Ray Eliot

Ray Eliot
Eliot, circa 1942
Biographical details
Born(1905-06-03)June 3, 1905
Brighton, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedFebruary 24, 1980(1980-02-24) (aged 74)
Urbana, Illinois, U.S.
Playing career
1930–1931Illinois
Position(s)Guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1932–1933Illinois College (assistant)
1934–1936Illinois College
1937–1941Illinois (line)
1942–1959Illinois
Baseball
1933–1937Illinois College
Ice Hockey
1937–1939Illinois
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1979Illinois (interim AD)
Head coaching record
Overall98–80–12 (.547) (football)
3–11–0 (.214) (ice hockey)
Bowls2–0
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 national (1951)
3 Big Ten (1946, 1951, 1953)
Awards
Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (1961)

Raymond Eliot "Butch" Nusspickel (June 13, 1905 – February 24, 1980) was an American football and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Illinois College from 1934 to 1936 and at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1942 to 1959, compiling a career college football record of 98–80–12. Eliot was also the head baseball coach at Illinois College from 1933 to 1937. His Illinois Fighting Illini football teams won three Big Ten Conference championships (1946, 1951, and 1953) and two Rose Bowls (1947 and 1952). Eliot, who spent almost his entire career at the University of Illinois—he was a student athlete, an assistant football coach, head football coach, associate athletic director, and finally the interim athletic director for the university—was nicknamed "Mr. Illini." He attended the University of Illinois, played as a guard on the football team in 1930 and 1931, and was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He died of an apparent heart attack on February 24, 1980, in Urbana, Illinois.[1]

Eliot is remembered by the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association through its Ray Eliot award.

  1. ^ "Ray Eliot, 74, Dead; Coached At Illinois; Career Spanned 18 Years, During Which Football Teams Won Twice in Rose Bowl An Eloquent Speaker" (PDF). The New York Times. Associated Press. February 25, 1980. Retrieved August 20, 2011.