Clayton Teetzel Clayton Tryon Teetzel ( August 26 , 1876 – July 29 , 1948 ) was an American athlete and athletic coach . He played American football and competed in track for the University of Michigan from 1897 to 1899 and later coached football , basketball and track at Michigan State Normal College ( now Eastern Michigan University ) , Benton Harbor High School , Brigham Young University , and Utah State University . Early years . Teetzel was born in Michigan in 1876 . His father , William H . Teetzel , was a native of Canada who worked as a traveling salesman . His mother , Carrie Teetzel , was a native of Michigan . At the time of the 1880 United States Census , Teetzel was living with his parents and older brother , William H . Teetzel , in Indianapolis , Indiana . The family later moved to Chicago where the father worked as a salesman . Teetzel became a track star at Englewood High School in 1894 . In 1895 , Teetzel transferred to the Michigan Military Academy in Orchard Lake , Michigan , but returned to Englewood High School for his senior year in 1896 . During his high school career , he won Illinois state high school championships in the 440 - yard dash and 880 - yard run , and finished in the top three in the 220 - yard dash and the mile run . Teetzel also played football for Englewood . After leading Englewood to a 28 – 6 victory over rival Lake View , a Chicago newspaper wrote : " The playing of Teetzel was the feature of the game . The Lake View men seemed unable to stop him when he had the ball and hit their line for repeated gains . At one time he broke through the line of the opposing team and carried the ball 100 yards for a touchdown and made many runs of from thirty to forty yards . " The Englewood school newspaper lauded his contributions as follows : " Clayton Teetzel , at Right Half Back , deserves considerable more space than we can allot to him . He is as good a player as Englewood High School has ever turned out , and is capable of playing on almost any college team in the country . A swift runner , dodger and exceedingly difficult to tackle , he hits the line with almost irresistible force . All the praise and flattery that he gets fails to make him conceited , which amount to a virtue in his case . He probably has carried the oval more yards than any other high school player in the country this year . " University of Michigan . After graduating from high school , Teetzel enrolled at the University of Michigan where he played football and also ran for the track team . Teetzel played end for the 1897 Michigan Wolverines football team that compiled a record of 6 – 1 – 1 and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 168 to 31 . In the Wolverines ' season - ending loss to Chicago in 1897 , Teetzel scored Michigan ' s first touchdown on a long run through left tackle ( and kicked the goal after touchdown ) and was cited as one of two Michigan players who had outplayed his adversary : " Teetzel did splendid work and if anything had a little better of the argument with Hamill . Outside of Teetzel and Quarterback Howard Felver , however , the Chicago players outplayed their opponents . " Teetzel also played at the end position for the undefeated 1898 Michigan Wolverines football team that won the university ' s first Western Conference championship . In 1899 , Teetzel moved to the halfback position for the Wolverines team that compiled an 8 – 2 record and outscored opponents 176 to 43 . Teetzel graduated from the University of Michigan Law School with an LL . B . degree in 1900 . Michigan State Normal College . Teetzel served as the football coach at Michigan State Normal College , now Eastern Michigan University , from 1900 through 1902 , compiling a 6 - 14 - 1 record . He was the first person to coach at MSNC for longer than one year . Benton Harbor High School . He served as the football coach at Benton Harbor High School from 1903 to 1904 . In 2002 , a book titled " The Way We Played the Game : A True Story of One Team and the Dawning of American Football , " was published . The book told the story of Benton Harbor High School ' s 1903 football team and American football in its nascent form . Coach Teetzel is depicted in the book as a disciplined strategist who teaches his players a " thinking man ' s game . " Shortly after Teetzel left Benton Harbor in 1905 to take a position with Brigham Young University , a Benton Harbor newspaper paid tribute to Teetzel ' s contributions and reported on an accident suffered by Teetzel : " Coach Teetzel , the man who made the Benton Harbor football team famous the past two years and gave Benton Harbor a reputation that she could have secured in no other way met with the most serious accident of his life . While doing some fancy stunts in the gymnasium in the Brighasn Young University at Provo , Utah , on March 6 , he fell and broke his leg four inches above the ankle . Teetzel is now instructor in athletics at the Brigham Young university . " Brigham Young . In early 1905 , Teetzel , a non - Mormon , was hired to supervise the extracurricular sports program at Brigham Young University . Shortly afterwards , the university began offering its first physical education classes , with " free - arm movements and dumb - bell drills " for men and , for coeds , " fancy marching " and " wand drills . " In April 1905 , Teetzel led Brigham Young ' s track team in its first dual meet in six years against the University of Utah . It was reported in the local press that Teetzel , " one of the greatest sprinters that ever left Michigan , " had taught the Brigham Young men his stride . During the fall of 1905 , Teetzel was granted a leave to return to Michigan to coach the Benton Harbor football team . ( BYU did not have a football team until the 1920s . ) After coaching Benton Harbor to an undefeated season , he returned to Provo where BYU ' s athletes were reportedly pleased to have him back . Teetzel met with his greatest success at Brigham Young as the coach of the university ' s basketball team . He coached the BYU basketball team to an 11 – 1 record in the 1905 – 06 season and followed with records of 7 – 3 and 4 – 2 in the 1906 – 07 and 1907 – 08 seasons . After Teetzel announced his resignation , Teetzel was honored at a dinner at which the athletic association presented him with a gold stop watch and the faculty presented him with " an autograph album of Provo views . " Utah State . In May 1908 , Teetzel was hired as coach at Utah State Agricultural College , at Logan , Utah , replacing Coach Fred M . Walker . Teetzel ' s duties at Utah State included coaching the basketball , baseball , football , track , wrestling , swimming and boxing teams . Teetzel recruited athletes from California and elsewhere and developed one of the top track teams in the far west , while also training dozens of men in boxing and wrestling . In his first season as the school ' s basketball coach , the team compiled a record of 1 – 11 . After three more losing seasons , Teetzel turned the program around . The Utah State basketball team compiled a record of 10 – 4 in the 1913 – 14 season under Teetzel . As coach of the Utah State football team , Teetzel compiled the following record : After seven years as the head of the athletic department at Utah State , Teetzel announced in early 1916 that he was taking an extended vacation trip to California and would return to Logan the latter part of the year . He resigned his coaching responsibilities , leading to reports that he would be replacing Coach Glaze at the University of Southern California . Teetzel denied the rumors and told the press that he was " through with the coaching game " and wished to go into business . He had received his law degree from Michigan in 1900 , passed the Utah bar examination , and indicated he would prefer to practice law . Newspapers in Utah reported at the time : " When Teelzel leaves the college , he leaves with the good will of every student , faculty member and friend of the college . . . . Teetzel is well liked all over the state for his true sportsmanship and the way in which be has treated all with whom he has come in contact . " Family and later years . At the time of the 1910 United States Census , Teetzel was living in Logan , Utah with his wife , Jessie , and their three children , Henry ( age 7 ) , Phillip ( age 3 ) , and Carolyn ( age 2 ) . In September 1918 , Teetzel was living in Chicago , Illinois and working as an advertising solicitor for the " Chicago Tribune " . At the time of the 1930 United States Census , Teetzel was living in Chicago with his wife , Jessie B . Teetzel , and their son , Henry G . Teetzel . His occupation was listed as a solicitor for advertising copy . In his later years , Teetzel spent his summers in South Haven , Michigan . He died in South Haven in July 1948 at age 71 .