Walter R. Okeson


Walter Raleigh "Okey" Okeson was an American football player and coach. He was a player-coach for the first all-professional football team, the Latrobe Athletic Association club in 1897. Okeson was the head football coach at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for one season, in 1900, compiling a record of 5–6.
Okeson was also an All-American end at Lehigh. In 1897 he was a player-coach for the Latrobe Athletic Association and led the team to a 10–21 record. He was later named to the "All Western Pennsylvania Team" by The Pittsburg Times after the season. In 1898, he played for the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club. At the end of that season, Okeson played for Duquesne against the 1898 Western Pennsylvania All-Star football team, formed by Latrobe manager Dave Berry. Duquesne won the game, 16-0.
Okeson was the chairman of the College Football Rules Committee for a time. After the death of Parke H. Davis in June, 1934, Okeson became the editor of the annual Spalding's Official Foot Ball Guide. In the Guide, Davis, the previous editor, had compiled a list titled, "Outstanding Nationwide and Sectional Teams," for the seasons from 1869 onward. For several years, Okeson continued to add annual selections to this list, described as "Originally Compiled by the late Parke H. Davis."
In the 1939 Guide, Okeson wrote,

Head coaching record

College