Clarence Spears

Clarence Spears
Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	(1894-07-24)July 24, 1894 De Witt, Arkansas
Died	February 1, 1964(1964-02-01) (aged 69) Jupiter, Florida
Playing career
1914–1915	Dartmouth
Position(s)	Guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1917–1920 1921–1924 1925–1929 1930–1931 1932–1935 1936–1942 1943–1944	Dartmouth West Virginia Minnesota Oregon Wisconsin Toledo Maryland
Head coaching record
Overall	148–83–14
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse
Accomplishments and honors
Championships 1 Big Ten (1927)
Awards All-American, 1914 All-American, 1915
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1955 (profile)

Clarence Wiley "Doc" Spears (July 24, 1894 – February 1, 1964) was an American football player, coach, and doctor. He was an All-American guard at Dartmouth College (1914–1915) and served as the head football coach at Dartmouth (1917–1920), West Virginia University (1921–1924), the University of Minnesota (1925–1929), the University of Oregon (1930–1931), the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1932–1935), the University of Toledo (1936–1942), and University of Maryland, College Park (1943–1944), compiling a career college football record of 148–83–14. Spears was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1955.

Playing career

Spears attended Dartmouth College, where he played guard and was selected to the College Football All-America Team in 1914 and 1915.

Coaching career

Spears was the head coach for the Dartmouth Indians football team from 1917 to 1920. From 1921 to 1924, he coached the West Virginia Mountaineers football team, winning 79.5% of the games he coached during his tenure there. Following that, Spears coached the Minnesota Golden Gophers from 1925 to 1929, leading the team to a 6–0–2 record and a share of the Big Ten Conference title in 1927. He had a 28–9–3 record at Minnesota.

Spears was the coach at Oregon in 1930 and 1931. From 1932 to 1935 he coached the Wisconsin Badgers. From 1936 to 1942, Spears was Toledo's coach. Finally, he was the coach at Maryland in 1943 and 1944, tallying a mark of 5–12–1.

Spears had two undefeated seasons as a coach, 1922 at West Virginia and 1927 at Minnesota. In 1955, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Medical career

While coaching, Spears studied medicine at the University of Chicago and the Rush Medical College. Following his football career, he maintained a medical practice for many years.

Head coaching record

References

External links

• Clarence Spears at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Clarence Spears at the College Football Data Warehouse