Ted Bank Theodore Paul " Ted " Bank ( December 13 , 1897 – June 3 , 1986 ) was an American college football player , coach and athletic director . Bank was a starting quarterback for Fielding Yost ' s 1920 and 1921 Wolverine football teams . He graduated from the university in 1923 and began a career in coaching , beginning at the high school level in Louisiana . From 1929 to 1935 , he was an assistant football coach at Tulane University . He also served as the head baseball coach at Tulane in 1930 and 1932 , in addition to serving as the university ' s boxing coach . In 1935 , Bank was hired as the head football coach and athletic director at the University of Idaho , positions which he held until January 1941 . From February 1941 to January 1945 , Bank again served in the U . S . Army , as chief of the Army ' s athletics and recreation branch for three years and attained the rank of colonel . In January 1945 , Bank became president of the Athletic Institute of America , a non - profit organization based in Chicago serving to promote physical fitness and athletics in the U . S . , and served in that office through 1966 . Early years and World War I . Bank attended high school in Flint , Michigan . After graduating from high school , he enlisted in the U . S . Army at age 18 . He served on the Mexican border and played quarterback for an Army football team . When the U . S . entered World War I in 1917 , Bank served with the 32nd Infantry Division of the American Expeditionary Force in France . He saw combat in several battles and was gassed and suffered a knee injury from shrapnel . He was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant at age 20 , although " a special dispensation had to be secured to make him an officer because he was under 21 . " Before the end of the war , he was again promoted to first lieutenant . Bank was decorated by both the French and British governments , receiving the French Croix de Guerre . After the war , Bank served with the Army of Occupation on the Rhine for more than six months . University of Michigan . After his discharge from the military , Bank enrolled at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1919 . Despite the wartime injury to his knee , Bank tried out for the Wolverines football team . A specially constructed knee brace enabled him to play football , and he played halfback on the freshman football team in 1919 . In 1920 , Bank started three of Michigan ' s seven games at quarterback . The Wolverines were undefeated and unscored upon in Bank ' s three games as the starting quarterback — a 21 – 0 victory over Tulane , a 14 – 0 victory over Chicago and a 3 – 0 victory over Minnesota . Press accounts indicated that he was " responsible in large measure " for Michigan ' s 14 – 0 victory over Amos Alonzo Stagg ' s Chicago Maroons . " The Michigan Alumnus " noted : " For hours after the [ Chicago ] game was over Michigan students and alumni were singing the praises of Theodore Banks [ sic ] , substitute quarterback . Put into the opening lineup almost at the eleventh hour , because of an injury to Jack Dunn , the little sophomore played the greatest game of the day . His generalship was faultless , his open field running was spectacular and above all he kept up the morale of the team in such a fashion that victory was never in doubt . " As a junior in 1921 , Bank won the role as Michigan ' s starting quarterback . He started four of the team ' s six games at quarterback and a fifth game at left halfback . He was injured during the 1921 season , and Irwin Uteritz took over as starting quarterback . Michigan did not lose a game in which Bank played quarterback during the 1920 and 1921 seasons . Bank was mentioned by Walter Camp for All - American honors after the 1921 season and appeared to be a leading All - American candidate in 1922 . However , a broken foot kept Bank from playing football as a senior . Several days after sustaining the injury , Bank was married to Madylin Huber of Detroit at the home of his parents . Bank stood with the aid of crutches during the wedding ceremony . He graduated from the university with a bachelor of arts degree in 1923 . Coaching career . High school . Following college , Bank accepted a position as the head football coach at Patterson High School in St . Mary Parish , Louisiana . Coaching at a school with only 50 male students , Bank ' s 1925 or 1926 team did not allow a single point to be scored by its opponents . College . Tulane . In 1929 , Bank was hired by Bernie Bierman as a football coach at Tulane University in New Orleans . He was the freshman coach under Bierman starting in 1929 and became an assistant coach under Ted Cox starting in 1932 . During Bank ' s tenure at Tulane , the football team compiled records of 9 – 0 , 8 – 1 , 11 – 1 , 6 – 2 – 1 , 6 – 3 – 1 and 10 – 1 . Bank also served as the head coach for the Tulane Green Wave baseball team in 1930 and 1932 , but went winless with a record of 0 – 17 . The author of a history of Tulane ' s baseball program noted : " During two different seasons – 1930 and 1932 – Bank compiled a dismal 0 – 17 record . As a result , the university elected to drop baseball as a varsity sport . The minutes of the Tulane Athletic Council recorded ' a milestone in Tulane athletic history ' with the unanimous passage of a motion to ' abolish baseball on campus in 1931 for ever and ever . ' " Bank also served as the boxing coach at Tulane . In 1934 , he was on a list of candidates for the head coaching position at the University of Texas in Austin . At the time , a San Antonio newspaper gave Bank credit for the success of Tulane ' s backfield stars : " His results speak for themselves . He has been a vital factor in the development of such backfield stars as Nollie Felts , Francis Payne , Red Dawson , Wop Glover , Johnny McDaniel , Joe Loftin and a dozen others . His boxing teams for five years have either won the Southern championship or been runner - up . They are defending champions again this year . . . Bernie Bierman and Ted Cox both declare that Bank could do more to make a varsity player out of a scrub or freshman in a short space of time than anyone they had ever seen . . . . His value for scouting duty has been vital , too . He is the chief scout for Coach Cox and one of the best in the business . " Tulane finished the 1934 season with a 10 – 1 record and a victory over Temple in the 1935 Sugar Bowl on New Year ' s Day . Idaho . In February 1935 , Bank was hired as the head football coach and athletic director at the University of Idaho in Moscow , then a member of the Pacific Coast Conference . Following a 4 - 3 - 1 record in his third season on the Palouse in 1937 , Bank was on the short list of many to succeed Harry Kipke as head coach at Michigan , his alma mater . Bank denied interest in replacing Kipke , a teammate at Michigan , and told the press , " I am perfectly satisfied at Idaho . I have not been contacted by the Michigan athletic board and would think twice before leaving Idaho . " In January 1938 , Idaho ' s state board of education announced that Bank had signed a three - year contract renewal and would remain as the university ' s football coach and director of physical education . His best season came that fall , when the Vandals finished with a record of 6 – 3 – 1 , with victories over Oregon State , Utah , and Utah State , and a tie with Washington . The 1937 and 1938 seasons were Idaho ' s only winning ones in football between 1927 and 1963 , when the Vandals went 5 - 4 as an independent under Dee Andros ( the tenth game on November 23 was canceled ) . The 1938 season was the highest winning percentage ( . 650 ) between 1927 and 1971 . Consecutive winning seasons at Idaho were not achieved again until 1982 - 83 under Dennis Erickson in the Big Sky Conference in Division I - AA . ( Idaho had fifteen consecutive winning seasons from 1982 - 96 . ) The success of 1937 and 1938 was not maintained as Idaho went 2 - 6 in 1939 and 1 – 7 – 1 in 1940 ( and winless in conference games ) , giving Bank a six - year overall record of 18 – 33 – 3 ( . 361 ) . He was fired as the Vandals ' head football coach in January 1941 , part of an upheaval that included the resignation of the head basketball coach . World War II military service . In February 1941 , Bank , who had remained in the Army Reserves following his service in World War I , was ordered by the War Department to report for active duty in Washington , D . C . He was placed in charge of a $ 3 million program to build field house s and gymnasiums across the country . In February 1942 , Bank was promoted from the rank of major to lieutenant colonel , and he eventually attained the rank of colonel . He was involved in organizing athletics and recreation in the U . S . and in overseas theaters of war . Bank was the chief of the Army ' s athletics and recreation branch for three years and in 1944 was named assistant to Maj . Gen . Joseph W . Byron , the head of the Army ' s special services division . Athletic Institute . In January 1945 , Bank was released from the Army and was appointed as the president of the Athletic Institute of America , a non - profit group headquartered in Chicago and having the purpose of promoting physical fitness through athletics , recreation and research . As president of the Athletic Institute , Bank advocated the expansion of sports programs and espoused the view that collegiate and high school athletics played an important part in World War II and for the country ' s future preparedness . In April 1945 , Bank noted , " If we had had such a program after the World War up to Pearl Harbor , we wouldn ' t have had married men with children being drafted , and sent into war zones . We wouldn ' t have had to take fathers because there wouldn ' t have been nearly so many rejections by draft boards , nor nearly so many medical discharges . " In 1955 , Bank delivered a speech in Los Angeles , telling recreation and athletic leaders that , with an increase of more than 11 million youngsters by 1956 , there was " a crying need for increased youth instruction and athletic fields in America . " Bank remained president of the Athletic Institute for more than 20 years , until his retirement at the end of 1966 . At the end of 1966 , Bank became the chairman of the board and was replaced as president by former Notre Dame football star , Larry " Moon " Mullins . In June 1949 , Bank received a master ' s degree in physical education from Springfield College . In 1951 , Bank was the recipient of the Simon A . McNeely Honor Award given annually by The Society of State Leaders of Health and Physical Education . In 1966 , USA Volleyball awarded him the George J . Fisher Leader in Volleyball Award . In October 1973 , the University of Idaho honored Bank ( then residing in Palm Desert , California ) with " Coach Bank Day , " including a reunion with 85 former Idaho athletes and a dinner in his honor . He was also inducted into the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame . Family and later years . Bank and his wife had two children . Their son , Theodore P . Bank II ( 1923 – 1981 ) , was an anthropologist and explorer . In 1950 , Ted Bank , Sr . , and / or Ted Bank , Jr . , led an expedition by University of Michigan scientists to the Aleutian Islands and discovered ancient cave dwellings on an unnamed rock off the southwestern tip of Tanaga Island . The rock was given the designation , " Michigan Rock . " Bank died in June 1986 at age 88 ; he was a resident of Indian Wells , California , at the time of his death .