Beloit College

Coming to Beloit in 1908, at a time when college athletes were in a depressed condition, the later Dana Evans in nine years developed with skill and enthusiasm a program which earned him the reputation as an able coach and a magnetic, forceful, leader.  Trustee C.B. Salmon, writing in the 1913 yearbook paid him the highest compliment: “No other coach in any college or university – Stagg perhaps excepted – occupies today so large and commanding a position in college athletics as Evans.”  Bolstered by student support and faculty respect, Mr. Evans quickly returned Beloit to its former prominence; his teams won Wisconsin and conference championships in track and state titles in football, basketball, and baseball.  Trustee Salmon also observed that “More than being a successful coach, more than being a thorough trainer, more than being an athlete himself, Evans is above all a gentleman.”  After leaving Beloit in 1917 and coaching at Indiana a year, Mr. Evans went to Northwestern University.  There, his leadership resulted in a reawakening spirit both on campus and among alumni – and there, too, at the peak of his task of rebuilding the athletic department, he died unexpectedly in 1924 at the age of 53.