{{Short description|American football player and businessman (1893–1969)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox college football player |name=Harold Pogue |image= |birth_date=November 25, 1893 |birth_place=[[Sullivan, Illinois]], U.S. |death_date=October 23, 1969 |death_place=[[Decatur, Illinois]], U.S. |currentposition=[[Halfback (American football)|Halfback]], [[Quarterback]] |school=Illinois Fighting Illini |highschool=[[Sullivan High School (Sullivan, Illinois)]] (1912) |pastschools=[[Illinois Fighting Illini football|Illinois]] (1914) |highlights= * Third-team [[College Football All-America Team|All-American]] ([[1914 College Football All-America Team|1914]]) * First-team [[List of All-Big Ten Conference football teams|All-Western]] ([[1914 All-Western college football team|1914]]) }} '''Harold Pogue''' (November 25, 1893 – October 23, 1969) was an American [[American football|football]] player and businessman. He played [[quarterback]] and [[Halfback (American football)|halfback]] for [[Robert Zuppke]]'s [[University of Illinois]] football teams and was selected as a first-team All-American in 1914. He later served as a member of the University of Illinois' Board of Trustees for 17 years.
==Biography==
===University of Illinois=== Pogue was born in [[Sullivan, Illinois]], and enrolled at the [[University of Illinois]] in 1912.<ref name=Obit>{{cite news|title=Harold Pogue, Early Zuppke Grid Star Dies: Decatur Civic Leader a U. of I. Trustee|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=1969-10-24}}</ref> As a freshman, Pogue was slightly built, weighed 142 pounds, and wore thick glasses. He tried out for the freshman football team as a quarterback, but he was cut from the team because he was too small.<ref name=Other>{{cite web|author=Ray Schmidt|title=Illinois' other Harold|publisher=College Football Historical Society|date=August 1977|url=http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/CFHSN/CFHSNv01/CFHSNv01n1c.pdf}}</ref>
In the spring of 1913, Illinois' head football coach [[Robert Zuppke]] saw Pogue compete at a track meet and invited him to football practice in the fall.<ref name=Other/> He was Zuppke's starting [[quarterback]] in 1913. In the second week of the 1913 season, Pogue scored three touchdowns against the [[University of Missouri]], leading a Chicago newspaper to write, "Pogue's performance stamps him as one of the greatest quarterbacks in Illinois history."<ref name=Other/> In his fifth game for the Illini, Pogue returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown against the [[University of Chicago]] at [[Stagg Field]], but he suffered a shoulder injury that caused him to miss the remainder of the season.<ref name=Other/>
In 1914, Pogue played at [[Halfback (American football)|halfback]] and [[quarterback]] and helped lead Illinois to an undefeated season and [[Big Ten Conference|Western Conference]] championship. He scored three touchdowns in Illinois' 37-0 victory over the [[Ohio State Buckeyes]]. In the 1914 game against Minnesota, scored two touchdowns and a 35-yard end run and a 75-yard interception return. In the final game of the 1914 season, Pogue returned two punts for touchdowns, including a 65-yard return. In all, Pogue scored eleven touchdowns in six games during the 1914 season.<ref name=Other/> ''Chicago Tribune'' sports writer, and former All-American, [[Walter Eckersall]], wrote that Pogue was "without doubt one of the most elusive runners since the days of [[Walter Steffen]]. He is fast and shifty, and can hit the line or run the ends with equal success. When used to receive forward passes Pogue probably is the most valuable man on his team."<ref name=Other/>
At the end of the 1914 season, Pogue was selected as a first-team All-American halfback by the ''Pittsburgh-Gazette-Times'' and ''Michigan Daily'',<ref name=Spalding>Spalding's Official Football Guide 1915</ref> a second-team All-American by [[Walter Eckersall]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Eckersall Names All-Stars: Eckersall Names One Western Man; Maulbetsch of Michigan on All-American|publisher=Waterloo Evening Courier|date=1914-12-07}}</ref> and a third-team All-American by [[Walter Camp]] for [[Collier's Weekly]] and [[Frank G. Menke]] for the International News Service.<ref>{{cite news|title=Walter Camp’s Three All-American Elevens|publisher=The Syracuse Herald|date=1914-12-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Menke Selects Annual All-American Eleven|publisher=New Castle News|date=1914-11-25}}</ref> Pogue and teammates [[Perry Graves]] and [[Ralph Chapman (American football)|Ralph Chapman]] became the first University of Illinois football players to be selected as first-team All-Americans in 1914.<ref>{{cite web|title=All-America Selections|publisher=University of Illinois|url=http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-footbl/archive/FBHist-All_AmericaSelections.html|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609134210/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-footbl/archive/FBHist-All_AmericaSelections.html|archivedate=2011-06-09}}</ref>
