1924 – BROTHER CLEVE L. ABBOTT – Coach of the Southern Football Champions

BROTHER CLEVE L. ABBOTT
Coach of the Southern Football Champions

BROTHER (Cleve L. ‘Duke” Abbott is a graduate of South Dakota State College and a member of Rho Chapter. At South Dakota State College, he won four letters in football, three in basketball, three in track and two in baseball, serving as Captain of the baseball team, 1915-16. He is the present Coach and Physical Director of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama. Prior to his coming to the Southland, he was Coach of the Championship team of the Middle west at the Topeka, Kansas, Educational and Industrial Institute. During the years of 1917-19, he served as Athletic Officer of the 366th Infantry. Coming to Tuskegee in the fall of 1923, Coach Abbott has had rather phenomenal success in building up a championship team. In 1923, his Famous Tigers won seven games, tied one and lost one, totaling 156 points as against thirty-two for opponents. Taking a special course at Harvard University during the summer of 1924, Coach Abbott set out to make a new mark in the history of football in the South and his undefeated Championship Tuskegee Eleven has won nine games and tied one, totaling 301 points as against 25 for opponents. The 301 points stand for a record for any football team in the country this year.