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Show 5 Romney Begins 9,5th Year Jl As Utah Statc..,Coach As the 1042 football edition at Utah State begins t0 take shape, Coach E. L. (Dick) Fwomney, veteran mentor of teams wearing the blue and white, recalls his 24 years of service at the state college. ! The second oldest coach in the nation in years of service at one school and the oldest to coach all major ma-jor sports, Romney came to the Aggie school way back in December of 1918 to direct athletics and coach all Coach Eomney, more generally known as the ' "Smiler", won 16 i letters during his intercollegiate days at University of Utah 4 each in football, basketball, track and baseball. After graduation he entered the armed forces of he ! nation and played football with the 91st division army team. He competed in the New Year's day 1 Rosebowl game on January 1, 1 1919, with that team. In 1916 after Utah had won the national AAY basketball title at Chicago, he was chosen all-tourney all-tourney guard. He was also named all-conference halfback. Four years after taking up coaching, Romney produced his first championship football team and incidentally brought the first conference football crown to Utah. The first Aggie player to win , all-American recognition, Willard "Butch" Knowles was a member of that team. Other stalwards of those early days were Louie Fali, Jack Croft and Joe Maughan. In 1925 his basketball team won the national AAU championship at Los Angeles, and "Dick" was chosen a member of the national rules committee for four years-After years-After many years as football title threateners, the Aggies tied for. the crown in 1935 and won undisputed honors in 1936. Added to these championships "they have finished in the runner-up position posi-tion seven times. Holding an enviable record in the number of games won and lost, Romney's football teams have been victorious in a total 1 of 69 games out of 182 played. I Out of 140 conference contests, Kent Ryan, Ed "Red" Wade, Rol-lie Rol-lie Gardner, Ed Watson, Bob Bunker and Cleo Petty, j In 1938 they were invited to the San Francisco exposition j where they defeated Texas Uni-j Uni-j versity in NCAA playoffs. They i finished second to Colorado that ' year. ' The Romney coached track teams won conference titles from I 1924 to 1927 and have always been serious contenders othre seasons. Not content with producing top-notch teams at the Utah j school, Romney has helped hundreds hund-reds of young coaches to "get a start" and veteran coaches to increase their efficiency, from the ! annual summer coaching schools. He has brought such coaching j luminaries as the immortal Knute Eockne, Wallace Wade, "Stub" ; Allison. Dr. Forrest Allen, Dr. John Bunn, Harry G. Kipke, i Clark Shaugnessey, H. C. Carlso and Sam Barry to give instruc-j instruc-j tion at these summer schools, i After the close of the 1940 I year, Romney announced his res- ignation as head basketball and track coach, to devote his entire time as director of athletics and head football coach. . Delbert "Deb" Young, former Aggie star and Bob Burnett of Stanford, were named to the posts. Commenting on his silver an niversary year at Utah State Coach Romney remarked: "Although "Al-though Aggie teams have not fared so well during the past year or two, I hope to make my silver anniversary pay off in golden dividends." iney nave defeated their opponents oppon-ents 56 times. Other coaches in the conference hold the Blue and White aggregations aggre-gations in high regard. Ent.ring numerous games as underdogs, they have scored upsets that have won nationwide recognition. ( Among them were the 3 to 0 victory vic-tory over the powerful BYU team in 1933 and the 7 to 0 defeat of the championship bound Utah Redskins in 1940. Although teams from the Rocky Mountain area have a hard time drawing all-American recognition for their outstanding players, i Coach Romney has developed Wore than his share. Besides Knowles, they include Kent Ryan, who acted as ball boy for the Aggies until he was old enough to prep at Logan high school. He won all-state recognition recog-nition -there and later went on jj all-American honors at Utah , State. As a professional he played r the Detroit Lions and is now serving in the armed forces. Another was Elmer "Bear" Ward, the greatest of Aggie Rapper-backs, who was accorded the mythical honor in 1934. Now ne of the commanding officers at the Utah General Depot, Ward so won fame as a pro-footballer. Among the other football I St-eats who have paced across Ihe chalked lines for the Aggies were "Eei" Leddingham, a great lfft-handed passer; Theron Smart, o made a 90-yard touchdown n against Southern California: 'ya Rasmussen, Murray and fame Maughan more ent Not only in football has Rom-? Rom-? y. won fame as a coach but in oasketball and track as well. Designer of the fast breaking em that caused much comment com-ment when Aggie courtiers per-rmed per-rmed at Madison Square Gar-in Gar-in 1936-37, the "Farmers" ve always been among the most "feared" basketball teams " the mile-high leagues. it remained for one of "Dick's" als to dethrone the Montana Jiate "Golden Bobcats" after ey enjoyed four years of nationwide na-tionwide supremacy. m 1936 after winning the tn I Mountain tie. Romney "is undefeated sciuad to jmsas, where they defeated Forte, For-te, 'Phog" Allen's undefeated AAU8"13 went on to the ;inrl1 finals nt New York City, members of that team were i I |