George Rider

George L. Rider (1890--1979) was a coach and athletic administrator at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. During his career he has been head coach of football, basketball, baseball, track, and cross country teams. In 1959 he served as honorary president of the International Track and Field Coaches Association. He is a charter member of Miami University’s Hall of Fame along with coaching legends including Walter Alston, Earl Blaik, Paul Brown, Weeb Ewbank, Ara Parseghian and John Pont

Track coach

Rider is best known for his 36 years of coaching track and cross country from 1924-1960. His track teams won nine Buckeye Conference titles and 10 consecutive Mid-American Conference Championships. Also, his cross country teams captured nine Mid-American Conference Championships. In 1957, Rider was selected to the Helms Athletic Foundation Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame. Additionally, Miami’s track is named in his honor for his contributions to the university athletic department.

Football coach

Rider became Miami University’s head coach for the 1917 and 1918 season because George Little was serving in the armed forces during World War I. In his two years he never lost a game and won back to back Ohio Athletic Conference Championships. His 1917 football team outscored its opponents 202-0. This team went 6-0-2 with the only blemishes being a 0-0 tie with both the University of Kentucky and the College of Wooster. Rider’s second season was just as successful by going 5-0-1 but games against University of Kentucky, College of Wooster, and Wittenberg University was cancelled due to the flu epidemic. He stepped down when George Little returned to Oxford from World War I.

Miami University record

External links

* [http://www.miamihawktalk.com Miami fan site]
* [http://www.ncaa.org NCAA official site]
* [http://muredhawks.com Miami official site]
* [http://muredhawks.cstv.com/facilities/mioh-rider-track.html George L. Rider Track]
*findagrave|12952396

References

* [http://muredhawks.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/05-mediaguide.html Miami 2005 media guide]
* [http://muredhawks.cstv.com/trads/hall-of-fame.html Miami University Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=1979 season by season record]
* [http://www.oac.org/documents/football.pdf OAC history]