Edward Moulton Edward W . " Dad " Moulton ( 1849 – July 19 , 1922 ) was an American sprinter , athletic trainer , and coach . He was a professional sprinter who won more than 300 races and was regarded as the American sprinting champion from 1872 to 1878 . Moulton later worked as a trainer of sprinters , wrestlers , boxers , and bicyclists . He trained many well - known track and field athletes from the 1880s through the 1910s , including the original " world ' s fastest human , " Al Tharnish , and Olympic medalists Alvin Kraenzlein ( four gold medals in 1900 ) , Charlie Paddock ( two gold medals and one silver in 1920 ) , Morris Kirksey ( one gold and one silver in 1920 ) , George Horine ( bronze medal in 1912 ) , and Feg Murray ( bronze medal in 1920 ) . In the 1890s , Moulton was also employed as a trainer and coach of American football , including one year as the head football coach at the University of Minnesota . Moulton also coached athletics and worked as a trainer at other schools , including the University of Michigan , the University of Iowa , and the University of Wisconsin . He spent most of the last 22 years of his life working as a coach and trainer of track and field , football and baseball at Stanford University . Early years . Moulton was born in 1848 or 1849 at Saint Anthony Falls , Minnesota , now part of Minneapolis . He was reported to be " the second white boy born in the place " . During the American Civil War , he enlisted in the 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery Regiment at age 14 or 15 . He participated in Sherman ' s March to the Sea and later became a scout and participated in " skirmishes " with the Indians during a mission blazing a trail to Helena , Montana . Professional sprinter . Moulton developed a reputation as a foot racer while living on the frontier , and later became a professional sprinter . It was while working in the west as a scout that Moulton ' s talent as a sprinter was discovered . One published story recounts the circumstance as follows : One morning . . . a young buffalo was sighted and because the horses were all picketed , the plainsmen were forced to give chase on foot . Moulton outdistanced them all , gained two hundred yards on the buffalo , no doubt very tired from trailing its herd , and succeeded in shooting it down . Thereafter , his name was a by - word on the plains . He did not lose a race that year . Moulton was considered the American sprinting champion from 1872 to 1878 . According to one account , he won 303 consecutive races . According to another account , he lost only four of 306 contests in which he entered . Training and coaching career . Early years as a trainer . After retiring as a sprinter , Moulton worked as a trainer of sprinters , wrestlers , boxers , and bicyclists . He trained 11 volunteer fireman ' s hose teams that won nine state championships . He first won acclaim as the trainer for Al Tharnish , who became known in the 1880s as the " world ' s fastest human . " In 1971 , " Sports Illustrated " published a feature story on Tharnish . According to the article , Moulton discovered Tharnish performing in a circus and persuaded him to leave the circus . There were no open track - and - field events in the 1880s , and Tharnish ran in college meets , professional races and head - to - head challenges . According the 1971 " Sports Illustrated " story , " For four years Tharnish and Moulton were never in a town longer than two days , but during that time they managed to clean the local sports of money , medals and most of the simpler satisfactions of winning . " Over the next four decades , Moulton also trained other well - known track and field stars , including world champion sprinter Harry M . Johnson , Sheffield handicap champion James " Cuckoo " Collins , Olympic gold medalists Alvin Kraenzlein and Charlie Paddock , and University of Wisconsin sprinter James Maybury . He also performed on the vaudeville circuit with a trained dog act . Midwestern universities . During the 1890s , Moulton became involved in training and coaching football teams . In 1891 , Moulton was the trainer and head coach of the football team at the University of Minnesota . The 1891 squad compiled a record of 3 – 1 – 1 , including wins over Wisconsin ( 26 – 12 ) and Iowa ( 42 – 4 ) . From 1892 to 1893 , Moulton was affiliated with the University of Iowa . While at Iowa , he trained John V . Crum . In 1893 , Moulton served as the trainer