Nelson Norgren
Nelson H. Norgren (September 10, 1891 – December 31, 1974) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. As a coach, he led the University of Utah to a national AAU basketball championship in 1916. He later served as the basketball coach at the University of Chicago from 1921 to 1957.
 Norgren in 1917 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 10, 1891 |
| Died | December 31, 1974 (aged 83) Mill Valley, California |
| Playing career | |
| 1910–1914 | Chicago |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football | |
| 1914–1917 | Utah |
| 1921–? | Chicago (assistant) |
| Basketball | |
| 1914–1917 | Utah |
| 1921–1942 | Chicago |
| 1944–1957 | Chicago |
| Baseball | |
| 1915–1916 | Utah |
| 1922–1926 | Chicago |
| 1930 | Chicago |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 13–11 (football) 209–440 (basketball) 33–60–1 (baseball) |
Playing career
A native of Chicago, Illinois, Norgren graduated from North Division High School in 1910. He attended the University of Chicago, where he played football, basketball, track, and baseball, winning 12 letters. He played football for Amos Alonzo Stagg. He was named to Walter Camp's College Football All-America Teams in 1912 (second-team) and 1913 (third-team).
Coaching career
Football coach
Norgren was the head coach of football at Utah from 1914 through 1917. While there, he accumulated a record of 13–11 (.542).[1]
Basketball coach
In 1914, Nelson became the athletic director and basketball coach at the University of Utah. His team won the 1916 AAU national championship. In 1917, he coached Brigham Young University to a second-place finish in the 1917 AAU tournament.
In 1921, Norgren was hired by his former coach, Amos Alonzo Stagg, as the University of Chicago's assistant football coach and head basketball coach. He also coached the school's baseball team from 1922 to 1926. In 1942, Norgren was elected president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He retired as Chicago's basketball coach in 1957. In his 34 seasons as the head basketball coach at Chicago, his teams had a winning record in only three seasons: 1924, 1948, and 1949. His teams had back-to-back winless seasons in 1951 (0–18) and 1952 (0–15) and had a combined record of 1–49 from 1951–1953.
Norgren was inducted into the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame and the University of Chicago Hall of Fame.
Head coaching record
Football
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utah Utes (Rocky Mountain Conference) (1914–1917) | |||||||||
| 1914 | Utah | 3–3 | 2–3 | 5th | |||||
| 1915 | Utah | 5–2 | 4–2 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1916 | Utah | 3–2 | 2–2 | 5th | |||||
| 1917 | Utah | 2–4 | 2–3 | 6th | |||||
| Utah: | 13–11 | 10–10 | |||||||
| Total: | 13–11 | ||||||||
Basketball
Norgren's record as basketball coach at the University of Chicago was as follows:
- 1921–22 — 15–15
- 1922–23 — 6–9
- 1923–24 — 11–6
- 1924–25 — 3–14
- 1925–26 — 5–11
- 1926–27 — 6–11
- 1927–28 — 8–9
- 1928–29 — 5–11
- 1929–30 — 5–12
- 1930–31 — 8–9
- 1931–32 — 2–15
- 1932–33 — 2–16
- 1933–34 — 5–15
- 1934–35 — 2–18
- 1935–36 — 6–14
- 1936–37 — 4–16
- 1937–38 — 6–12
- 1938–39 — 9–11
- 1939–40 — 5–14
- 1940–41 — 6–14
- 1941–42 — 2–19
- 1944–45 — 7–8
- 1945–46 — 6–14
- 1946–47 — 4–13
- 1947–48 — 2–16
- 1948–49 — 10–8
- 1949–50 — 10–8
- 1950–51 — 0–18
- 1951–52 — 0–15
- 1952–53 — 1–16
- 1953–54 — 6–9
- 1954–55 — 6–13
- 1955–56 — 7–9
- 1956–57 — 6–11
- Overall record at University of Chicago — 186–429 (.302)
References
- "All-Time Coaching Records: Nelson H. Norgren Records by Year". College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved July 9, 2010.