Walter Hass  •  Head Coach- Football, Track & Field

Walt Hass was born in Holstein, Iowa and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1933. He won six letters in football and track and captained the 1932 Gopher gridders. After a year coaching the “U” frosh and another season at the University of Manitoba, he became head football coach at Hibbing High School in 1935. His final season on the Iron Range the Bluejackets were undefeated. Hass became head football and track coach at Carleton in 1939, and was appointed athletic director in 1942. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1943-46, and was discharged with the rank of lt. commander.

Returning to Carelton in 1946, Hass was named Professor of Physical Education in addition to his coaching duties. His football teams won 62, lost 43 and tied four. His teams won grid championships in 1940 and 1954 (undefeated), and his thinclads captured two conference outdoor and five indoor crowns.

In 1956, he was named chairman and Professor of Physical Education at The University of Chicago, a position he was to hold for 20 years. He directed and taught class and club football for 16 years, and eventually returned varsity football to the Midway, coaching the Maroons until 1975.

Through the years, Walt has been a member of countless NCAA and AAU committees, including two three-year terms on the NCAA Council. In 1965, he was co-chairman of an NCAA committee which organized the National Association of College Athletic Directors. He was recently elected to the NACDA Hall of Fame, and in 1976 was recognized by the Chicago chapter of the Football Hall of Fame. The Illinois State High School Coaches Association honored him for outstanding service in 1976.

 

Cloyde Lee, ’17  •  Football, Baseball

Cloyde “Ching” Lee was born on July 30, 1893, and was educated in the Northfield Schools. At Carleton, he was an outstanding athlete, and in his freshman and sophomore years he quarterbacked two undefeated football teams. Those teams outscored their opponents by an incredible 681-14. Lee was an excellent punter, a fine passer and ball handler and was particularly noted as a superb field general, the catalyst of perhaps the finest four-man backfield ever seen at Carleton: Lee, Joe Markley ’17, Elmer “Stub” Gillott ’14 and Lyle Day ’15. He was also a fine baseball player, catching for two seasons; the battery of Theodore Shirley ’14 and Lee was recognized as the best college duo in the state.

After 2.5 years at Carleton, Lee entered dental school at the University of Minnesota. The September 28, 1915 Carletonia, in previewing the upcoming season, said: “The loss of Lee will be felt more perhaps than that of any of the others… It will probably be some time before anyone will be found who will fill the (quarterback) position as he filled it.” In his later years, Carleton’s long-time coach, C.J. Hunt, hailed Ching Lee as the finest quarterback ever to play at Carleton.

 

Oliver Nordly, ’27  •  Football, Basketball, Track & Field

A native of Red Wing, Minn., Oliver “Hon” M. Nordly was the third of four brothers who were exceptional high school athletes, and the second of three to enroll at Carleton. In high school, he competed in football and track and was a member of two state championship basketball teams, and was named an All-State forward in 1922.

At Carleton, he won letters in the same three sports. In football, he was a starter for three years, and did most of the kicking and passing. In his junior and senior years, the gridders lost only two games, both to Northwestern. He was a high jumper and javelin thrower in track, but it was in basketball where he received the greatest acclaim. He started at center for three years. He was an All-Conference choice in both 1925-26 and 1926-27. He was also elected president of his senior class.

From 1927 through 1937 Nordly coached football, basketball and track at Rochester High School. He won three conference championships in each sport, and took three Rochester teams to the state basketball tournament. From there he moved to the University of Northern Iowa. In 14 years there, his teams won five conference championships in basketball and eight in golf. During World War II, “Hon’s” basketball teams at Iowa Pre-Flight won 80% of their games.

A member of the North Central Conference Hall of Fame, Nordly also served a term as supervisor of officials. His civic duties included ten years on the Cedar Falls City Council and two years as chairman of the Metropolitan Planing Commissions. He was the recipient of the “Service to Mankind” award, given annually by the local Sertoma Club.