for the 1893 Michigan Wolverines football team that compiled a 7 – 3 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 278 to 102 . In 1894 , he trained the University of Iowa football team . In 1895 , Moulton returned to the University of Minnesota as the trainer for the football team during the 1895 and 1896 seasons . He also coached sprinter John V . Crum in 1895 ; Crum won the intercollegiate championship in the 100 - yard and 220 - yard sprints . In January 1897 , Moulton was hired as the track and field coach at the University of Wisconsin . Moulton also reportedly worked as a trainer at the University of Missouri , Vanderbilt University , and Notre Dame University . Stanford . Moulton was hired as the trainer of the Stanford football team in approximately 1900 . He also began training the track and baseball teams in approximately 1902 . From 1903 to 1913 and again in 1916 , Moulton was Stanford ' s track coach . In 1905 , he rejected offers from Eastern universities , including Yale , to become a trainer at those institutions . He survived a bout with typhoid fever in 1910 . Moulton transformed Stanford into one of the country ' s leading track and field programs . The track stars developed by Moulton at Stanford include Morris Kirksey ( silver medalist in the 100 - meter dash at the 1920 Olympics ) , Norman Dole ( set world record in the pole vault in 1904 ) , George Horine ( bronze medalist in the high jump at the 1912 Olympics ) , Fred Crawford , Feg Murray ( bronze medalist in the 110 - meter hurdles at the 1920 Olympics ) , Leland Scott ( pole vaulter ) , and the Templeton brothers ( Rick and Dink ) . In 1907 , Moulton signed a four - year contract with Stanford at a salary of $ 1 , 800 per year . In 1911 , he signed a three - year contract at a salary of $ 2 , 000 per year . When the 1911 contract was announced , the " Los Angeles Times " reported , " Although Stanford did not have a successful year in athletics , from the standpoint of victories , ' Dad ' is just as popular as ever among the students . He is a fixture at Stanford . " However , by the summer of 1912 , the " Los Angeles Times " reported that students had concluded that greater success could be achieved with a younger trainer , although Moulton would likely be permitted to remain at Stanford for as long as he wished . With the exception of a year in 1915 when Moulton worked on the Panama – Pacific International Exposition , Moulton remained affiliated with Stanford until his death in 1922 . Moulton also won acclaim as a designer and builder of tracks . He built the tracks used for the 1915 Panama – Pacific International Exposition and managed the track during the exposition . He also built tracks at Stanford University , University of Minnesota , Iowa State University , Vanderbilt University , University of Tennessee , University of Wisconsin , Manchester , England , Notre Dame , Willamette College , and Pacific University . The Stanford Archives maintains two scrapbooks maintained by Moulton . The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings , flyers and letters documenting Moulton ' s career as an athlete and coach and concerning his trained dog vaudeville act . Family and death . As a young man Moulton married 15 - years old Emma Walter in Philadelphia on 13 January 1873 . Emma later became an Indian Club swinger and toured theatres , also clog dancing and singing . The couple ' s engagements meant they were often apart and Emma filed for a divorce at Denver on 29 June 1893 . The marriage was dissolved on 9 November 1893 . ( By then Emma had become acquainted with William B . Masterson , the noted lawman , gambler and sporting man , and she lived as Mrs . Bat Masterson for the rest of his life . ) Moulton married cyclist Ida Peterson on 5 September 1901 . and at the time of the 1910 United States Census , he was living in Palo Alto , California , with his wife Ida , a Minnesota native who was 26 years younger than Moulton , and their adopted son Edwin , who was born in approximately 1906 . His occupation was listed as an athletic trainer . At the time of the 1920 United States Census , Moulton was still living in Palo Alto with his wife Ida and son Edwin . His occupation at that time was listed as a custodian . Moulton died in July 1922 at his home in Palo Alto . He was survived by his wife and son . He was reportedly in good health up to the day of his death when an " attack of indigestion caused heart dilation " .