Z.G. Clevenger served as Tennessee’s football head coach from 1911-15, compiling a 26-15-2 record.
Clevenger guided Tennessee to its first ever championship in program history during the 1914 season. The Vols won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship and were 9-0 in 1914. 1914 marked the first season Tennessee defeated Vanderbilt.
At Tennessee, Clevenger served as the Vols’ head coach for football, basketball and baseball. He compiled a 50-14 record (1911-16) and went undefeated during the 1915-16 campaign (12-0) in basketball.
As Tennessee’s baseball head coach, Clevenger compiled a 40-37-3 record between 1912-16.
Clevenger, a native of Muncie, Indiana, came to Tennessee after serving as Nebraska Wesleyan’s football, basketball and baseball head coach.
The Indiana graduate and halfback for the Hoosiers later went on to serve as a head coach in baseball, football and basketball at Kansas State. He was Indiana’s basketball and baseball head coach, where he also served as athletics director, before arriving at Nebraska Wesleyan.
Clevenger, who went on to become athletics director at Kansas State and Missouri before returning to Indiana, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968, two years before his death.
Below are clippings of Tennessee’s football uniforms from 1911-15 when Clevenger served as the Vols’ head coach.