Despite our best efforts, the long history of college football is still filled with the untold stories of many teams and individuals that played significant roles in the game during their days. Fortunately, one of those cases has now been resolved with the recent release of a very good biography on the life of William "Lone Star" Dietz by Tom Benjey.

Dietz, who spent his adult years claiming to be one-quarter Indian, grew up in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, which in 1900 was not far removed from being a frontier town. His parents, William and Leanna, were both white and fairly well off for the time, which made it difficult for little Billy to accept the frequent taunts of playmates who called him an "Indian" because of his facial features, which did bear a slight resemblance to typical Native Americans.

Apparently, when Billy was 15 years old he overheard a quarrel between his parents during which he learned that his real mother was an Indian woman -- although both parents later refused to discuss the matter with him. From here begins the odyssey of his life which the author lays out in considerable detail-- despite the fact that Dietz left little or no real personal correspondence behind. After finishing high school at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, he attended Friends University in Wichita briefly. Even though still bearing the brunt of racial harassment at these schools, Dietz continued to immerse himself in what he now believed was his Indian heritage. At the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis he was employed for his artistic skills as a member of the Chilocco School party that operated the Indian exhibits at the Fair. There Dietz met an attractive woman named Angel DeCora, a leading Indian artist of her day. w-ho would eventually become his first wife.

Dietz eventually ends up at the Carlisle Indian School where he plays college football for three seasons as a lineman, marries Ms. DeCora, and becomes an assistant football coach and protege under Pop Warner. At some point along the way Dietz had taken to using the name "Lone Star," a story of Indian heritage which was difficult for this reader to follow, and which, with his claims of being one-quarter Indian, were sources of major controversy throughout his life.

From Carlisle, Dietz moved to Washington State as head football coach from 1915-1917 where he began the first of many reconstruction projects for schools that previously had struggled on the gridiron. During World War I Dietz served as head coach of the Mare Island team of the U.S. Marine Corps, although he was never officially inducted into the service. After the war the nation went on a binge of bringing to justice men that had dodged their war-time duties -- and incredibly Dietz was considered to be one of them His trial by the government and the eventual 30-day jail term actually begin the struggles that stretch across the rest of his life.

Dietz eventually coached at a number of colleges, and the author gives us plenty of details about his teams and seasons along the way. Dietz was an excellent artist - the book is highlighted by many of his drawings - and he also dabbled in the movie making business. The author carefully follows Dietz through his life and struggles in this substantially researched work, and while there are a few minor errors in the text, none detract from the overall quality of this biography.

Despite Dietz having apparently left behind nothing of his thoughts other than the occasional bland newspaper quotes, Benjey has done an excellent job of digging out the details and has given us a very easy-to-read tale. Keep A-Goin' will be considered the definitive biography of a potential Hall of Fame football coach.

- R. Schmidt

Football player, coach, artist, and actor—William Lone Star Dietz played each of these roles during his long, celebrated career, and in each of these personas he found success.

Questions from the hazy background of Lone Star’s early life revolve around his parentage. His father came to Rice Lake, Wisconsin in 1871 with his German parents, and married a Caucasian woman. Billy was born in 1884, but his birth certificate wasn’t signed for five years. Billy heard his parents discussing his Indian blood, and was told that his real mother lived “a long, long way” away. While it was never proven that he was part Sioux, Billy obviously believed it—he adopted his Indian name from a reputed uncle, enrolled in Indian schools, and dressed in Indian regalia throughout his life.

Surprisingly, it is Lone Star’s artistic endeavors, not his gridiron prowess, that help the author (a teacher with a PhD in Mathematics Education) sort out his subject’s poorly documented adolescent years. Lone Star drew illustrations for student literary publications in Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Kansas. At Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, Lone Star made his mark as an artist and football player. He enrolled there in 1907, and played under the tutelage of Glenn “Pop” Warner. In 1912 he hired on as Warner’s assistant, and with Jim Thorpe just back from the Olympics, Carlisle scored more points than any other team in the country.

Lone Star’s art career flourished, and he and his new wife, the Indian artist Angel DeCora, illustrated several books together. Rumors of recruiting improprieties led to the de-emphasis of sports at, and when “Pop” Warner left Carlisle in 1915, that was “the end of the trail for Carlisle football.” Lone Star moved on to coach at Washington State College, where his first season culminated in the 1916 Rose Bowl, officially putting “West Coast football on the college football map.” When he was indicted on draft evasion charges, Lone Star was fired, and took a series of low-profile jobs with lesser schools. Forced into early retirement by the WWII recess in college football, Dietz lived in near-poverty until his death in 1964. It is said he had “Keep A-Goin’,” a poem by his friend and mentor “Pop” Warner, in his hands when he died.

The author spent five years travelling to Deitz’s many habitats in pursuit of this many-layered saga. Lone Star’s story has been explored before—from a 1912 article by a Carlisle publicist to a recent biography of Angel DeCora—but none has been as meticulously documented as this one, or as replete with the spirited details of Dietz’s football expertise, on the field and the sidelines. This foray into his life and times provides rich fodder not only for sports buffs, but also for students of Native American studies. (July)

Deborah Donovan

Keep A-Goin': The Life Of Lone Star Dietz by Tom Benjey is the remarkable, inspiring and distinctive biography of Billy Dietz, who was a winning athlete in his own right, a successful football coach in the earliest days of the sport (and who was inducted into football's "Hall of Fame"), and popular idol with the general public of his era. As the child of an adoptive couple in Wisconsin, Dietz was unaware of his biological parents (his mother was Native American) until he heard his parents quarreling when he was 15. As readers of Keep A-Goin' will discover this is an encouraging tale of personal persistence in self-discovery and determined survival throughout his prolific career and seemingly endless personal and professional difficulties from his days attending the Carlisle Indian School, through his move to Washington State as head football coach from 1915-1917, then coaching for the Mare Island team of the U.S. Marine Corps during World War I, a trial by the government ending in the imposition of a 30-day jail term, and so much more. A superbly written biography by Tom Benjey, Keep A-Goin' is very strongly recommended for Billy Dietz fans and for sports enthusiasts with an interest in the history of the NFL.