Hall of Fame
Position: Guard
Years: 1941-1943, 1946
Place of Birth: Chicago, IL
Date of Birth: Mar 27, 1922
Place of Death: Tarpon Springs, FL
Date of Death: May 04, 2007
Jersey Number: 59
Height: 5-10
Weight: 191
Other College: Purdue
High School: Evanston, IL (Evanston Township HS)
Alex Agase was listed as right guard in the lineup, and nobody ever played the position with more aggressiveness. Playing for Illinois against Minnesota in 1942, he scored two touchdowns. On the first, he stole the ball from Bill Daley and ran 38 yards to the goal line. On the second, he recovered Vic Kulbitski's fumble. This was only the second time in history a guard scored two touchdowns in a game. In another game in 1942, Agase made 22 tackles against Great Lakes. Agase was All- America in 1942. He played at Purdue as a Marine Trainee in 1943 and again made All-America. In 1944-45 he was on duty in the Pacific zone. He was in battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He returned to play at Illinois in 1946, was All- America a third time and the Big 10's Most Valuable Player. Alex played pro football 1947-53 and was on three championship teams with the Cleveland Browns. He was Northwestern head coach 1964-72 and Purdue head coach 1973-76. The Football Writers Association named him national coach of the year, 1970. Alex was athletic director at Eastern Michigan 1977-81 and then was a volunteer assistant coach for Bo Schembechler at Michigan. He was named to the Walter Camp Foundation all-century team in 1989 and the Illinois all-century team in 1990.
