Evening star., 1953-02-27
Chief Guyon, Dead at 69, Won
Countless Titles at Eastern
By George Huber

NIIdIIcS Mayo IuyOQ was q
colorful and beloved character
who was responsible for a host
Of stories and anecdotes during
his 80 years as coach of various
sports at Eastern High School.
Known affectionately as 1.-The
Chief" by the students and ath-
letes at Eastern. he seemed in
deStructible, but an automobile
accident near Tulsa, Okla, Tues
day ended his life at SO. He will
be buried tomorrow at Shawnee,
Okla.
Guyon was a Chippewa Indian,
born at White Earth, Mimi, in
1883.
The Chief felt he was living
on borrowed time in his last 16
years. His heart halted after an
attack Of indigestion in 1886, but
at Providence Hospital he re-
Sponded to stimulants.
Led Active Life.
He crowded a lot of activity
into his career. At times he
would fight" with his best
friends. He had troubles with
school authorities and opposing
coaches, and he had occasional
bouts with f1rewater. But he was
universally liked and, as John
Paul Collins, principal of Eastern
High School and Guyon's friend
for many years, said. There
isn't boy who hasn't been a
better man for having associated
with the Chief"
Guyon was graduated at Has
kell Institute Indian School in
Kansas in 1904 and from Car
Isle Institute in Pennsylvania
in 1907. He played football under
Pop Warner at Carlisle, also an
Indian school, but his brother,
Joe, was more famous as a COL
lege star, playing at Georgia
Tech after leaving Carlisle. After
leaving school, Guyon played fro
fesSional football, baseball and
basketball and he liked to relate
how rough these sports were in
his day.
Sold Sports Goods.
In between he was a sporting
goods salesman, and it was this
occupation which brought him
to the attention of the late
Charles Hart, then principal of
Eastern. On the recommended
ton of the late Cy Macdonald,
Washington manager of Spald-
ing's. Hart offered Guyon the
job of coaching all sports at
Eastern.
The salary offer was $1,000.
Guyon said he would think it
over. and went back home to
Minnesota. From there he
wired an acceptance, and asked
for transportation money back
to Washington. This Hart re-
fused, and he said he made
the Chief find his own way to
Washington. But later it was
revealed that Hart, noted for his
kindliness, paid Guyon's fare.
Eastern hadn't made much of
ripple in sports until Guyon
appeared, but things immedi-
ately changed for the better.
For a while he coached all
sports. but gradually as the ath-
letic staff increased he gave
them up one by one. During
the last five years before his
retirement in June of 1851 he
acted only in an advisory ca
pacity.
Couldn't Remember Titles.
The chief said he couldn't re-
member how many high school
championships his teams won,
but some one at Eastern once
figured the school had taken 80
in football, baseball, basketball
and track during Guyon's reign.
During one 11-year stretch his
baseball teams won eight cham
pionships, tied for another and
was second the other two sea-
sons. So successful were some
OF his basketball teams they re-
ceived more invitations to big
out-of-town tournaments than
they could handle.
Although Guyon wanted to win
games as much as the next man,
he also was interested in the
character, of his boys and liked
to brag about the successes they
made in other endeavors.
Proud of 1927 Team.
Once, talking along that line,
he said, Take my 1927 football
team. We won the champion
ship, all right. but do you know,
every one of those boys went to
college and finished, and every
one of them is a successful busi-
neSsman today. That's the kind
OF fellows we had at Eastern"
Guyon was a "cutie" at times,
When he found that Principal
Hart always cut his athletic
budgets, he would jack up the
amount he wanted. Once when
granted $275 after requesting
$3.50. he replied, That's Just
what I wanted"
One year at Eastern he had a
baseball team of the good field.
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