 

Verl “Gus” Young, ’32  •  Football, Basketball, Baseball

Member of the “Victory Five” 1929-32, Captain 1931-32, Won 17, Lost 1

Coached at Warroad, Buffalo, Hutchinson, and Austin High Schools

Assistant Coach, Carleton: 1939-42

Coached 3 MIAC Basketball Championships at Gustavus Adolphus, 1953-56

Executive with Minnesota Pipers

 

M.H. “Mel” Taube  •  Professor Emeritus of Physical Education

Head Coach- Baseball, Basketball  •  Assistant Coach- Football

Mel Taube won nine letters in football, basketball and baseball at Purdue University, graduating in 1926. From 1926-28, he was freshman coach in football and basketball at his alma mater. In 1928, he moved to Marion, Indiana, High School, where he was athletic director and football and basketball coach.

He was football coach at Massachusetts State from 1931 through 1935, basketball coach from 1933-36 (including an undefeated season in 1933-34) and baseball coach for four seasons. He received an M.S. degree from Indiana in 1933.

Taube came back to Purdue in 1936, and was assistant basketball coach from ’36 though 1942, when he left for service in the U.S. Navy. Discharged in 1945 as a lieutenant, he returned to Purdue as head basketball and baseball coach.

Mel came to Carleton in 1950 as basketball and baseball coach and assistant football coached and stayed until his retirement in 1970, when he was named Professor Emeritus of Physical Education. His basketball teams from 1950 through 1960 won 136 and lost 80, and included several Midwest Conference championships. His teams of the mid-’50s, featuring Laurie Slocum ’55, and Howie Rosenblum ’55 and Little All-American Bob Buis ’54, were among the finest in conference history. Following the untimely death of Warren Beson, he was named football coach in 1960, and despite a dearth of material his teams won 28, lost 42 and tied 3.

At a retirement dinner in Mel’s honor in 1970, Hank Stram, then coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, cited Taube as knowing more about the three sports he coached than any man he had ever met, then corrected himself and added golf.

 

Howard Rosenblum, ’55  •  Basketball, Baseball

Howard Rosenblum came to Carleton from Von Steuben High School in Chicago, where he was twice chosen for the All-City basketball team.

He won four letters in basketball and two in baseball at Carleton. The basketball teams he played on, from 1951 through 1955, won 69 and lost only 19. He was twice named first-team and twice second-team All-Midwest Conference. He and Laurie Slocum ’55 were considered one of the finest, if not the finest, small college guard combinations in the country. Howard annually led the Knights in assists, and was particularly noted for his passing on the Carls’ deadly fast break and his defensive steals. Even so, he finished his four-year career as the second highest scorer in Carleton history with 1,086 points.

Rosenblum was one of the greatest natural athletes in Carleton history. Despite little experience in the game, he also competed in baseball, hit over .300 and was selected to the All-Midwest Conference team as an outfielder.

 

Ronald Taylor, ’33  •  Basketball

Ronald “Boots” E. Taylor was born in Pickford, Michigan, and graduated from Oak Park-River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois, where he lettered in football, basketball and baseball, and captained the 1928-29 cagers.

Following a year of freshman basketball at Carleton, “Boots” started every game for three years on what Twin City sportswriters dubbed the “Victory Five,” and was captain in his senior year. The teams he played on won 43 games and lost only five- all to Big Ten opponents. Included were wins over Iowa, Chicago, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska (twice) and DePaul. The teams he played on set Midwest Conference records of 33 consecutive home floor victories and an astounding 41 straight Midwest Conference wins. Though much of the media attention went to high-scoring All-American Dick Arney ’33, Taylor was recognized as a fine shooter, a strong defensive player and the man who got Arney the ball. He was named All-Conference guard in both 1931-32 and 1932-33.

 

F. Wayne Sparks, ’37  •  Basketball

Wayne Sparks entered Carleton from Waverly, Iowa, where he had won letters in basketball and football.

Basketball was his sport at Carleton, and Sparks eventually set scoring records which endured for years. The teams he played on won 41 and lost 19. He was one of a handful of Carls of that era named Little All-American. In 1937, he was named to Chuck Foster’s Converse Rubber Company All-American team. In his senior year, he was awarded the Matteson Trophy, presented annually to the cager who has demonstrated outstanding basketball skills, high scholarship, sportsmanship and character. He captained the 1936-37 team which won 13 and lost three, and it was that year he set a new Carleton scoring record of 191 points.