Alex Agase, Eastern Michigan University's athletic director
from 1977-81, died May 3 in Tarpon Springs, Fla. He was
85.
"With Alex, you always knew where you stood. He didn't
mince words," said Jim Streeter, EMU's sports information
director who worked for Agase. "He immersed himself totally
into every job he had. He had a lot of great connections.
When he was athletic director here, he knew virtually every
head football coach in America."
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Agase |
Agase was a three-time All-American in football and a
member of the College Football Hall of Fame. Agase
starred as a guard for Illinois University in 1941 and
1942, and earned All-American honors during the latter
year. In a 1942 game against the University of Minnesota,
Agase became only the second guard in college football
to score two touchdowns in a single game. In 1943, he played
at Purdue as a Marine trainee and again made the All-American
Team.
During 1944 and 1945, Agase served active duty in World
War II, participating in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
He returned to Illinois in 1946 and again was named All-American.
He also received the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as
the MVP of the Big Ten Conference.
He went on to a six-year career in the NFL (1947-53) that
included three NFL championships in a four-year span with
the Cleveland Browns. He also played for the Chicago Rockets,
Los Angeles Dons and Baltimore Colts.
After his pro football career ended, Agase transitioned
to coaching where he spent 17 years on Northwestern's sideline.
He was assistant there under Ara Parseghian from 1956-63,
before Parseghian took over the head football duties at
Notre Dame. Agase took the helm from 1964 to 1972. In 1970,
the Football Writers Association named Agase the national
coach of the year. The Wildcats went 6-4 that year, including
a 6-1 mark in the Big Ten, with its only loss to Ohio State
University. In 1973, he became head coach at Purdue, where
he remained through 1976.
Agase became athletic director at EMU in 1977, at a time
when many athletic directors were former head football
coaches, Streeter said. After leaving EMU in 1981, he became
a volunteer assistant football coach at the University
of Michigan in 1982, where he remained six years under
legendary coach Bo Schembechler.
"He was very much in the same vein as Bo Schembechler," Streeter
said. "If you were one of his (Agase's) guys, you were
one of his guys forever."
Agase was named to the Walter Camp All-Century Foundation
Team in 1989 and the University of Illinois All-Century
Team in 1990. He was inducted into the College Football
Hal of Fame in 1963 and was the only college football player
named All-American at two different universities.
