Alanson Weeks was an American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player and medical doctor.

Weeks was born in Allegan, Michigan

Allegan, Michigan

Allegan is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 4,838. It is the county seat of Allegan County. The city lies within Allegan Township, but is administratively autonomous....

, in 1877. He was the son of Julia Shoemaker and Capt. Harrison Weeks. He enrolled at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 and played college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 as a fullback

Fullback (American football)

A fullback is a position in the offensive backfield in American and Canadian football, and is one of the two running back positions along with the halfback...

 for the undefeated 1898 Michigan Wolverines football team

1898 Michigan Wolverines football team

The 1898 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1898 college football season. The team, with Gustave Ferbert as head coach, went 10–0 and became the first Michigan football team to win the Western Conference championship. The first great Michigan football...

 that were declared "Champions of the West." His younger brother, Boss Weeks, was the captain for Fielding H. Yost's "Point-a-Minute" teams at Michigan.

Weeks graduated from the University of Michigan in 1899 with a medical degree. He moved to San Francisco, California

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

, where he became a surgeon. He was in that city at the time of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake

1906 San Francisco earthquake

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...

 and fire. From 1912 until 1919 (except for the time in military service), he was the chief surgeon of San Francisco's emergency hospital service. For many years, he also served as a professor of surgery at the University of California Medical School. He was also "credited with developing many surgical procedures" which became common practice.

Weeks served as a Major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps

Medical Corps (United States Army)

The Medical Corps of the U.S. Army is a staff corps of the U.S. Army Medical Department consisting of commissioned medical officers – physicians with either an MD or a DO degree, at least one year of post-graduate clinical training, and a state medical license.The MC traces its earliest origins...

 during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. He was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal

Distinguished Service Medal (Army)

The Distinguished Service Medal is a military award of the United States Army that is presented to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the United States military, has distinguished himself or herself by exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great...

 for meritorious and distinguished service for his work as a surgeon and director of surgical teams at the front during the Second Battle of the Marne

Second Battle of the Marne

The Second Battle of the Marne , or Battle of Reims was the last major German Spring Offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. The German attack failed when an Allied counterattack led by France overwhelmed the Germans, inflicting severe casualties...

, the Battle of Saint-Mihiel

Battle of Saint-Mihiel

The Battle of Saint-Mihiel was a World War I battle fought between September 12–15, 1918, involving the American Expeditionary Force and 48,000 French troops under the command of U.S. general John J. Pershing against German positions...

, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive

Meuse-Argonne Offensive

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, or Maas-Argonne Offensive, also called the Battle of the Argonne Forest, was a part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the entire western front.-Overview:...

.

Weeks later served as the chief surgeon at St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco, holding that position until his retirement in 1946.

In 1947, Weeks died of a heart attack at the Pacific Union Club in San Francisco. He had been living at the Club since his wife died in 1943.