Hall of Fame
A perfectionist who refused to accept mediocrity, Wallace
Wade achieved remarkable success at Alabama and Duke
through cool, calculated planning and hard work. "The best
you can do is not enough unless it gets the job done.", he
would caution his players. The job was usually done - and
done well. At Alabama (1923-1930), Wade's teams rolled to
a 61-13-3 record. Later, at Duke, (1931-1950, with time out
for service in World War II), Wade's Blue Devils compiled a
110-36-7 mark. Many of the losses came in the years after
the war, prompting Wade to say, "I'm no longer tough
enough." Jack Horner, a writer for the DURHAM HERALD,
had a different theory: "The truth was that Wade mellowed
after seeing 135-pounders die for America as gloriously as
200-pounders." Those post-war years could hardly dim the
achievements of this great coach. He produced five Rose
Bowl teams, including the 1926 Alabama team which was the
first Southern club to appear in the classic, downing
Washington, 20-19. The Rose Bowl was not new to Wallace
Wade, though. He had been a star guard for Brown in the
1916 classic - thus the first man to have appeared in the Rose
Bowl as both a player and a coach.
