Hec Edmundson

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Clarence "Hec" Edmundson
Sport(s) Basketball, Track & Field
Biographical details
Born (1886-08-03)August 3, 1886
Moscow, Idaho, U.S.
Died August 6, 1964(1964-08-06) (aged 78)
Seattle, Washington
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Basketball
1916–18
1920–47

Track & Field
1913-15
1916
1917-18
1919
1920-54
Idaho
Washington


Idaho
Whitman
Idaho
Texas A&M
Washington
Head coaching record
Overall 879-254 (.776)

Clarence Sinclair "Hec" Edmundson (August 3, 1886 – August 6, 1964) was a college basketball head coach. A native of Moscow, Idaho, and a 1910 graduate of the University of Idaho, Edmundson coached at his alma mater (1916–18) and the University of Washington (1920–47), compiling a 508-204 (.713) overall record in 29 seasons.

Hec Edmundson also coached the track teams and served on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee from 1941-46. The University of Washington hosted the national basketball finals in 1949 and 1952 in the arena that bears his name.

Contents

Nickname [edit]

Edmundson gained his nickname from his mother: as a child he often muttered, "Oh, heck."[1]

Collegiate and Olympic career [edit]

One of the first great athletes at the fledgling University of Idaho, Edmundson competed in track for his hometown university, and launched the team onto the national stage when he and two other athletes traveled to the Lewis and Clark Exposition Games against the top schools in the Northwest.[2] While still in the UI prep school, he lowered the Northwest record for the half-mile in June 1905.[3][4]

Newspapers wrote that Edmundson "impressed with his graceful form and unfaltering determination." He is responsible for organizing the Idaho cross country team in 1908, which set the foundation for a team that would win nine Pacific Coast Conference titles. In 1912, Edmundson traveled to Stanford for the U.S. Olympic trials, where he won the 800 meters and finished second in the 400 meters. He held the title of top half-miler in the country through 1912. Edmundson became the first Idahoan to compete in the Olympic Games in Stockholm in 1912.[5] He finished seventh in the 800 meters and sixth in the 400 meters.[6]

Edmundson attended the UI prep school and was a charter member of the new chapter of Kappa Sigma fraternity as an undergraduate.[7] He earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture from Idaho in 1910,[8][9] and then taught and coached at the high school level, one year each at Coeur d'Alene and Broadway High School in Seattle. He returned to Moscow to coach the UI track team in 1913.[10]

Coaching career [edit]

After several seasons as track coach at Idaho, he left after a salary dispute and coached at Whitman College in Walla Walla for a season.[10] He returned to Idaho as both track and basketball coach in 1916 and his basketball teams compiled a 20-9 record in two seasons. It was these basketball teams which were the first UI teams referred to as the Vandals;[11] the nickname was eventually applied to all of the university's athletic teams by the early 1920s.[12] After a track season at Texas A&M, he headed to Seattle to coach the Washington Huskies, where he is credited with the creation of the fast-break offense style, which he attributed to his track background. He coached basketball through March 1947, and continued as track coach for another seven years.

Hec Ed Pavilion [edit]

The UW Pavilion, a multi-purpose field house opened in December 1927, was renamed "Hec Edmundson Pavilion" in his honor in January 1948. In March 1999, "Hec Ed" underwent a major interior renovation for 19 months and re-opened in November 2000.[13]

Grave [edit]

Hec Edmundson died of a stroke in August 1964 at the age of 78, and was interred in Calvary Cemetery in northeast Seattle, about a mile (1.6 km) north-northeast of the Hec Edmundson Pavilion. He is buried next to his wife Mary Zona Schultz (1887–1980), son James (1924–2000), and infant child (1921).[14][15] Edmundson was posthumously inducted into the Big W Club, the UW athletics hall of fame, in the first class of 1979.[16]

Edmundson's parents were Thomas Sinclair Edmundson and Emma Jeannette Rowley,[17] and he had a younger brother named Wilbur Clifford Edmundson.[18]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Seattle Post-Intelligencer - 1999-03-03, " 'Hec' to the Future," p.D-1
  2. ^ “Hall of Famers Arrive on Campus: Clarence ‘Hec’ Edmundson,” University of Idaho news release (Sept 6, 2007).
  3. ^ "Idaho at the Lewis and Clark Exposition". Gem of the Mountains, University of Idaho yearbook. May 1906. p. 119. 
  4. ^ "Edmundson sets new record". Spokesman-Review. June 18, 1905. p. 3. 
  5. ^ GoVandals.com - Idaho Vandals Hall of Fame - 2007
  6. ^ Sports Reference.com – Hec Edmundson - 1912 Olympics - accessed 2011-10-01
  7. ^ "Juniors". Gem of the Mountains, University of Idaho yearbook. May 1909. p. 41. 
  8. ^ "Seniors". Gem of the Mountains, University of Idaho yearbook. May 1910. p. 31. 
  9. ^ Basketball: a biographical dictionary - compiled by David L. Porter, 2005, p.128, ISBN 0-313-30952-3
  10. ^ a b "UI gave famous UW coach his big push in athletics". Lewiston Morning Tribune. University of Idaho news bureau. September 3, 1989. p. 1D. 
  11. ^ "Basketball". Gem of the Mountains, University of Idaho yearbook. May 1918. p. 111. 
  12. ^ "What is a Vandal?". University of Idaho Athletics. Retrieved August 31, 2012. 
  13. ^ UW basketball game day magazine, vol V, no. 7, (2000-11-25), "Welcome to the New Dawghouse", p.2
  14. ^ findagrave.com - Hec Edmundson
  15. ^ "Edmundson's grave location in Calvary Cemetery". Google Maps. Retrieved May 5, 2012. 
  16. ^ Go Huskies.com - Big W Club - first class of 1979
  17. ^ Capace, Nancy (2000). "Encyclopedia of Idaho". Google Books. p. 158. 
  18. ^ "Seniors". Gem of the Mountains, University of Idaho yearbook. May 1911. p. 30. 

External links [edit]

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