 Agase on a 1950 Bowman football card | |||||||||
| No. 36, 35, 62 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positions | Guard Linebacker | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1922-03-27)March 27, 1922 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died | May 3, 2007(2007-05-03) (aged 85) Tarpon Springs, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||
| Listed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||
| Listed weight | 212 lb (96 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Evanston (IL) Township | ||||||||
| College | Illinois Purdue | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1944: 8th round, 71st overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
Playing | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Coaching | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Operations | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics as of NFL/AAFC | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Alexander Arrasi Agase (March 27, 1922 – May 3, 2007) was an American professionalfootballguard andlinebacker who was named anAll-American three times in college and played on threeCleveland Browns championship teams before becominghead football coach atNorthwestern University andPurdue University.
Agase grew up in Illinois and attended theUniversity of Illinois, where he was a standout as aguard starting in 1941. He was named an All-American in 1942. Agase then entered theU.S. Marines during World War II and played a season at Purdue while in training. He was again named an All-American in 1943. After his discharge from the Marines, he came back to Illinois and played a final season in 1946, after which he was named an All-American for a third time. Agase began his professional football career with theLos Angeles Dons of theAll-America Football Conference (AAFC) in 1947, but was soon traded to theChicago Rockets and then the Browns, where he remained until 1952. Cleveland won two AAFC championships and oneNational Football League championship while Agase was on the team. After retiring from football, Agase worked as an assistant coach for theDallas Texans and, after a brief return to playing for theBaltimore Colts,Iowa State University. He was hired as an assistant at Northwestern in 1956 under head coachAra Parseghian.
Agase remained as an assistant until Parseghian left to coach atNotre Dame in 1963 and he was named the new head coach. Agase guided theNorthwestern Wildcats to a 32–58–1win-loss-tie record in nine seasons. He was named coach of the year by theFootball Writers Association of America after guiding the team to a 6–4 record in 1970. Agase left to coach at Purdue in 1972, but none of his teams posted a winning record there, and he was fired in 1977. He then spent six years as athletic director atEastern Michigan University before retiring. Agase died in 2007. He was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1963.
Agase was born inChicago to anAssyrian father, Goolasis(Charles) Agase (1883–1959), and anArmenian mother, Eslie Darwitt (1892–1971). Both were born inPersia.[1] His brotherLou was also involved with football.
He attendedEvanston Township High School, but only played on the school's varsity football team in hissenior year.[1] After graduating, he attended theUniversity of Illinois and playedcollege football there as a rightguard in 1941 and 1942.[2][3] In a 1942 game against theUniversity of Minnesota, Agase scored twotouchdowns for theFighting Illini, becoming only the second guard in college football history to accomplish that feat.[2] The first touchdown came in the second quarter, when Agase stripped the ball from Minnesota'sBill Daley and ran it back 35 yards.[4] The second was a fourth-quarter fumble recovery in the end zone to give Illinois a 20–13 victory.[4] In another game againstGreat Lakes Naval Training Station, a military team, Agase had 22 tackles.[2] Under coachRay Eliot, Illinois finished the season with a 6–4win–loss record.[5] Agase was named anAll-American after the season.[3]
Agase entered theU.S. military in 1943 as America's involvement in World War II intensified.[3] He was sent toPurdue University for training in theU.S. Marines and played on the school's football team along with enlistees from other schools.[6] Purdue had won just oneBig Ten Conference game the previous year, but the influx of trainees including Agase led to a reversal of fortune in 1943.[6] Coached byElmer Burnham, thePurdue Boilermakers won all of their games that year and were named Big Ten co-champions.[7] Agase was again named an All-American.[8]
During the following two years, Agase served on active duty in the war. He participated in the battles ofIwo Jima andOkinawa, where he received aPurple Heart after he was wounded in action.[9] He rose to the rank offirst lieutenant.[10] Agase returned to Illinois in 1946 and rejoined a Fightining Illini team that posted an 8–2 record and was ranked fifth in the nation in theAP Poll at season's end.[9][11][12] Illinois beat theUCLA Bruins in the1947 Rose Bowl after the season.[12] Agase was named an All-American for a third time, and received theChicago Tribune Silver Football as themost valuable player in the Big Ten.[9][10]
