On this date 126 years ago, Sept. 13, 1894, thirty-four-year-old Professor Frederick H. Dodge was introduced as the new director of athletics at the University of Illinois. He succeeded Edward K. Hall, the UI’s very first A.D., who resigned three months earlier.

An 1884 graduate of Yale University, Dodge devoted his undergraduate athletic endeavors to rowing and did not participate in any other sports. Born in 1860, the native of Bangor, Me., was first employed as the chair of physical culture at Bates College in his home state, then moved on to become director of the Chicago Athenaeum’s gymnasium for three years, located at 59 East Van Buren Street.

Three weeks after Dodge was hired at Illinois, he brought on Louis Vail from the University of Pennsylvania to coach the Illini football team. Vail’s 1894 squad, his only one, had a 5-3 record.

In Dodge’s seventh week on the job as the Illini athletic director, the school’s official colors changed from green and white to orange and blue.

Under Dodge’s direction in 1895, Illinois organized a varsity track and field program and became a charter member of the nation’s first intercollegiate athletics conference that would come to be known as the Big Ten.

When Dodge departed Champaign-Urbana in June of 1895 for New Brunswick, N.J., he was replaced by George Huff. Dodge served as director of Rutgers University’s Ballantine Gymnasium and also coached the Scarlet Knights’ track and gymnastics teams.

He later was director of Wee Lah Valle Camp for boys and girls at Schoodic Lake, Me. Dodge died in 1932 at the age of 72 and was buried in Bethel, Me.

Illini Birthdays:

Sunday: Gene Carr, football (83)

Monday: Graham Morris, track & field (30)

Tuesday: Brit Miller, football (34)

Wednesday: Becky Beach, golf/basketball

Thursday: Fred Wakefield, football (42)

Friday: Dominic Stampley, football (24)

Saturday: Moses Okpala, football (21)

By Mike Pearson, author of Illini Legends, Lists & Lore (Third Edition now available in stores). Get more Illini birthdays, trivia and historical tidbits daily on Twitter @IlliniLegends and @B1GLLL. His website is www.SportsLLL.com. Also, if you’ve got an Illini SuperFan in your family who will soon be celebrating a ‘milestone’ birthday, we’d love to try and include them in our weekly birthday list that always runs with our ‘Legends, Lists and Lore,’ entries. Email their name, age and hometown to Pearson at pearsonmlpp1@roadrunner.com.

By Mike Pearson, author of Illini Legends, Lists & Lore (Third Edition now available in stores). Get more Illini birthdays, trivia and historical tidbits daily on Twitter @IlliniLegends and @B1GLLL. His website is www.SportsLLL.com. Also, if you’ve got an Illini SuperFan in your family who will soon be celebrating a ‘milestone’ birthday, we’d love to try and include them in our weekly birthday list that always runs with our ‘Legends, Lists and Lore,’ entries. Email their name, age and hometown to Pearson at pearsonmlpp1@roadrunner.com.