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William Henry Jackson Beckett (1882 – March 15, 1954) was an American football coach.

Springfield YMCA Training School

Becket was the first African American person to ever be awarded a degree at Springfield College–then known as the International YMCA Training School–in Springfield, Massachusetts. He was awarded the school's Tarbell Medallion in 1947.

Howard University

Beckett became the head football coach and first full-time athletic director at Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1917.

Late life and death

Beckett taught physical education at Sumner High School in St. Louis, Missouri for 35 years before retiring in 1954. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage on March 15, 1954, at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis.

Head coaching record

References

1. "William Beckett Obituary in St. Lois Argus". digitalcommonwealth.org. March 13, 1954. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
2. "Tarbell Medallion Recipients". Springfield College. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
3. Logan, Rayford W. (1969). Howard University: the First Hundred Years, 1867-1967. NYU Press. ISBN 9780814702635. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
4. "William Beckett Funeral; Active In Negro Recreation". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis, Missouri. March 16, 1954. p. 19. Retrieved October 25, 2019 – via Newspapers.com .

• 1882 births
• 1954 deaths
• Howard Bison athletic directors
• Howard Bison football coaches
• Springfield College alumni
• University of Pennsylvania alumni
• Sportspeople from Philadelphia
• African-American coaches of American football
• African-American college athletic directors in the United States
• African-American schoolteachers
• Schoolteachers from Missouri
• 20th-century African-American sportsmen