Alex Agase

Bio

Alex Agase was listed as right guard in the lineup, and nobody ever played the position with more aggressiveness. Playing for Illinois against Minnesota in 1942, he scored two touchdowns. On the first, he stole the ball from Bill Daley and ran 38 yards to the goal line. On the second, he recovered Vic Kulbitski's fumble. This was only the second time in history a guard scored two touchdowns in a game. In another game in 1942, Agase made 22 tackles against Great Lakes. Agase was a first-team All-America in 1942. He played at Purdue as a Marine Trainee in 1943 and made consensus All-America. In 1944-45 he was on duty in the Pacific zone. He was in battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He returned to play at Illinois in 1946, was All-America a third time and the Big Ten's Most Valuable Player. Alex played pro football 1947-53 and was on three championship teams with the Cleveland Browns. He was Northwestern head coach 1964-72 and Purdue head coach 1973-76. The Football Writers Association named him national coach of the year, 1970. Alex was athletic director at Eastern Michigan 1977-81 and then was a volunteer assistant coach for Bo Schembechler at Michigan. He was named to the Walter Camp Foundation all-century team in 1989 and the Illinois all-century team in 1990.

Career Highlights

• 1946 All-Conference
• 1946 Conference MVP
• 1946 Consensus All-America
• 1943 All-Conference
• 1943 Consensus All-America
• 1942 All-Conference
• 1942 First Team All-America