Position: Halfback
Years: 1905-1907
Place of Birth: St. Louis, MO
Date of Birth: May 02, 1887
Place of Death: Dallas, TX
Date of Death: Nov 24, 1977
Height: 5-7
Weight: 190
High School: Dallas, TX (Bryan HS)
Joe Utay served college football as a player, coach, athletic director, writer, official, and promoter. He played halfback for Texas A&M and was captain in 1907. In his three years the Aggies had a 19-4-1 record. Utay graduated in 1908, went to law school, and was a practicing attorney in Dallas for 55 years. He returned to Texas A&M in 1912 and served one year as freshman football coach and director of athletics. That same year he founded the Texas Officials Association, and he was its president 1912-36. In 1914 he helped found the Southwest Conference. He wrote the Southwest review of each football season in the NCAA Guide for 25 years. Utay helped found the Texas A&M letterman's club. After the 1921 season he promoted the Dixie Classic, a game matching Texas A&M with Centre College in Dallas. This was the forerunner of all bowl games in the Southwest. Utay also promoted three all-star games matching Southwest Conference stars against players from the Midwest. The games benefited the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children. He served on the Texas A&M board of directors 1935-1941. Kern Tips, noted Texas football historian, wrote of Utay: "He typifies the breed of men on whom football took a firm and lasting grip." George White wrote in the Dallas Morning News: "Utay....has done more for Southwest football than any other man." Texas A&M named a dormitory for him. Utay was born May 2, 1887, and died November 24, 1977.
