Ernest Lowell "Dick" Romney (February 12, 1895 – February 5, 1969) 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...

 and basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player and coach, track

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

 athlete, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach and athletic director

Athletic director

An athletic director is an administrator at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs...

 at the Agricultural College of Utah, now Utah State University

Utah State University

Utah State University is a public university located in Logan, Utah. It is a land-grant and space-grant institution and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities....

, from 1918 to 1949, compiling a career 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...

 record of 128–91–16. Romney was also the head basketball coach at Utah Agricultural from 1919 to 1941, tallying a college basketball

College basketball

College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....

 mark of 224–158. He served as the commissioner of the Mountain States Conference from 1949 to 1959. Romney was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame

College Football Hall of Fame

The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...

 as a coach in 1954 and was elected to the Helms Athletic Foundation

Helms Athletic Foundation

The Helms Athletic Foundation was an athletic foundation based in Los Angeles, founded in 1936 by Bill Schroeder and Paul Helms. It put together a panel of experts to select National Champion teams and make All-America team selections in a number of college sports including football and basketball...

 and Hall of Fame as a football coach in 1958.

Early life, family, and playing career

Romney was born in Salt Lake City to were George Romney and Hannah Ottinger Romney. "Dick" was a nickname to given him by his mother. He married Elizabeth ("Beth") Horlick of Salt Lake City in 1917.

Romney graduated from the University of Utah

University of Utah

The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...

 where he lettered in football (playing as a running back), basketball, baseball, and track. He was a member of the A.A.U. national championship basketball team of 1916. In 1916, he was chosen by the Helms Foundation as an All-American Collegiate and A.A.U. Basketball player.

Romney's brothers G. O. "Ott" Romney, W. W. "Woody" Romney, Milt Romney

Milt Romney

Milton Addas Romney was a professional American football player who played in the offensive backfield for six seasons for the Racine Legion and the Chicago Bears. He was also the head basketball coach of the Texas Longhorns men's basketball team in 1923 with an overall record of 11-7. He was born...

 and Floyd Romney were all gifted athletes. Milt Romney played college football at Utah

Utah Utes football

The Utah Utes football program is a college football team that currently competes in the Pacific-12 Conference of the Football Bowl Subdivision of NCAA Division I and represents the University of Utah. The Utah college football program began in 1892 and has played home games at Rice–Eccles...

 and Chicago

Chicago Maroons football

The Chicago Maroons are the college football team representing the University of Chicago. The Maroons play in NCAA Division III as a member of the University Athletic Association. From 1892 to 1939, the Maroons were a major college football power...

 as a quarterback and later coached at Texas

Texas Longhorns football

The Texas Longhorns football program is the intercollegiate football team representing The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas. The team currently competes in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big 12 Conference which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision of the National...

 and for the Racine Cardinals. From 1925 to 1928, Milt was a quarterback for the Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 of the NFL

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. Romney was a cousin of former Governors George Romney

George W. Romney

George Wilcken Romney was an American businessman and Republican Party politician. He was chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962, the 43rd Governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, and the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1969 to 1973...

 of Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

 and Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...

 of Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

.

Honors

Romney Stadium

Romney Stadium

Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in Logan, Utah, USA, on the campus of Utah State University . It is the home field of the Utah State Aggies of the Western Athletic Conference. It opened in 1968 and currently has a seating capacity of 25,513...

, the football stadium at Utah State University

Utah State University

Utah State University is a public university located in Logan, Utah. It is a land-grant and space-grant institution and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities....

, was named after the Hall of Fame coach in 1969.

External links

• Dick Romney at College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com