Hall of Fame
Football, Basketball, Coach, Director of Athletics (1926-30, 1942-69)
Glenn “Jake” Lawlor made an indelible mark on the first 100 years of Wolf Pack Athletics, serving the University of Nevada as a student-athlete, coach, athletics director and university professor. His 46 years at the University were marked by competitiveness and tenacity which was key to the success of Wolf Pack Athletics.
Born and raised on a farm in Victor, Iowa, Lawlor came to the University of Nevada in 1926. A three-sport star in high school, he played on the Wolf Pack basketball and football teams, earning all-conference honors in both sports. According to the book, Legacy: 100 Years of Athletics at the University of Nevada, Lawlor “made up in fiery competitiveness what he lacked in pure athletic ability.” As a member of the basketball team, he was a key member of the program built by legendary Wolf Pack coach Doc Martie in the late 1920s and captained the squad in 1929. He played football for Buck Shaw, who later became the coach of the San Francisco 49ers.
Lawlor was a member of the Delta Xi Chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity and pitched for its baseball team in 1928 when the fraternity won the inter-fraternity baseball tournament. He graduated from the University in 1930 and played professional baseball before returning to the state of Nevada to begin his coaching career.
Lawlor returned to the University of Nevada in 1942 after spending time as the basketball coach at Virginia City High School, completing graduate work at the University of Southern California and coaching and teaching at a high school in California.
He was named the Wolf Pack’s head men’s basketball coach in 1942, embarking on a 15-year career at the helm of the program. He compiled a career record of 201-159 and remains the winningest coach in school history.
Lawlor led the Wolf Pack men’s basketball team to unprecedented success, including three consecutive Far Western Conference championships from 1956-58. His impressive record also included a 28-5 mark in 1945-46, which stood as the school record for victories in a single season until 2006-07. One of his biggest victories was a 55-49 upset over national powerhouse St. John’s at Madison Square Garden in 1946-47, a victory that stunned the nation and energized the Reno community.
He also served as an assistant coach as well as head coach of the Wolf Pack football team (1952-54) and led the Nevada baseball team in 1947 and 1949-60. A jack of all trades, he even coached the Wolf Pack men’s golf and men’s tennis teams for short stints in his career.
The 1958-59 season marked Lawlor’s last on the bench as the head coach of the Wolf Pack men’s basketball team. He became Nevada’s director of athletics in 1960, bringing the same bulldog tenacity that defined him as a student-athlete and coach to his time as an administrator.
He guided the Wolf Pack from NCAA Division II status to Division I during his time as an administrator. Among his many accomplishments included the construction of the current Mackay Stadium, the hire of football coach Dick Trachok, who went on to take over as athletics director after his retirement, and a pair of national championships for coach Jimmy Olivas and the Wolf Pack boxing team in 1964 and 1968.
Lawlor spent 10 years at the helm of the athletics department before deciding to retire from the position in 1970. Governor Mike O'Callaghan proclaimed May 26, 1972 as Jake Lawlor Day in recognition of his years of service.
He was selected as one of the 13 inaugural inductees into the Nevada Athletics Hall of Fame in 1973 and was elected into the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame for Athletics Directors in 1977. He also received the Distinguished Nevadan Award in 1980, the highest honor the Nevada System of Higher Education can bestow. Lawlor died in Reno on July 11, 1980.
In 1980, the University of Nevada honored Lawlor by establishing an annual award in his name. The Jake Lawlor Award is presented annually to an individual or individuals who have demonstrated substantial and exemplary support of Nevada's intercollegiate athletics program over an extended period of time at Nevada’s annual Governor’s Dinner at the Governor’s Mansion in Carson City.
Nevada’s basketball arena, Lawlor Events Center, is named in his honor and opened in 1983.
