ED OLLE player and administrator from 1925-1962  

Before rings the major symbol of Longhorn sports accomplishments were charms. Ed Olle’s granddaughter Katherine was kind enough to share images of many of the charms Ed received during his years as as both an athlete and UT administrator.

Olle, in two years, earns six letters. Two each in football, basketball, and baseball. He was the first winner of the Norris Trophy, which honored the best athlete at Texas. Coach of 1933 conference basketball champions. Ed Olle played for the Texas Longhorns men’s basketball head coach E. J. “Doc” Stewart and Texas baseball head coach William J. “Billy” Disch. He received all-Southwest Conference honors in baseball in 1926 and 1927.

Ed joined UT administration in 1929 as the business manager for intercollegiate athletics and secretary to the Athletic Council. Familiar with the fundamentals of all sports, and an authority on the rules of football and basketball, Olle coached the Longhorns in basketball (unpaid) for three seasons (1931–34) following the departure of “Mysterious” Fred Walker in 1931. His 1932–33 team finished the season as Southwest Conference champions with a 22–1 overall record. Many decades later, this team received retroactive recognition as that season’s national champion in the Premo-Porretta Power Poll. (the team playing as it did in an era preceding the existence of national basketball tournaments or polling).

After three seasons as head coach, Olle resigned and moved into a position as an assistant in the UT Athletics Department. First under Texas football head coach and Athletics Director Jack Chevigny, and later under football coach and Athletics Director Dana X. Bible

In 1956 Ed Ollie was hired as UT Athletics Director and remained in that position until 1962.

  Charms of success