FORMER HEAD COACH BIOS HEAD COACH
HEAD COACH
Years: 1916-17 & 1920-32 (15) Record: 148-74 (.667)
Years: 1933-36 (4) Record: 29-28 (.509)
BURKE HERMANN
Burke M. “Dutch” Hermann, Penn State’s first basketball coach, retired in 1956, after a nearly 50-year affiliation with the University. A 1912 Penn State graduate, Hermann guided the Nittany Lions from 1916 until 1932, with the exception of two years of service as a lieutenant during World War I. The team did not have a coach in 1918, however; Hugo Bezdek served as coach in 1919. Hermann also served as freshman football coach during those years. Hermann, who hailed from Middleburg, Pa., lettered four years in basketball, served as captain in 1910 and lettered as a football player in 1911. He compiled a record of 148-74 during 15 seasons as head basketball coach. Hermann’s teams were especially dominating over a six-year period from the start of the 1919-20 season through the ’24-25 season. The Lions were 7313 during that stretch and, in 1921, outscored their opponents by a two-to-one margin. As a professor of history, Hermann served on Penn State’s Athletic Advisory Board for many years. He was awarded the Lion’s Paw Medal by that organization’s Alumni Association in 1968. Hermann died in 1977. HEAD COACH
HUGO BEZDEK Year: 1919 (1) Record: 11-2 (.846)
Hugo Bezdek, a native of Prague, Czechoslovakia, earned numerous accolades as Penn State’s football coach from 1918-29. He also served as athletic director from 1918-36,and directed the basketball team for one season (1919) while then-head coach Burke Hermann served during WWI. Bezdek’s 1919 Penn State team went 11-2 and finished the year with eight straight wins. As athletic director, Bezdek initiated fund raising in 1918 to build Rec Hall and 10 years later the building was constructed for $572,260. Bezdek gained All-America status at Chicago, where he was a fullback in football and a second baseman on the baseball team. His collegiate coaching experience included head football coaching jobs at Oregon (1906, 13-17), where his team defeated Pennsylvania, 14-0, in the 1917 Rose Bowl, and Arkansas (1908-12). He also managed the Pittsburgh Pirates major league baseball club (1917-19). Bezdek, who died in 1952, posted a 65-30-11 record during 12 seasons as head football coach at Penn State. He was named to the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame in 1954 and the Helms Foundation College Hall of Fame in 1960.
EARL LESLIE
A 1922 graduate of the University of Oregon, Earl “Spike” Leslie coached the Penn State basketball team for four seasons from 1933-36. A three-year football letterman at Oregon (1919-21), he was named to the Pacific Coast Conference first team as a tackle in 1920. Leslie earned his master’s degree from Columbia. Despite reduced schedules in 1933 and 1934, Leslie’s first two teams posted winning records. His 1934-35 outfit raced out to an 8-3 start, before dropping its final six games. In 1935-36, Penn State joined the “fast” Eastern Intercollegiate Conference and went 0-10, 6-11 overall. Highlights during Leslie’s tenure included four straight wins over Army and a rare road win at Pennsylvania. He achieved a composite mark of 29-28. Leslie returned to Oregon as a teacher and coach at Coquille High School, southwest of Eugene. He remained in that capacity until he died on Oct. 12, 1957. The Coquille football stadium is named in his honor. HEAD COACH
JOHN LAWTHER
Years: 1937-49 (13) Record: 150-93 (.617) NCAA tournament: 1-1 Raised on a farm in Carroll County, Ohio, John Lawther earned national recognition as one of the leading proponents of zone defenses during 23 seasons as a coach at Westminster College and Penn State. A 1919 Westminster graduate, Dr. Lawther retired from the Penn State faculty in 1965 following a long and distinguished career in secondary and higher education. As basketball coach from 1937 until 1949, he compiled a 150-93 record. Lawther’s first team posted a 6-4 Eastern Conference mark after a 0-10 league slate the previous year. His 1942 team went 18-3 and advanced to the NCAA East Regional, defeating Big Ten champ Illinois. Lawther had a great running feud with animated Pittsburgh coach Doc Carlson, who despised the zone which Lawther favored. When the two teams met Jan. 15, 1944, in the Steel City, Pittsburgh froze the ball and the resulting 15-12 Penn State win grabbed national headlines. Great anticipation surrounded the rematch as Carlson attacked the Lions’ zone and lost, 35-29. In 10 seasons at Westminster, Lawther’s teams compiled an impressive 166-35 mark. His most memorable moment coaching the Titans came on Dec. 29, 1934, when he guided them to a 37-33 win over undefeated St. John’s in the first college basketball doubleheader at Madison Square Garden. PSU’s wartime coach, Lawther was elected to the NAIA Basketball Hall of Fame in 1962 and is a member of the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame. Lawther’s winning percentage (317-127, 71.4 percent) still ranks among the top 50 all-time in Division I.
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