Colgate University Athletics

Andy Kerr was dividing his time between the classroom and coaching at Johnstown and Pittsburgh when he came to the attention of Glenn S. “Pop” Warner. Shortly afterward, in 1914, he cast his lot with Warner at the University of Pittsburgh as coach of basketball, track and freshman football. From Pittsburgh, he went west in 1922 to Stanford University where, as interim football coach, he installed the Warner double wing system. In 1926, Washington and Jefferson induced Andy to return to the East as its head coach of football and basketball. Three years later, he heeded a call to Colgate where, for the next 18 years, his football teams electrified the sports world with their precise, mathematical execution of an endless series of plays stemming from the double wing. Many of the gridiron innovations Andy Kerr pioneered are still major weapons in the arsenal of the sport. While a Colgate, his football teams combined for a record of 95 wins, 50 losses and seven ties which included the unbeaten, untied, unscored upon and uninvited team of 1932. He is a member of the National Football Hall of Fame, the Helms Hall of Fame and the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award from the American Football Coaches Association. He also served as coach of the East team from 1927 until 1950 in the annual East-West Shrine Game. He was awarded the honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Colgate and on September of 1966 Colgate’s football field was dedicated as “Andy Kerr Stadium.”