Ripon College Athletics

Fred Luehring embodies the spirit of the lifetime athlete. Director of physical education and athletics at Ripon from 1906-10, he coached football (three championships), basketball (two championships) and track and taught history and sociology. At Princeton University, he coached a championship water polo team. As athletic director at Minnesota from 1922-33, he undertook construction of a 50,000-capacity stadium and an 18-hole golf course. Coach Luehring served on several U.S. Olympic committees. In his retirement, he became a hiker, taking on the 2,050-mile Appalachian Trail at age 81. In golf, he shot under his age into his 90s. Before retiring from the University of Pennsylvania in 1953, he came under pressure for standing by his belief in sport for sport’s sake, opposing turning collegiate athletics into a lucrative means of fundraising. Fred Luehring, instead, chose to emphasize the broader aspects of wholesome individual and team competition.