In 1915, Pogue suffered an ankle injury that resulted in his missing three games and did not score in two games after returning from his injury.<ref name=Other/> Pogue registered a student group named the "Ku Klux Klan" as a student organization in 1915, although its idealistic relationship to the nationwide hate group is debated.<ref name=IDEALS>{{cite web|author=Stephan Lane|title=An Analysis of the UIUC Ku Klux Klan and the Surrounding Debates|publisher=IDEALS|date=May 2008|url=https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/items/8701}}</ref> Pogue graduated from the University of Illinois College of Commerce and Business Administration in 1916.<ref name=Obit/>
After his retirement, Coach Zuppke placed Pogue in the backfield with [[Red Grange]] as part of his all-time University of Illinois football team.<ref name=Obit/> Walter Eckersall picked Pogue as the greatest Illini football player in the era before Red Grange.<ref name=Obit/>
===Later years=== During [[World War I]], Pogue served in the [[U.S. Army]] as a lieutenant.<ref name=Obit/> After the war, he went into the lumber business in [[Decatur, Illinois]]. He was the president of the Hunter Pogue Lumber Company from 1925 to 1959.<ref name=Obit/> He also served as president of the Pogue Development Company until his death in 1969.<ref name=Obit/>
Pogue remained active in the affairs of the University of Illinois, serving as a member of the university's board of trustees from 1935-1941 (having won election to a six year term in 1934) and 1959-1969 (having won election as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] to six year terms in [[1958 Illinois elections#Trustees of University of Illinois|1958]] and [[1964 Illinois elections#Trustees of University of Illinois|1964]]),<ref name=ui1>{{cite web |title=Trustees, University of Illinois Board of Trustees |url=https://www.bot.uillinois.edu/UserFiles/Servers/Server_694865/File/UI-trustees-chronological.pdf |publisher=University of Illinois |accessdate=1 April 2020}}</ref> president of the board of trustees from 1940–41,<ref name=ui1/> and president of the University of Illinois Alumni Association in 1952.<ref name=Obit/> He also served on the Decatur City Council from 1959 to 1963, as president of the Decatur Chamber of Commerce from 1953 to 19555, and as a director of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce from 1957 to 1961.<ref name=Obit/> He was also considered as a possible Democratic candidate for Governor of Illinois in [[1956 Illinois gubernatorial election|1956]].<ref name=Obit/>
In 1965, Pogue married Ramona Borders. Borders had known Pogue since she was seven years old and worked in the computer science field at the University of Illinois. She later said of Pogue, "He was a wonderful person. He loved horses and animals, and he loved sailing and helping people. We took mission construction groups to Haiti and Colombia and Honduras."<ref>{{cite news|author=Bob Fallstrom|title=Ramona Borders always ready to 'Do Something Great'|publisher=Herald Review|date=2008-12-18|url=http://www.herald-review.com/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/fallstrom/article_5b48df67-d115-5234-9859-6a5e8a4e16f9.html}}</ref>
Pogue died in 1969 at his home in Decatur. His body was donated, at his request, to the University of Illinois Medical College.<ref name=Obit/>
==See also== * [[1914 College Football All-America Team]] * [[1952 Illinois elections#Trustees of University of Illinois]]
==References== {{reflist|2}} {{1914 Illinois Fighting Illini football navbox}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pogue, Harold}} [[Category:1893 births]] [[Category:1969 deaths]] [[Category:All-American college football players]] [[Category:American football halfbacks]] [[Category:Illinois Democrats]] [[Category:Illinois Fighting Illini football players]] [[Category:People from Sullivan, Illinois]] [[Category:Players of American football from Illinois]] [[Category:20th-century American academics]] [[Category:Members of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees]] [[Category:American athlete-politicians]] [[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]