&sq=crain_ford&lang=en&file=File:BillRoper.jpg) Roper in 1909 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 22, 1880 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | December 19, 1933 (aged 53) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1899–1902 | Princeton |
| Position(s) | End (football) Outfielder (baseball) |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football | |
| 1903–1904 | VMI |
| 1906–1908 | Princeton |
| 1909 | Missouri |
| 1910–1911 | Princeton |
| 1915–1916 | Swarthmore |
| 1919–1930 | Princeton |
| Basketball | |
| 1902–1903 | Princeton |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 112–38–18 (football) 8–7 (basketball) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| Football 4 national (1906, 1911, 1920, 1922) 1 MVC (1909) | |
| College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1951 (profile) | |
William Winston Roper (August 22, 1880 – December 10, 1933) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the Virginia Military Institute (1903–1904), Princeton University (1906–1908, 1910–1911, 1919–1930), the University of Missouri (1909), and Swarthmore College (1915–1916), compiling a career college football record of 112–38–18. Roper's Princeton Tigers football teams of 1906, 1911, 1920, and 1922 have been recognized as national champions. His 89 wins are the most of any coach in the history of the program. Roper was also the head basketball coach at Princeton for one season in 1902–03, tallying a mark of 8–7. Roper played football as an end, basketball, and baseball as an outfielder at Princeton, from which he graduated in 1902. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1951.
Roper served on the NCAA Football Rules Committee.[1]