News Scrapbook 1956-1959

COL. ROBERT V. WHITLOW Director of Athletics

LAWRENCE T. (BUCK) SHAW Head Football Coach

Colonel Whitlow, after serving as head foot· ball coach as well as director of athletics in 1955, now is concen- trating on the tremen· dous task of directing the Air Force Acade- my's present 14-sport intercollegiate program and at the same time planning for future ex· pansion of athletic activities when the Cadets move to their permanent site. In addition to the usual duties ofan athletics director, he must serve as somewhat of a prophet, scheduling contests years in advance while the Academy is at a temporary site with classes only a fraction of the size of those to arrive in future years. He also must plan many of these contests at athletic plants that currently are in the archi- tectural stage. Colonel "Bob" was born at Fresno, Calif., and attended U.C.L.A. for three years before his appointment to West Point. He lettered in football, baseball and basketball. He was gradu- ated in 1943. He is a veteran pilot with more than 3,000 hours of flying time and senior pilot status. Dur· ing World War II he flew more than 500 combat hours in completing two tours in Europe, the first in B-24 bombers and the second in P-51 Mus- tangs. He received the Silver Star, the Distin- guished Flying Cross with three Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Medal with seven Oak Leaf Clusters and the Commendation Ribbon with one Oak Leaf Cluster. His coaching background includes three seasons as football mentor at Colegio Militar (Mexico's West "Point) in Mexico City and one season at Hamilton Air Force Base. He is married to the former Cornell Kinsey of toledo, Ohio. They have one son.

We believe no one 1s better qualified than Buck Shaw to serve as head football coach at the Air Force Academy. Since his graduation from Notre Dame in 1922, Buck has compil- ed a remarkable record as coach of college and professional teams.

Through these years trademarks of his teams have been clean, hard-knocking, wide-open, win- ning football and as a result he has become one of the game's most respected figures. He was a star tackle on Notre Dame teams of 1919-20-21, a period during which the Irish of Knute Rockne lost only one contest. He began his coaching career m 1922 at Nevada University and then had tenures as head coach at North Carolina State, Nevada, Santa Clara and the University of California before guiding the San Francisco 49ers for nine seasons. Buck has been equally successful as a grid- iron tutor on the college and play-for-pay levels, establishing marks that still stand (see page 6 for complete coaching records.) Among his outstanding achievements were those at Santa Clara, where he served as assist- ant from 1929·35 to Clipper Smith, whom he succeeded in 1936. Buck led the Bronco gridders until Santa Clara dropped football after 1942 play for the duration of World War II. Shaw's Santa Clara teams won consecutive Sugar Bowl games over Louisiana State in 1937-38. His 1937 team allowed opponents an average of only 69.9 yards per game, a national major-college record that probably never will be broken. Buck came to Denver in the summer of 1955 as civilian consultant to the department of athletics at the Air Force Academy. Later that year he signed a five-year contract, effective in 1956, to serve as head football coach. 5

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