Agase had been selected by theGreen Bay Packers in the1944 NFL draft, but military service delayed his professional career. Although Green Bay still held the rights to him when he graduated from college, Agase instead signed in 1947 with theLos Angeles Dons of the newAll-America Football Conference (AAFC).[13] Agase, however, played just three games for the Dons before he was traded in September 1947 to theChicago Rockets, another AAFC team.[14] The Rockets finished the season in last place in the AAFC's western division with a 1–13 record.[15]
The Rockets traded Agase and fellow linemanChubby Grigg the following year to theCleveland Browns, who had won the AAFC championship in each of the league's first two years of play.[16][17] Led byquarterbackOtto Graham,fullbackMarion Motley andendsDante Lavelli andMac Speedie, Cleveland won the championship again in 1948, posting a perfect 14–0 record and beating theBuffalo Bills in the title game.[18] Another championship followed in 1949, but the AAFC then dissolved and the Browns, along with two other teams, were absorbed by the NFL.[19] Helped by a strong offensive line including Agase,centerFrank Gatski andtacklesLou Groza andLou Rymkus, Cleveland won theNFL championship in 1950.[20] The team reached theNFL championship in 1951 but lost to theLos Angeles Rams.[21] Cleveland lost 24–17 despite gaining more yards and more first downs than the Rams.[21] "It was a very disappointing loss", Agase later said. "We weren't quite as sharp as we normally were on offense."[22]
Before the 1952 season, the Browns traded Agase to theDallas Texans, a newly formed team set to start play that year. He ended his playing career and signed as a line coach with the Texans under head coachJim Phelan.[23] The Texans finished with a 1–11 record and folded after the season.[24][25] Agase came out of retirement briefly after the Texans disbanded, joining theBaltimore Colts and playing as alinebacker for the 1953 season.[26] The Colts finished the season with a 3–9 record, placing fifth in the NFL West division.[27]
Agase was offered a job as an assistant coach for the Colts, but instead joinedIowa State University as its line coach in early 1954 on a $7,000-a-year salary.[28] He and Iowa State head coachVince DiFrancesca had played football together in high school.[28] After two seasons at Iowa State, he signed as defensive line coach atNorthwestern University.[29] He worked under head coachAra Parseghian, a former Cleveland teammate.[29]
In seven years under Parseghian at Northwestern, Agase rose to become the coach's top assistant.[30] When Parseghian was offered the head coaching job at theUniversity of Notre Dame at the end of 1963, he recommended Agase as his replacement.[30] Agase got the job immediately after Parseghian left.[31]
Agase's first years as coach of theNorthwestern Wildcats football team were unsuccessful. The team had losing records each season between 1964 and 1969.[32] In 1970, however, the team finished with a 6–4 record, taking second place in the Big Ten Conference, and Agase was named the national coach of the year by theFootball Writers Association of America.[32][33] The Wildcats followed up with a 7–4 record in 1971, but fell to 2–9 in 1972.[32]
After nine seasons as the Northwestern coach, Agase accepted an offer at the end of 1972 to become head football coach at Purdue, one of the two schools for which he played.[34] Taking the job was "not an easy decision to make", he said at the time, because he was happy at Northwestern.[34] Agase coached at Purdue through the 1976 season. His teams never posted a winning record in his years there, although they did pull two noteworthy upsets of Top Ten teams, defeating #2 Notre Dame in South Bend in 1974 and #1 Michigan in West Lafayette in 1976.[32] He was fired in early 1977 and took a job asathletic director atEastern Michigan University inYpsilanti, Michigan.[35] He stayed in that job until 1982, when he unexpectedly resigned citing "personal reasons".[36]
Agase remained active in college football by assistingBo Schembechler as a volunteer at theUniversity of Michigan until 1987, focusing on special teams.[37] He was named to theWalter Camp Foundation all-century team in 1989 and the University of Illinois all-century team in 1990.[37][38] Agase was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1963.[8] While living in Tarpon Springs, Florida, Agase was an active member of George Young United Methodist Church, later renamed East Lake United Methodist Church. He died in 2007 at a hospital near his home inTarpon Springs, Florida.[8]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwestern Wildcats(Big Ten Conference)(1964–1972) | |||||||||
| 1964 | Northwestern | 3–6 | 2–5 | T–7th | |||||
| 1965 | Northwestern | 4–6 | 3–4 | 6th | |||||
| 1966 | Northwestern | 3–6–1 | 2–4–1 | T–7th | |||||
| 1967 | Northwestern | 3–7 | 2–5 | 8th | |||||
| 1968 | Northwestern | 1–9 | 1–6 | T–8th | |||||
| 1969 | Northwestern | 3–7 | 3–4 | T–5th | |||||
| 1970 | Northwestern | 6–4 | 6–1 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1971 | Northwestern | 7–4 | 6–3 | 2nd | |||||
| 1972 | Northwestern | 2–9 | 1–8 | 10th | |||||
| Northwestern: | 32–58–1 | 26–40–1 | |||||||
| Purdue Boilermakers(Big Ten Conference)(1973–1976) | |||||||||
| 1973 | Purdue | 5–6 | 4–4 | T–4th | |||||
| 1974 | Purdue | 4–6–1 | 3–5 | 6th | |||||
| 1975 | Purdue | 4–7 | 4–4 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1976 | Purdue | 5–6 | 4–4 | T–3rd | |||||
| Purdue: | 18–25–1 | 15–17 | |||||||
| Total: | 50–83–2 | ||||||||
Media related toAlex Agase at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
