Wilfred Joseph "Dukes" Duford (June 11, 1898 – May 8, 1981) was an American college football player, coach, and university athletic director. He was the head football coach at Saint Louis University, Saint Ambrose University, and the University of Saint Mary (Kansas).
Biography Duford was born on June 11, 1898, in Menomonie, Wisconsin.Dukes Duford, Pro Football Reference, retrieved June 24, 2010. Duford attended Niagara High School, Database Football, retrieved July 1, 2010. and Marquette University, where he played football, baseball, and basketball., The Milwaukee Journal, December 13, 1979. Duford lettered in basketball from 1921 to 1923.All-Time Letterwinners , Marquette University, retrieved June 25, 2010. He graduated in 1924., The Milwaukee Journal, January 31, 1940.
After college, he played professional football in the National Football League (NFL) for one season with the Green Bay Packers. He saw action in three games in 1924 as a halfback.
Duford began his college football coaching career with a two-year stint at the University of Saint Mary in Kansas. He then moved on to Saint Ambrose University in Iowa, where he coached from 1931 to 1939. During his tenure there, Saint Ambrose posted a 60–10–7 record.
Impressed by his winning record, St. Ambrose University signed Duford to a multi-year contract as its football coach. Duford served as both the head football coach and athletic director at Saint Louis from 1940 to 1947., The Milwaukee Journal, June 3, 1967. He also served as the basketball coach for the 1944–45 season and posted an 11–6 record.Billiken Coaches (PDF), 2007-08 Men's Basketball Media Guide, p. 128, Saint Louis University, 2007. Duford and his staff resigned from Saint Louis after the 1947 season in which the football team amassed a 4–6 record.Dukes Duford Out As Billikens Coach , December 6, 1947. In his autobiography, Memories of a Hall of Fame Sportswriter, Bob Broeg called Duford his "candidate for the most noble coach of all."Bob Broeg, Bob Broeg: Memories of a Hall of Fame Sportswriter, p. 148, 1995, .
In 1966, Duford was working as the Commissioner of the St. Louis Council on Human Relations,HOUSING EQUALITY HITS A RAW NERVE; In St. Louis, as in Other Big Cities, the Idea of a Negro Neighbor Stirs Anxiety, The New York Times, September 20, 1966. which was set up to facilitate racial integration of the city.Victory without violence: the first ten years of the St. Louis Committee of Racial Equality (CORE), 1947-1957, p. 86, 2003, . Duford returned to Saint Louis University as its interim athletic director in 1967. Duford was inducted into the Saint Louis University's Billiken Hall of Fame in 1995.Billiken Hall of Fame Members , Saint Louis University, retrieved July 1, 2010.
Duford died at his Missouri home in 1981 of a heart ailment."Ex-SLU director dies", Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tuesday, May 12, 1981, Tokyo, Japan, Japan
Head coaching record Football
Basketball
The MVC also cancelled the season due to World War II.
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