Lester Belding

Lester Belding
Biographical details
Born	December 5, 1900; Mason City, Iowa
Died	May 26, 1965 (aged 64); Naperville, Illinois
Playing career
Football
1919–1921	Iowa
Position(s)	End
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1927	North Carolina (freshmen)
1934–1942	Dakota Wesleyan
1945	North Central (IL)
Basketball
1934–1943	Dakota Wesleyan
1944–1945	Dakota Wesleyan
1946–1948	North Central (IL)
Track and field
1945–1965	North Central (IL)
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1934–1945	Dakota Wesleyan
1945–1965	North Central (IL)
Head coaching record
Overall	27–39–2 (college football); 162–63 (college basketball)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
	Football; 1 SDIC (1936); ; Basketball; 3 SDIC regular season (1939–1940, 1943)
Awards
	Consensus All-American (1919); 3× All-Big Ten (1919, 1920, 1921); University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame

Lester Cort Belding (December 5, 1900 – May 27, 1965) was an American athlete and coach in football and track and field.[1] He was the first football player from the University of Iowa to be named an All-American. He was inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 1963.

Early years

A native of Mason City, Iowa, Belding was a star football player for Mason City High School from 1914 to 1917.[2]

Belding enrolled at the University of Iowa where he played football for legendary coach Howard Jones. He was a consensus Football All-American at the end position in 1919,[3] the first player from the University of Iowa to receive the honor.[4] Considered "one of the nation's premier collegiate pass catchers of his era,"[4][5] he played on the undefeated 1921 national championship team that outscored opponents 123–15 and included Gordon Locke, Aubrey Devine, Glenn Devine, and Duke Slater. He was also a three-time first team All-Big Ten Conference selection.[5]

Belding was also the captain of Iowa's track team in 1921, competing in the 100 and 220-yard dashes.[2][5]

After graduating from Iowa in 1922, Belding became a coach. He coached at a prep school in Boulder, Colorado.[6] In 1923, Belding accepted a coaching position in Clinton, Iowa,[6] where he coached two state championship football teams.[2] He next accepted a position at the freshman coach at the University of North Carolina. He later served as the high school coach at Greensboro, North Carolina for seven years.[2] In 1933, Belding returned to Iowa where he was put in charge of high school athletics at Reinbeck, Iowa.[2][7] From 1934 to 1945, he was the athletic director and head football and basketball coach at Dakota Wesleyan College in Mitchell, South Dakota.[2][8][9] He finished his career serving 20 years, from 1945 to 1965, as a track and football coach and athletic director at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.[1][9] in 1963, Belding was inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.[10]

Belding died of a heart attack in 1965 at age 64.[1] He was posthumously inducted into the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991.


Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing
Dakota Wesleyan Tigers (South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference) (1934–1942)
1934	Dakota Wesleyan	0–7–1
1935	Dakota Wesleyan	3–4
1936	Dakota Wesleyan	5–2–1	5–0–1	T–1st
1937	Dakota Wesleyan	3–4
1938	Dakota Wesleyan	5–3
1939	Dakota Wesleyan	2–5
1940	Dakota Wesleyan	3–3
1941	Dakota Wesleyan	2–5
1942	Dakota Wesleyan	1–3–1
Dakota Wesleyan:		24–36–3
North Central Cardinals (Independent) (1945)
1945	North Central	3–3
North Central:		3–3
Total:		27–39–2
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing
Dakota Wesleyan Tigers (South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference) (1934–1943)
1934–35	Dakota Wesleyan	14–3	10–3	2nd
1935–36	Dakota Wesleyan	10–5	10–4	2nd
1936–37	Dakota Wesleyan	12–5	7–3	2nd
1937–38	Dakota Wesleyan	11–10	7–5	4th
1938–39	Dakota Wesleyan	20–3	11–2	1st
1939–40	Dakota Wesleyan	14–5	7–1	1st
1940–41	Dakota Wesleyan	16–5
1941–42	Dakota Wesleyan	8–8
1942–43	Dakota Wesleyan	21–2	11–1	1st
Dakota Wesleyan Tigers (South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference) (1944–1945)
1944–45	Dakota Wesleyan	13–4
Dakota Wesleyan:		139–50
North Central Cardinals (College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) (1946–1948)
1946–47	North Central	13–4	8–2	2nd
1947–48	North Central	10–9	5–5	T–3rd
North Central:		23–13	13–7
Total:		162–63
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

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"Lester Belding, former Iowa All-America, dies". Globe-Gazette. Mason City, Iowa. May 28, 1965. p. 3. Retrieved April 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com .
"They Started Here: A Mason City Series of Success Stories; No. 15, Lester Belding, College Coach". Mason City Globe-Gazette. 1940-06-29.
Consensus All-American designations based on the NCAA guide to football award winners Archived July 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
Mike Finn; Lou Prato; Ron Falk; Chad Leistikow (1998). Hawkeye Legends, Lists, & Lore, p. 31. Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1-57167-178-1.
"Iowa's Consensus All-Americans". Hawkeye Sports. Archived from the original on 2011-01-28.
"Gets Belding's Post". Iowa City Press-Citizen. 1923-07-16.
"Lester Belding Is Coach At Reinbeck". Oelwein Daily Register. 1933-09-01.
"Belding Takes Director Post: Dakota Wesleyan College to Have Mason Cityan as Phys. Ed. Head". Mason City Globe-Gazette. 1934-05-29.
"Lester Belding Moves From Dakota Wesleyan to Illinois College". Mason City Globe-Gazette. 1945-08-11.
"Belding Honored". Mason City Globe-Gazette. 1963-05-29.

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