Eugene Van Gent
American football and basketball player and coach
About Eugene Van Gent
Lived 1889 – 1949 (aged 59). Eugene Van Gent was an American basketball coach and athletics competitor.
Conrad Eugene Van Gent (December 23, 1889 – June 12, 1949) was an American college football and college basketball player and coach. He served as the head football at the University of Texas at Austin in 1916, the University Farm—now known as the University of California, Davis—in 1920, and Stanford University in 1921, compiling a career college football head coaching record of 14–8–3. Van Gent was also the head basketball coach at the University of Missouri (1914–1916), Texas (1916–1917), and Stanford (1921–1922), tallying a career college basketball head coaching mark of 42–19. Van Gent played football and basketball, and ran track at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was selected to the College Basketball All-American team in 1914.
Coaching career During his two seasons as basketball head coach at the University of Missouri, from 1914 to 1916, Van Gent led to the Tigers to a 21–9 overall record. The University of Texas hired Van Gent as both football and basketball head coach in 1916. He coached for one season in each sport before joining the military to fight in the World War I. In the 1916 college football season, Van Gent directed Texas to a 7–2 overall record in football and a 6–1 record in Southwest Conference play. As men's basketball head coach for the 1916–17 season, he directed the Longhorns to a 13–3 overall record (7–1 in conference play) and their third consecutive Southwest Conference championship. In 1921, Van Gent coached the Stanford Cardinal football team, compiling a 4–2–2 record. Van Gent also coached Stanford's basketball team in 1921–22. He fell ill with encephalitis lethargica in December 1922 and was hospitalized in San Francisco.
Head coaching record Football
Basketball
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Important facts
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Eugene Van Gent's
Frequently asked questions
Who was Eugene Van Gent?
American football and basketball player and coach (1889-1949)
When was Eugene Van Gent born?
Eugene Van Gent was born on 23 December 1889 in Iowa.
When did Eugene Van Gent die?
Eugene Van Gent died on 12 June 1949 in Solano County.
What was Eugene Van Gent's occupation?
Eugene Van Gent was a basketball coach and athletics competitor.
What nationality was Eugene Van Gent?
Eugene Van Gent was American.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Eugene Van Gent. https://biography.guide/eugene-van-gent/
MLA: "Eugene Van Gent." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/eugene-van-gent/.
Chicago: "Eugene Van Gent." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/eugene-van-gent/.
Data last updated: 2026-09-23 · Spot an error? Report a correction.
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