Football Coach • 1913-41
Robert Zuppke is a charter member of College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 after leading the Illini to four national titles in 1914, 1919, 1923 and 1927, along with seven Big Ten championships. He was hired by George Huff to be the Illinois football coach in 1913. Zuppke is Illinois’ all-time winningest football coach with his 131-81-13 record. The playing field at Memorial Stadium was dedicated as "Zuppke Field" on Nov. 12, 1966. Known as "The Little Dutchman," Zuppke was known as an innovator and trend-setter as a coach. He is credited with introducing the offensive huddle, the screen pass, the long snap to the punter, the linebacker position and the flea flicker play. Zuppke, along with Huff, was a driving force behind the construction of Memorial Stadium, which was dedicated in 1924. Born in Berlin, Germany in 1879, Zuppke moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when he was two years old. He would attend Milwaukee Normal High Schoo and go on to graduate from the University of Wisconsin in 1905 after playing basketball for the Badgers from 1903-05. Zuppke start his long coaching career at the high school level at Hackley Manual Training School in Muskegon, Michigan, from 1906-09 before moving to Oak Park, Illinois, High School as director of athletics and head football coach, where one of his students was novelist Ernest Hemingway. During his three seasons at Oak Park from 1910-12, his football teams outscored their opponents 1,038-47 while winning three conference championships. A prodigious artist, Zuppke created hundreds of paintings and drawings, many that were gifted to former players and friends around that nation. His relationship with Hemingway led him to many visits to the famous author in Cuba and Key West, while he also greatly enjoyed visiting the desert in the Phoenix, Arizona, area. A Zuppke Art Gallery is displayed inside the Gies Memorial Stadium Press Box. As a writer, he wrote the syndicated newspaper strip Ned Brant (drawn by Walt Depew) from 1930 to 1948. Zuppke died in 1957 at the age of 78.
