Whether it was leading his players at Memorial Field or talking on national television about preventing concussions, the late Eugene “Buddy” Teevens ’79 had a major impact on the game of football and on thousands of students.
Teevens died in September at 66, and a celebration of his life was held at Dartmouth on Saturday.
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Eugene F. “Buddy” Teevens ’79, who was Dartmouth’s winningest football coach, led his players in the singing of the Alma Mater after every game and maintained longstanding bonds with them. (Photo by Mark Washburn)
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Teevens (5), a history major, was an Ivy League Player of the Year as quarterback at Dartmouth and led the Big Green to the Ivy League championship in 1978.
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Teevens, left, also lettered in hockey, helping take Dartmouth to a third-place finish at the 1979 NCAA championship. (Photo courtesy of Dartmouth Athletics)
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Buddy Teevens ’79 with his father, Eugene F. Teevens II ’52. Gene Teevens died in 1981. (Photo courtesy of Dartmouth Athletics)
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Teevens won five Ivy League titles as the Robert L. Blackman Head Football Coach. He is just one of three Ivy Leaguers to have won a conference crown as a player and a head coach.
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(Photo by Gil Talbot)
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(Photo by Doug Austin)
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An innovator in player safety, Teevens became the first coach to eliminate traditional tackling in practices in a move to cut down on concussions. He worked with Thayer School of Engineering to create the Mobile Virtual Player, a robotic tackling dummy, and even went on late-night television to promote the reforms. (Courtesy of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert)
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Like thousands of members of the Big Green community, former President James Wright was a Teevens fan. Wright helped bring Teevens back to Dartmouth in 2005. (Photo by Mark Washburn)
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The Teevens family, from left: Matt Knittle, Lindsay Teevens Knittle, Buddy Teevens ’79, Kirsten Teevens, McKenna Teevens, Buddy Teevens IV, and grandchildren Jack, Eugene V, Caroline, and Leila.
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Coach Teevens was known for shoveling the snow off the “D” at midfield after storms. Dartmouth will dedicate “Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field” in his honor in October.