Edward P. Hurt

College coach infobox
Name = Edward Paulette Hurt


ImageWidth = 180px
Caption =
DateOfBirth = birth date|1900|2|12|mf=y
Birthplace = Brookneal, Virginia
DateOfDeath = death date and age|1989|3|24|1900|2|12
Deathplace = Baltimore, MD
Sport = Football, Track, Basketball
College = Morgan State College
Title = Coach
CurrentRecord =
OverallRecord = 173–54–18
Awards =
Championships = Football-CIAA 1930, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1949, 1956
CFbDWID = 4676
Player = y
Years = 1919-1921
Team = Howard University
Position = End
Coach = y
CoachYears = 1925-1928
1929-1959
1929-1947
1929-1970
CoachTeams = VA. Seminary & College
Morgan State(football)
Morgan State basketball
Morgan State track
FootballHOF =
CollegeHOFID =
BBallHOF =

Edward Paulette Hurt, A.B., M.S., LL.D., (born 12 February 1900; died 24 March, 1989) was the head football coach, the head basketball coach and the head track coach at Morgan State College, in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1929 to 1959. In these sports, Hurt's teams won 33 Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) championships and produced 2 NFL Hall of Famers and an Olympic gold medal winner. Hurt also served as the school's athletic director from 1958 to 1970. He was inducted into the USA National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975cite web|url=http://www.usatf.org/HallOfFame/TF/index.asp?mode=alphabetical|title=National Track and Field Hall of Fame|publisher=USA Track and Field|accessdate=2008-07-14] and the HBCU Hall of Fame in 1978.

Early life

Hurt was born in Brookneal, Virginia. He attended Lincoln University and later graduated from Howard University with an A.B. degree in 1921. The slightly muscled, 150-pound Hurt played football at both schools and was named an All-American at Howard. Hurt also graduated from Columbia University with a M.S. degree in physical education. On August 13, 1922, Hurt married G. Beatrice Reid. The newlywed couple had to postpone honeymoon plans as Hurt had also landed a job in Lynchburg, Virginia to start his teaching career.

Coaching career

Hurt's coaching career began at the Virginia Theological Seminary and College in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1921 where he was hired as a mathematics teacher and doubled as an assistant football coach. He became the head coach there in 1925 and served in that capacity until he moved to Baltimore in 1929. During his stay, his football teams posted a 15-11-4 record and his basketball team won 2 CIAA championships.

Morgan football

Hurt took over the Morgan Bears football team in 1929. The next year his teams won the first of the 14 CIAA championships they would win with him at the helm.cite web|url=http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfoot2/teams/direct642.htm|title=Morgan State University Directory|publisher=The Sports Network|accessdate=2008-07-12] More importantly, Hurt built a program that allowed black athletes to showcase their talents where such a venue had been non-existent before.cite book|url=http://wordassociation.com/runfromthere/index.htm|last=Wade|first=Herman L.|title=Run From There|publisher=Word Association|location=United States|date=2004-06-01|pages=211|isbn=978-1932205787|accessdate=2008-07-05|quote=The arrival of the black athlete on the national sports scene in the 1940s and 50s goes directly back to Edward P. Hurt. There is not a single black sports figure in the world today who is not in some small way in the debt of Coach Hurt.] From 1931to 1938 Hurt coached the Bears to a 54-game streak without a single loss. cite web|url=http://www.morganstatebears.com/Pdfs/foot/2007/4/23/MagSpr2004Hurt2r.pdf|title=The Edward P. Hurt Gymnasium Continues a Tradition|date=Spring 2004|publisher=Morgan Magazine|accessdate=2008-07-05] During his tenure, Morgan's football teams completed 11 seasons undefeated and, in the 1943 season, opponents failed to score a single point against the Bears.cite web|url=http://media.www.msuspokesman.com/media/storage/paper270/news/2002/03/22/Sports/Morgan.Legend.Eddie.P.Hurt-221040.shtml|title=Morgan
|last=Jennifer|first=Jacob|date=2002-03-22|publisher=The Spokesman (University's newspaper)|accessdate=2008-07-05] Hurt's success as a football coach was in part due to his mathematics background. He would often diagram plays on the backs of envelopes or milk cartons as the games unfolded. Discipline was also a key. During a halftime speech, when his team trailed by two touchdowns, Hurt angrily kick at a wooden crate upon which one of his big tackles was sitting. He kicked it so hard, his foot got stuck, but nobody on the team cracked a smile. Hurt is a member of the HBCU coaches Hall of Fame cite web|url=http://www.hbcusports.com/r2k/HBCU_Heritage_Hall/Nominees/nominees.htm|title=Hall Of Fame Induction List|publisher=The Onnidan Group |accessdate=2008-07-05] and two of his players, Len Ford and Rosey Brown, have been inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. In 1952 Morgan named its then new $1 million gymnasium facility after him.

