Joel Hunt


Oliver Joel "Lil' Joel" Hunt was American football and baseball player and coach of football. He played college football at Texas A&M University from 1925 to 1927 and served as the head football coach at the University of Georgia in 1938 and the University of Wyoming in 1939. Hunt also played professional baseball in the minor leagues and briefly with the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1967.

College football playing career

Hunt played for Texas A&M from 1925 to 1927. While in college, Hunt was a running back, punter, place kicker and defensive player. Playing in 27 games during his career, he scored 30 touchdowns, 5 field goals and 29 extra points. Coach John Heisman, who was the head coach at Rice University during Hunt's years at Texas A&M and saw Hunt play, asserted that Hunt was "the greatest all-around player I ever saw."

Coaching and professional baseball career

After college, Hunt served as head football coach at Marshall Junior College. He also played professional baseball, spending most of his time in the minor leagues, but also playing 16 games in the major leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1931–32. Hunt posted a.182 batting average with 2 runs, 1 double, 3 RBI and 4 bases on balls. He accepted 13 total chances at right field without an error for a 1.000 fielding percentage. Hunt was assistant coach at Texas A&M University and at Louisiana State University. He became the head football coach at Georgia in 1938 and completed his only season there with a 5–4–1 record.
At Georgia, Hunt was a surprise replacement for the popular head coach Harry Mehre. Although Hunt's 5–4–1 record as a head coach was respectable, his most important contribution to Georgia Bulldogs football was a coaching assistant that he brought with him, Wally Butts. Butts became Georgia's head coach in 1939 and continued in that position until 1960.
After Georgia, Hunt became the head football coach at the University of Wyoming in 1939, where he had a disappointing 0–7–1 record. Following his brief stint as head coach at Georgia and Wyoming, Hunt returned to being assistant coach, coaching at the collegiate and professional levels: again with LSU, with the Buffalo Bills of the All-America Football Conference in 1949, the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League in 1950, and at the University of Houston in 1955.

Honors and later life

Hunt was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1967. He died in Teague, Texas on July 24, 1978.

Head coaching record