| Dean Cromwell(D. 1962), nicknamed "Maker of Champions", was an American athletic coach in multiple sports, principally at the University of Southern California. He was the head coach of the USC track team from 1909 to 1948, except 1914 and 1915, and guided the team to 12 NCAA team national championships (1926, 1930–31, 1935–43) and 34 individual NCAA titles. He was the head coach for the U.S. track team at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. He was the assistant head coach for the U.S. track team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and in such role was responsible for removing Jewish athletes Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller from the US mens 4 x 100 meter relay team in order to mollify Adolph Hitler.Cromwell was also an opportunistic anti-semite who, in order to curry favor with Avery Brundage, U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman, joined the infamous isolationist, pro-Nazi organization, America First Committee, of which Brundage was a founding member and organizer.
Cromwell also served as the head coach of the USC football program from 1909 to 1910, and from 1916 to 1918. His involvement with USC football goes back even farther; he is known to have officiated USC games as early as 1903, and he played (along with the coaches of both teams) for USC opponent Harvard in a 1905 game due to the weakness of the Harvard roster. In his first term as coach in 1909-10, he posted a record of 10-1-3; but this was exclusively against southern California competition, with no major colleges on the schedule. Like many schools, USC switched from football to rugby from 1911 to 1913. Cromwell returned as football coach in 1916, by which time USC's teams had begun to be known as the Trojans. But by this point, the university was facing competition which more regularly included major colleges such as California, Utah and Stanford, and his relative lack of expertise in the sport was more readily apparent; World War I also depleted the team's ranks in 1917-18. In his final three years his record was still respectable at 11-7-3, though only 4-4-1 against major colleges. In his final 1918 season, USC was 2-2-2 – not playing a home game in Los Angeles until December 14 due to a citywide ban on public gatherings during the Spanish flu epidemic – and he was replaced by Gus Henderson. During his tenure, Cromwell compiled a 21-8-6 record. Apart from Sam Barry, who took over the 1941 team in the wake of Howard Jones' death, Cromwell was the last USC football coach for whom it was not his primary sport. He also coached the USC basketball team in 1918, though they only played two games against the Los Angeles Athletic Club, losing both. He is a member of the National Track & Field HOF.
We offer a vintage signed album page from 1931. Talk about rare!!!
Item: 2387
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