 Belding in 1923 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1900-12-05)December 5, 1900 Mason City, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | May 26, 1965(1965-05-26) (aged 64) Naperville, Illinois, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| Football | |
| 1919–1921 | Iowa |
| 1925 | Rock Island Independents |
| Position | End |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football | |
| 1927 | North Carolina (freshmen) |
| 1934–1942 | Dakota Wesleyan |
| 1945 | North Central (IL) |
| Basketball | |
| 1934–1943 | Dakota Wesleyan |
| 1944–1945 | Dakota Wesleyan |
| 1946–1948 | North Central (IL) |
| Track and field | |
| 1945–1965 | North Central (IL) |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1934–1945 | Dakota Wesleyan |
| 1945–1965 | North Central (IL) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 27–39–2 (college football) 162–63 (college basketball) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| Football 1 SDIC (1936) Basketball 3 SDIC regular season (1939–1940, 1943) | |
| Awards | |
| Consensus All-American (1919) 3× All-Big Ten (1919, 1920, 1921) University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame | |
Lester Cort Belding (December 5, 1900 – May 27, 1965) was an American athlete and coach in football, basketball, and track and field.1 He was the first football player from the University of Iowa to be named a consensus All-American. He was inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 1963.
Early years
A native of Mason City, Iowa, Belding was a star football player for Mason City High School from 1914 to 1917.2
University of Iowa
Football
Belding enrolled at the University of Iowa where he played football for legendary coach Howard Jones. He was a consensus Football All-American at the end position in 1919,3 the first player from the University of Iowa to receive the honor.4 Considered "one of the nation's premier collegiate pass catchers of his era,"45 he played on the undefeated 1921 national championship team that outscored opponents 123–15 and included Gordon Locke, Aubrey Devine, Glenn Devine, and Duke Slater. He was also a three-time first-team All-Big Ten Conference selection.5
Track
Belding was also the captain of Iowa's track team in 1921, competing in the 100 and 220-yard dashes.25
Coach and athletic director
After graduating from Iowa in 1922, Belding became a coach. He coached at a prep school in Boulder, Colorado.6 In 1923, Belding accepted a coaching position in Clinton, Iowa,6 where he coached two state championship football teams.2 Belding also joined the Rock Island Independents of the National Football League (NFL), playing in a single game for the team in 1925.7 He next accepted a position at the freshman coach at the University of North Carolina. He later served as the high school coach at Greensboro, North Carolina for seven years.2 In 1933, Belding returned to Iowa where he was put in charge of high school athletics at Reinbeck, Iowa.28 From 1934 to 1945, he was the athletic director and head football and basketball coach at Dakota Wesleyan College in Mitchell, South Dakota.2910 He finished his career serving 20 years, from 1945 to 1965, as a track and football coach and athletic director at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.110 in 1963, Belding was inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.11
Belding died of a heart attack in 1965 at age 64.1 He was posthumously inducted into the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991.
Head coaching record
College football
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dakota Wesleyan Tigers (South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference) (1934–1939) | |||||||||
| 1934 | Dakota Wesleyan | 0–7–1 | 0–6–1 | 10th | |||||
| 1935 | Dakota Wesleyan | 3–4 | 2–3 | T–6th | |||||
| 1936 | Dakota Wesleyan | 5–2–1 | 5–0–1 | T–1st | |||||
| 1937 | Dakota Wesleyan | 3–4 | 1–2 | 6th | |||||
| 1938 | Dakota Wesleyan | 5–3 | 4–1 | 2nd | |||||
| 1939 | Dakota Wesleyan | 2–5 | 2–3 | T–6th | |||||
| Dakota Wesleyan Tigers (South Dakota College Conference) (1940–1942) | |||||||||
| 1940 | Dakota Wesleyan | 3–3 | |||||||
| 1941 | Dakota Wesleyan | 2–5 | |||||||
| 1942 | Dakota Wesleyan | 1–3–1 | |||||||
| Dakota Wesleyan: | 24–36–3 | ||||||||
| North Central Cardinals (Independent) (1945) | |||||||||
| 1945 | North Central | 3–3 | |||||||
| North Central: | 3–3 | ||||||||
| Total: | 27–39–2 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
College basketball
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dakota Wesleyan Tigers (South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference) (1934–1943) | |||||||||
| 1934–35 | Dakota Wesleyan | 14–3 | 10–3 | 2nd | |||||
| 1935–36 | Dakota Wesleyan | 10–5 | 10–4 | 2nd | |||||
| 1936–37 | Dakota Wesleyan | 12–5 | 7–3 | 2nd | |||||
| 1937–38 | Dakota Wesleyan | 11–10 | 7–5 | 4th | |||||
| 1938–39 | Dakota Wesleyan | 20–3 | 11–2 | 1st | |||||
| 1939–40 | Dakota Wesleyan | 14–5 | 7–1 | 1st | |||||
| 1940–41 | Dakota Wesleyan | 16–5 | |||||||
| 1941–42 | Dakota Wesleyan | 8–8 | |||||||
| 1942–43 | Dakota Wesleyan | 21–2 | 11–1 | 1st | |||||
| Dakota Wesleyan Tigers (South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference) (1944–1945) | |||||||||
| 1944–45 | Dakota Wesleyan | 13–4 | |||||||
| Dakota Wesleyan: | 139–50 | ||||||||
| North Central Cardinals (College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) (1946–1948) | |||||||||
| 1946–47 | North Central | 13–4 | 8–2 | 2nd | |||||
| 1947–48 | North Central | 10–9 | 5–5 | T–3rd | |||||
| North Central: | 23–13 | 13–7 | |||||||
| Total: | 162–63 | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
References
References
- "Lester Belding, former Iowa All-America, dies". Globe-Gazette. Mason City, Iowa. May 28, 1965. p. 3. Retrieved April 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com
.
- "They Started Here: A Mason City Series of Success Stories; No. 15, Lester Belding, College Coach". Mason City Globe-Gazette. June 29, 1940.
- Consensus All-American designations based on the NCAA guide to football award winners Archived July 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- Mike Finn; Lou Prato; Ron Falk; Chad Leistikow (1998). Hawkeye Legends, Lists, & Lore, p. 31. Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1-57167-178-1.
- "Iowa's Consensus All-Americans". Hawkeye Sports. Archived from the original on January 28, 2011.
- "Gets Belding's Post". Iowa City Press-Citizen. July 16, 1923.
- "Les Belding Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
- "Lester Belding Is Coach At Reinbeck". Oelwein Daily Register. September 1, 1933.
- "Belding Takes Director Post: Dakota Wesleyan College to Have Mason Cityan as Phys. Ed. Head". Mason City Globe-Gazette. May 29, 1934.
- "Lester Belding Moves From Dakota Wesleyan to Illinois College". Mason City Globe-Gazette. August 11, 1945.
- "Belding Honored". Mason City Globe-Gazette. May 29, 1963.
- "NCAA Statistics; Coach; Lester C. Belding; Football". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
- "Football; Year-By-Year Results". North Central College Athletics. Retrieved January 7, 2026.