Track

From 1929 to 1970, Hurt also coached the track team at Morgan. By the 1950s the Morgan track team was drawing national and international attention. At the 1950 Penn Relays, Hurt's foursome, Sam LaBeach, Bob Tyler, Bill Brown and George Rhoden, won the mile relay in 3:13.6, which broke the Penn Relays' record that had stood for 56 years. Hurt's teams won 13 CIAA Track and Field Championships. Those teams also produced 8 NCAA champions, 12 AAU individual champions, 3 NCAA relay champions, 6 AAU relay champions, 1 Olympic gold-medalist (George Rhoden), 1 Olympic bronze-medalist (Josh Culbreath) and 11 individual or relay championships at the Penn Relays.cite book|others=Joe McIver, archivist|title=Service Of Triumph for Edward Paulette Hurt|publisher=Nutter Funeral Home|location=Baltimore, Maryland|date=1989-03-31|edition=special|pages=3|accessdate=2008-07-14] Hurt was also on the coaching staffs at both the 1959 Pan American Games and the 1964 Olympic Games.

Basketball

Hurt coached the Morgan State University basketball team from 1929 to 1947, winning 4 CIAA championships. Three of those championships came consecutively in 1931, 1932 and 1933. From 1930 to 1947 Hurt coached the Morgan cagers to a 143-57 record, with the 1930, 1932, 1935 and 1945 teams going undefeated. [cite web|url=http://www.morganstatebears.com/Pdfs/mbball/2007/11/13/Pages%2069-92.pdf|title=MSU Year-By-Year Results (1930 - Present)|publisher=Office of Sports Information-Morgan State University|accessdate=2008-07-16]

Awards and honors

*1949-named Coach of the year, 1949, Washington Pigskin Club
*1950-named to the Outstanding Coaches of All-Time List by the University of Texas
*1950-Coach of the Year, 1950 "Track and Field News"
*1952-Morgan State University gymnasium("pictured") named in his honor [cite web|url=http://www.morgan.edu/about-msu/msuphotos/Hurt.asp|title= Hurt Gymnasium|publisher=Morgan state University|accessdate=2008-07-15]
*1959-U.S Coach, Pan-American games
*Member, United States Olympic Committee 1960-1972
*1964-awarded United States Olympic Committee service award
*
*
*1964-Coach, U.S Olympic track team cite web|url=http://www.usatf.org/HallOfFame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=78|title=Edward Hurt|publisher=USA Track and Field|accessdate=2008-07-14]
*1972-elected to the Morgan State University Athletic Hall of Fame
*1975-inducted into the USA National Track and Field Hall of Fame in
*1978-inducted into the HBCU Hall of Fame
*

Legacy

Edward P. Hurt died on March 24, 1989. His memorial service was held one week later on the campus of Morgan State University. His interment was completed at the Arbutus Memorial Park in southwest Baltimore County, Maryland. Hurt was survived by his wife Beatrice, one brother and three sisters. In addition to the Hurt Gymnasium, named is his honor in 1952, a scholarship fund was established in the name of Edward and Beatrice Hurt and the "Eddie Hurt Invitational track meet" is held annually at the university.

References