Billy Suter

Herman Milton "Billy" Suter (December 10, 1874 – October 31, 1946)[1] was an American football and baseball player, coach, referee, and athletic director. He was also a newspaper publisher.

Billy Suter
Suter, c. 1901
Biographical details
Born(1874-12-10)December 10, 1874
Greensburg, Pennsylvania
DiedOctober 31, 1946(1946-10-31) (aged 71)
Bronxville, New York
Alma materPrinceton University
Playing career
Football
1893Washington & Jefferson College
1894Penn State University
1895–1898Princeton University
Baseball
1896–1899Princeton University
1904-1905Wanderers(South Africa)
Position(s)Quarterback (football)
Outfielder (baseball)
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1899–1901Sewanee
1902Georgetown University
Baseball
1899–1901Sewanee
1902Georgetown University
Head coaching record
Overall29–6–3 (football)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 SIAA (1899)

Early years

Suter was born on December 10, 1874 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania to Henry Suter. Henry was from Sutersville, Pennsylvania and died in 1883.[2]

Suter was initiated into Pennsylvania Alpha in 1893 until 1897.[3]

Football Playing years

Suter played for Washington & Jefferson, and 1894 Penn State football team.

He later enrolled at Princeton University.[4] In 1895, as a member of the Princeton Tigers he once ran for a 95-yard touchdown against Harvard.[4]

Baseball Playing years

Suter played for Wanderers, in Transvaal, South Africa during the provinces inaugural 1904-1905 season. Salt Lake Telegram reported that Suter "formerly an outfielder on the Princeton team, leads the league in batting, with an average of .557, which is clouting them some. It is evident, however, that the spit ball has not as yet reached South Africa."[5]

Coaching career

J. G. "Lady" Jayne, coach of the 1898 Sewanee team, also a Princeton grad, was hired to coach in North Carolina. Jayne recommended Suter, with whom he had roomed at Princeton. Suter coached the famed "Iron Men" of the 1899 Sewanee Tigers which went 120, outscored opponents 322 to 10, and won 5 games on a 6-day road trip all by shutout. It is recalled memorably with the phrase "...and on the seventh day they rested." Grantland Rice was a shortstop on the Vanderbilt baseball team at the same time as Suter coached Sewanee. Rice praised his value as a leader, "yet he was one of the strictest disciplinarians I've ever known."[4] Suter coached the Georgetown Blue and Gray for a year, going 73.[6]

Officiating

Once while officiating a game between Bucknell and V. P. I. in 1906 in which Bucknell won 10 to 0, V. P. I. had an 80-yard touchdown run derailed by a holding call from Suter. Fans disagreed with the call and rushed the field after Suter, hitting Suter over the head with a cane on which was a V. P. I. flag. Players on both teams assisted Suter, and police eventually rushed in with revolvers drawn to restore order.[7]

Publishing career

After coaching, Suter set up H M Suter Publishing Company in 1904 in Washington, D. C. for four years, before he became the publisher of the Nashville Tennessean from 1907 to 1912,[1] where he gave Grantland Rice his first job as a sports writer.[8] There was an interval between publishing jobs from 1915 to 1918. Suter was a book publisher in New York City during this period, and at the time of the First World War worked for the Foreign Press Cable Service Bureau of the Committee on Publish Information.[1] Suter, former president Herbert Hoover, and others then acquired the Washington Herald at the end of 1919, for which Suter and one Walter S. Rogers was in charge until 1920.[1][9] Suter throughout his life had once been publisher of the Herald, the Philadelphia Evening Times, The Elmira Advertiser and the Elmira Sunday Telegram.[1][10] By 1924 he joined the New York City firm of Palmer, Suter, and Palmer which handled disposition of newspaper properties with an estimated value of $100 million.[1]

Head coaching record

Football

Year Team Overall ConferenceStanding Bowl/playoffs
Sewanee Tigers (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1899–1900)
1899 Sewanee 12–011–0T–1st
1900 Sewanee 6–1–15–0–14th
Sewanee Tigers (Independent) (1901)
1901 Sewanee 4–2–2
Sewanee: 22–3–316–0–1
Georgetown Blue and Gray (Independent) (1902)
1902 Georgetown 7–3
Georgetown: 7–3
Total:29–6–3
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

References

  1. "Herman Suter, Ex-Publisher, Is Dead at 72" (PDF). The Herald Statesman. November 1, 1946.
  2. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925; Roll #: 631; Volume #: Roll 0631 - Certificates: 46000-46249, 16 Nov 1918-18 Nov 1918.
  3. https://www.phikappapsi.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1893_vol14_no1-5.pdf
  4. Wendell Givens (2003). Ninety-Nine Iron: The Season Sewanee Won Five Games in Six Days. University of Alabama Press. pp. 25–26. ISBN 9780817350628.
  5. "Salt Lake Telegram". Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah. 1905.
  6. "Head Coaches".
  7. "V. P. I. Game Ends In Fight". The Atlanta Constitution. November 11, 1906. p. 2. Retrieved June 12, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  8. David Alter (September 9, 2014). "Alter Fills In The Gaps In Princeton Football Lore". Archived from the original on October 24, 2014. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  9. "Washington Herald Changes Hands". Paper: Devoted to the Manufacture, Sale and Use of Pulp and Paper. 25: 54. December 10, 1919.
  10. "Suter Adds Telegram To Advertiser". Editor & Publisher. 53: 3. May 14, 1921.
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