Text Box: College football's most colorful and controversial coach

William Henry Lone Star Dietz (1884-1964), the most colorful coach to grace a sideline, is as controversial 60 years after his death as he was in life. Artist, teacher, actor, writer, championship dog breeder and athlete--teammate of Jim Thorpe on the legendary Carlisle Indian School football teams and protege of Glenn S. "Pop" Warner. Dietz was truly a Renaissance man, mostly forgotten for a half century were it not for the Redskins naming controversy, Lone Star's story deserves to be told--and it finally is.

Tom Benjey's biography,
Keep A-goin': The life of Lone Star Dietz, is heavily illustrated with over 250 drawings and photographs. Most of the Indian Art was done by him, his first wife the renowned Winnebago artist Angel DeCora, or their talented Carlisle Indian students.

Follow Lone Star's coaching stops from Carlisle to Washington State to Mare Island, Purdue, Louisiana Tech, Wyoming, Stanford, Haskell, Boston Redskins, Temple, and finally to Albright College. Learn about his upset victory over Fritz Pollard and his Brown team in the 1916 Rose Bowl. Follow his tribulations with the Mare Island Marines and their loss to the Great Lakes Navy team led by George Halas in the 1919 Rose Bowl.

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Washington State University Hall of Fame -- 1983

Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame -- 1997

Rice Lake Sports Hall of Fame -- 2002

Helms Foundation/Citizens Savings Hall of Fame -- 1976

Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame -- 1963

Lone Star Dietz had been inducted into a number of halls of fame, including the prestigious Helms/Citizens Hall of Fame, but not until 2012 was he enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.

American Indian Hall of Fame -- 1971

Lone Star Dietz