Bump Elliott, architect of Iowa's athletic department for 21 years, dies at age 94

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Bump Elliott, the architect of Iowa's athletic department during a remarkable run of success from 1970-91, died late Saturday, according to multiple sources with ties to the family. He was 94.

The University of Iowa confirmed his death later Sunday morning.

Elliott hired five of the most prominent coaches in Hawkeye history — Dan Gable (wrestling), Hayden Fry (football), Lute Olson and Tom Davis (men's basketball) and C. VIvian Stringer (women's basketball). Elliott's tenure included 34 Big Ten Conference championship teams and 11 national titles in wrestling.

He ushered in an era of stability that his unheard of in modern college athletics. Since Elliott's retirement, Iowa has had only two other athletic directors — Bob Bowlsby and Gary Barta.

Fry won 143 games with the Hawkeyes from 1979-98 and was succeeded by Kirk Ferentz, who is in his 21st season.

Gable led Iowa to 15 national championships from 1976-97. The Hawkeyes have had two wrestling coaches since — Jim Zalesky and Tom Brands.

Stringer won 269 games from 1983-95, leading the Hawkeyes to the 1993 Final Four, before departing for Rutgers. Iowa has had two head coaches since — Angie Lee and Lisa Bluder.

Elliott was an all-American halfback at Michigan in 1947 who came to Iowa originally as an assistant football coach in 1952. He left Forest Evashevski's staff to coach football at his alma mater, leading the Wolverines from 1959-68, including a victory in the 1965 Rose Bowl. He was 51–42–2 as the head coach there.

Elliott returned to Iowa in 1970 to replace Evashevski as athletic director. He was 45 and was paid $27,000 a year to smooth out a department in turmoil. Evashevski had resigned and football coach Ray Nagel was fired after the two had squabbled for years.

"Iowa was split pretty bad with two personalities that caused quite a rumpus on campus and caused some firings," Elliott told the Register in 2008. "I wanted to make sure we all worked together and were loyal to each other, the department and the university."

Elliott drew on his years as an athlete and coach when it came to making hires.

"It was a feel I had for them, and how I would relate to them," Elliott said in that Register interview. "There's no sense hiring somebody who is a good coach if you don't like them. Because you're going to work with them, and your future is in their hands and in the hands of 18-, 19-, 20-year-old kids. So you better get someone you can work with and trust."

Elliott's most significant hire might have been Fry, in 1979. He had replaced Nagel with Frank Lauterbur in 1971. Three seasons later, Bob Commings was hired for five seasons. The Hawkeyes had gone 17 years without a winning football program when Elliott turned to the Texan who would turn everything around.

Elliott joked that Fry would be the last hire he made at Iowa, because either he would forge a winning culture in the most important sport, or he would fail and Elliott would lose his job.

Elliott's 21-year run included the construction of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The street abutting the arena is named Elliott Drive in his honor.

"I know what it's like to be an athletic director. I know you make decisions and people get mad at you," Barta said. "I've never met anybody that was mad at Bump Elliott. He was a gentleman and a wonderful representative of college athletics, And he will be missed."

Chalmers WIlliam "Bump" Elliott was born Jan. 30, 1925 in Detroit and grew up in Bloomington, Illinois. He was a three-sport athlete at Purdue before being called up to serve with the Marines in China in the final year of World War II. He completed his education at Michigan, where he was named Most Valuable Player of the Big Nine Conference in 1947. His brother, Pete, was the quarterback for that undefeated Wolverines team.

Elliott met his wife, Barbara, while at Purdue. They married in 1949 and had three children — Bill, Bobby and Betsy. Bobby Elliott, a former Hawkeye football player and assistant coach, died of complications from cancer in 2017 at age 64.

Bump Elliott spent his waning years at Oaknoll Retirement Community in Iowa City. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Mark Emmert covers the Iowa Hawkeyes for the Register. Reach him at memmert@registermedia.com or 319-339-7367. Follow him on Twitter at @MarkEmmert.