University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols' Oldest Grid Letterman Dies at 98
March 18, 2011 | Football
March 18, 2011
Murray Warmath, who played football at Tennessee from 1932-34 and was believed to be UT's oldest living gridiron letterman, died Wednesday in Minneapolis. He was 98.
Warmath went on to a stellar coaching career that included winning the 1960 national championship at Minnesota, where he coached from 1954-71. He began as a head coach at Mississippi State from 1952-53, and that's when Warmath went up against the man who had coached him at Tennessee -- the legendary Gen. Robert R. Neyland.
"We played Mississippi State the opening game of the 1952 season at the old Crump Stadium in Memphis," said Gus Manning, who was UT's sports information director at the time. "We beat them 14-7, and after the game Murray grabbed hold of the General as they were coming off the field and said, `By God, don't you retire. I'll beat you next year.'"
Neyland did retire after the 1952 season, but Warmath was right. His Bulldogs beat Tennessee 26-0 in Knoxville the following season, and from there Warmath went on to an 18-year career at Minnesota.
Known as a hard-nosed disciplinarian, Warmath remains the last Gophers coach to win a national championship, a Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl. His teams won two Big Ten crowns and appeared in two Rose Bowl games. His record with the Gophers was 87-78-7, with nine All-America and 23 All-Big Ten players.
In the 1962 Rose Bowl, Warmath and the Gophers beat UCLA 21-3. UCLA was coached by another former Vol, Billy Barnes (1937-39), making it two opposing coaches from the same school in the same Rose Bowl.
Made His Mark on Social Landscape
Warmath also was recognized nationally for his recruitment of African-American athletes in the late 1950s. He was one of the first major college coaches to recruit multiple black athletes in a single recruiting class, and Warmath was ahead of his time installing one of those recruits, Sandy Stephens, as the starting quarterback on his 1959-61 teams.
A Humboldt native, Warmath was president of his class at UT and lettered three seasons for the Vols. The Associated Press named him to the 1934 All-SEC team at guard.
Upon graduation, Warmath joined Neyland's coaching staff from 1935-39 and also served as wrestling coach from 1937-38. After serving as a U.S. Navy officer in World War II, Warmath returned to Neyland's staff from 1946-48 before taking an assistant's position at Army under another coaching legend, Red Blaik. Vince Lombardi also coached on the West Point staff during that time.
After stepping down at Minnesota, Warmath served as the school's assistant to the athletics director until another football coaching icon, Bud Grant of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings, convinced him to return to the sidelines as defensive line coach in 1978. Warmath coached two seasons under Grant before ending his 33-year coaching career. He scouted for the Vikings until the mid-1990s before retiring in the Minneapolis area.
Warmath was preceded in death by his wife, the former Mary Louise Clapp of Knoxville and one-time UT homecoming queen, as well as his son, Bill, and daughter, Carol Dillow. His son, Murray Warmath Jr., M.D., and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren survive him.
Funeral services are being held Monday at 1 p.m. Central time at St. Stephens's Episcopal Church, 4439 W. 50th St., Edina, Minn. There will be a gathering after the service at Edina Country Club.
