Allen Steckle Allen Chubb " A . C . " Steckle ( July 1872 – March 5 , 1938 ) was an American football player and coach . He played tackle for the University of Michigan from 1897 – 1899 and later served as the head football coach at the University of Nevada and Oregon State University , then known as Oregon Agricultural College . Steckle was selected as an All - American in 1898 and achieved fame in 1903 when his Nevada Sagebrush team , drawn from a school with 80 students , defeated the University of California football team . Early years . Steckle was born in July 1872 at Freeport , Michigan . His father , Abraham B . Steckle , was born in Waterloo Township , Ontario , Canada , in 1842 , and worked as a farmer . His mother , Sarah ( Furtney ) Steckle , was also a native of Waterloo Township . His parents were married in December 1867 in Waterloo County , Ontario . At the time of the 1880 United States Census , Steckle was residing with his parents and six siblings in Campbell Township , Michigan . University of Michigan . Steckle played football for the University of Michigan from 1897 to 1899 and was captain of the 1899 team . In 1898 , Steckle was among the first western players to be named to an All - American team after being selected by Walter Camp as his second - team tackle . He helped Michigan win its first Western Conference championship in 1898 and was selected as the best tackle in the West . One newspaper wrote that he was " as good a defensive player as one will find anywhere . " Coaching career . Nevada . From 1901 to 1903 , Steckle served as the head football coach at the University of Nevada . In 1903 , he was also appointed to the position as the university ' s Physical Director . In his three seasons as the head coach , he compiled a 6 – 9 – 2 record . When Steckle ' s Nevada Sagebrush team defeated the University of California in 1903 , it was the cause of a statewide celebration . The entire front page of the " Daily Nevada State Journal " was given to coverage of the game , and the banner headline read : " CALIFORNIA ' S PROUD COLORS LOWERED BY THE DOUGHTY ELEVEN FROM SAGEBRUSHDOM . " Steckle ' s picture appeared on the front page , and the paper praised his efforts in turning Nevada into a football power : " Out of the eighty students of the N . S . U . have been selected eleven young men who were moulded into shape by Dr . Steckle , the best football coach who ever came to the Coast . He made of them the peers of the flower of the California universities . " The victory of a university with only 80 students over the University of California with its 3 , 000 students was haled as a historic accomplishment , and " Coach Steckle ' s brand of ' roughhouse ' " play was given much of the credit . Steckle ' s star players at Nevada from 1901 to 1903 were his younger brother Ivan X . Steckle , who played halfback , and Abe Steckle , who played tackle . Ivan Steckle was reportedly " the hero of all Nevada during the football season of 1903 , when in a game with the University of California on the U . C . field , he grabbed the football close to the Nevada goal line and made a wonderful 86 - yard run to the California goal line , scoring a touchdown for the Sagebrush players and bringing victory to the team . " Ivan left Nevada after the 1903 season to follow his older brother to the University of Michigan Medical School . Ivan died from typhoid fever in 1909 , and Steckle accompanied his brother ' s body to the family ' s old home in Freeport , Michigan . In 1919 , a Nevada newspaper rated Steckle as the best football coach Nevada ever had and described his accomplishments as follows : " It was under the coaching of Dr . Steckle that Nevada was able to defeat the University of California and play a tie with Stanford as well as bang it over the crack athletic club teams that San Francisco boasted when the great college game was in its hey dey . He was rated at that time as one of the best coaches in the West . " Steckle was also remembered at Nevada for his ability to instill " college spirit " in the school ' s student body . In 1919 , a Nevada newspaper noted that " there was more enthusiasm displayed in college athletics while he was coach than there has been in all the years since he left . " As a medical doctor and athletic coach , Steckle was also known for his belief in physical conditioning . He was known to require every athlete to be in perfect physical condition before playing in any intercollegiate or " big " game . Steckle was also a basketball coach . While at Nevada , he coached the women ' s basketball team to " a high stage of perfection , being able to take the measure of all the coast college teams . " Oregon State . After his success with the 1903 Nevada team , Steckle was offered a higher salary to take over as the football coach at Oregon State . He served as Oregon State ' s head coach from 1904 to 1905 and compiled a 10 – 5 record in those two seasons . Medical career . After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1899 , Steckle enrolled in the Illinois College of Physicians and Surgeons . Steckle ' s principal profession was as a medical doctor and surgeon . However , he took time out of his medical practice to coach college football for several years . After the 1905 football season , Steckle decided to quit coaching and focus on his medical practice . At the time of the 1920 United States Census , he was living in Vancouver , Washington with his wife , Margaret ( born c . 1887 ) and two daughters , Catherine J . Steckle and Sarah E . Steckle . His occupation was listed as a physician in general practice . He maintained his medical practice for many years in Battle Ground , Washington . At the time of the 1930 United States Census , Steckle was living in South Battle Ground , Washington , with daughters Catherine J . and S . Elizabeth Steckle , and his sister - in - law , Nesbit Daline . His occupation was listed as a physician and surgeon . Death . In March 1938 , Steckle was found dead beside his automobile on a side road near his home with " a . 38 caliber bullet through his head . " Steckle left his home the previous night for a house call and never returned . Several threatening letters were found among Steckle ' s papers , including one demanding " $ 2 , 000 or else . "