Hall of Fame
John Brandeberry was the first head coach in UT football history, leading a group of 15 young men into battle in the inaugural 1917 season. Though "Toledo University" had no playing field or athletic department, Brandeberry managed to keep the team together out of sheer will and determination. A group of UT students had been trying unsuccessfully to get a football team together when Brandeberry volunteered to lead them for the 1917 season. He also served as an assistant under Walt Hobt in 1919-20. Brandeberry had played football and basketball in his college days at Mount Union, where he graduated in 1913, which qualified him as a relative expert in the sport. He paid for uniforms, a practice field, food and transportation for the team out of his own pocket. Brandeberry was a member of the UT faculty for 38 years, from 1915 until he died of a heart attack at age 59 in 1953. He served as the Dean of the College of Engineering from 1943-53, and was chairman of a three-member committee that ran the University on an interim basis until a president was hired. An avid fisherman and winter sports enthusiast, Brandeberry was a long-time member and one-time chairman of the UT Board in Control of Athletics (now Athletic Committee). He also was elected faculty athletic representative president of the Mid-American Conference just a few months prior to his death.
