Ed Weir

Honors & Awards

• Nebraska's First Member of the College Football Hall of Fame (1951)
• Nebraska Football Hall of Fame (1971)
• Nebraska's First Two-Time All-American (1924, 1925)
• Nebraska Assistant Football Coach (1929-37, 1943)
• Three-Year NFL Career (Frankford Yellowjackets, 1926-28)
• Coach Frankford Yellowjackets (1928)
• Nebraska Assistant Athletic Director (1955-68)
• Nebraska Head Track & Field Coach (1939-55)
• Nebraska Assistant Track & Field (1929-38)
• Dedication of Ed Weir Outdoor Track & Field Stadium (1974)

Nebraska's first inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, Ed Weir was also the first two-time All-American in school history. Weir's contributions to Nebraska athletics spanned nearly 50 years, and his name has become synonymous with Nebraska football and track and field with the naming of the Huskers' outdoor track and field stadium in his honor in 1974.

A native of Superior, Neb., Weir was ranked as the 19th-best athlete in the history of the state of Nebraska by the Omaha World-Herald in 2005. Weir was a dominant offensive tackle for the Cornhuskers and was a driving force behind NU's 14-7 victory over Notre Dame's legendary "Four Horsemen" on Nov. 10, 1923 in the third game ever played inside Nebraska's Memorial Stadium. He helped Coach Fred Dawson's club to a third consecutive Missouri Valley Conference title in 1923.

From 1922 to 1924, Notre Dame's "Four Horsemen" posted a 27-2-1 record, with their only losses coming to Nebraska, and legendary Notre Dame Coach Knute Rockne called Weir "the greatest tackle I ever saw."

Weir helped christen Nebraska's new home as a sophomore with an impressive 24-0 victory over Oklahoma on Oct. 13, 1923. A two-time football captain for the Huskers in 1924 and 1925, Weir provided another enduring link to college football history when he led Nebraska to a 14-0 victory over Red Grange at Illinois. Weir and the Huskers kept Grange out of the end zone at home for the only time during Grange's career.

Weir's accomplishments on the gridiron earned him a spot as a charter member in the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., in 1951. In 1970, the Football Writers Association of America voted him to its all-star lineup for the best players of the 1920s.

After claiming All-America and All-Missouri Valley Conference honors in 1924 and 1925, Weir went on to play three seasons in the National Football League with the Frankford Yellowjackets, becoming one of the first 20 Nebraska football stars of the 1920s to play in the NFL. After playing in 1926, Weir and his teammates assumed coaching responsibilities midway through the 1927 to help the team to a 6-9-3 record. In 1928, Weir took over as player-coach and led the team to an 11-3-2 record and a second-place league finish.

At 6-0, 190 pounds, Weir was also a star on the track for Nebraska, earning a Missouri Valley Conference title in the 120-yard high hurdles in 1926 and leading the Huskers to the MVC team crown.

Coaching/Administrative Career at Nebraska
After his professional football career ended in 1928, Weir returned to Nebraska to serve simultaneously as an assistant football coach and assistant track and field coach.

He served as an assistant football coach under another football coaching legend, Dana X. Bible, from 1929 to 1936. He was also an assistant under Lawrence McCeney "Biff" Jones in 1937, and spent one season as an assistant under Adolph J. Lewandowski in 1943. Weir helped the Huskers to seven Big Six Conference titles in his 10 seasons on the sideline.

Weir enjoyed even more success as a track coach. After assisting Head Coach Henry Schulte for a decade from 1929 to 1938, Weir took the reins of Nebraska's track and field program in 1939.  He coached the Huskers to 10 conference titles from 1939 to 1955. Following his career as a coach, Weir became an assistant athletic director from 1955 to 1968. At the Big Eight Outdoor Championships in 1974, Nebraska dedicated its stadium in his honor. It now serves as the home of Nebraska track and field and Husker women's soccer. Ed Weir Stadium is located between Memorial Stadium and the NU Coliseum in the heart of the Huskers' athletic complex. 

Personal
Weir was born on March 14, 1903 in Superior, Neb. He passed away in Lincoln on May 15, 1991.