 Dickerson at UCLA, c. 1958 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1913-01-27)January 27, 1913 Galion, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | January 22, 2002(2002-01-22) (aged 88) Laguna Woods, California, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1934–1936 | UCLA |
| Position | Tackle |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1947–1957 | UCLA (assistant) |
| 1958 | UCLA |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 1–2 |
George W. Dickerson (January 27, 1913 – January 22, 2002) was an Americancollege football coach at theUniversity of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). An assistant coach with the Bruins from1947 to1957, he was the interim head coach for the first three games in1958 after the unexpected death ofRed Sanders in mid-August. Dickerson was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 1987.[1][2]
Born inGalion, Ohio,[3] Dickerson was raised insouthernCalifornia and attendedFairfax High School inLos Angeles. At UCLA, he lettered in football for three years and rugby for four. He was also a boxer, and was captain of the1936 football team.[1][2]
Dickerson returned to UCLA to serve as an assistant coach for Red Sanders. When Sanders died of a heart attack in mid-August1958, Dickerson was promoted to head coach several days later.[4] Less than two weeks after, he was admitted to theUCLA Medical Center withnervous exhaustion.[5] Dickerson returned to coach the Bruins on September 11,[6] and led the team for the first three games as head coach. UCLA lost the opener to #21Pittsburgh on September 20, won atIllinois, then wereshut out 14–0 atOregon State.[7]
Bill Barnes was named acting head coach for the Friday night game againstFlorida on October 10 (and continued through the1964) season). Dickerson had been re-admitted to the UCLA Medical Center late the previous evening, again suffering from nervous exhaustion.[8][9][10]
Dickerson was one of three assistants from thenational championship season of1954 to later lead the Bruins as head coach, along with Barnes andTommy Prothro.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UCLA Bruins(Pacific Coast Conference)(1958) | |||||||||
| 1958 | UCLA | 1–2 | 0–1 | ||||||
| UCLA: | 1–2 | 0–1 | |||||||
| Total: | 1–2 | ||||||||
George Dickerson, new head football coach at UCLA, was reported "progressing well" yesterday at UCLA Medical Center, after being admitted Saturday suffering from nervous exhaustion.
George Dickerson, UCLA head football coach, late yesterday' was readmitted to the UCLA Medical Center after suffering a "bad setback" from the nervous exhaustion which hospitalized him just before the season began.