on October 8, 2007. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  4. "Bill Roper Dies at 53". The Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. December 11, 1933. p. 30. Retrieved October 11, 2010 – via Google News.
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