1. Alexander Arrasi Agase was an American football guard and linebacker who was named an All-American three times in college and played on three Cleveland Browns championship teams before becoming head football coach at Northwestern University and Purdue University.
Alex Agase then entered the US Marines during World War II and played a season at Purdue while in training.
Alex Agase began his professional football career with the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference in 1947, but was traded to the Chicago Rockets and then the Browns, where he remained until 1952.
Cleveland won two AAFC championships and one National Football League championship while Alex Agase was on the team.
Alex Agase was hired as an assistant at Northwestern in 1956 under head coach Ara Parseghian.
Alex Agase remained as an assistant until Parseghian left to coach at Notre Dame in 1963 and he was named the new head coach.
Alex Agase left to coach at Purdue in 1972, but none of his teams posted a winning record there, and he was fired in 1977.
Alex Agase then spent six years as athletic director at Eastern Michigan University before retiring.
Alex Agase was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1963.
Alex Agase was born in Chicago to an Assyrian father, Goolasis Alex Agase, and an Armenian mother, Eslie Darwitt.
Alex Agase attended Evanston Township High School, but only played on the school's varsity football team in his senior year.
The first touchdown came in the second quarter, when Alex Agase stripped the ball from Minnesota's Bill Daley and ran it back 35 yards.
Alex Agase entered the US military in 1943 as America's involvement in World War II intensified.
Alex Agase was sent to Purdue University for training in the US Marines and played on the school's football team along with enlistees from other schools.
Purdue had won just one Big Ten Conference game the previous year, but the influx of trainees including Alex Agase led to a reversal of fortune in 1943.
Alex Agase participated in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, where he received a Purple Heart after he was wounded in action.
Alex Agase was named an All-American for a third time, and received the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the most valuable player in the Big Ten.
Alex Agase had been selected by the Green Bay Packers in the 1944 NFL draft, but military service delayed his professional career.
Alex Agase played just three games for the Dons before he was traded in September 1947 to the Chicago Rockets, another AAFC team.
Alex Agase ended his playing career and signed as a line coach with the Texans under head coach Jim Phelan.
Alex Agase came out of retirement briefly after the Texans disbanded, joining the Baltimore Colts and playing as a linebacker for the 1953 season.
Alex Agase was offered a job as an assistant coach for the Colts, but instead joined Iowa State University as its line coach in early 1954 on a $7,000-a-year salary.
Alex Agase worked under head coach Ara Parseghian, a former Cleveland teammate.
In seven years under Parseghian at Northwestern, Alex Agase rose to become the coach's top assistant.
Alex Agase was fired in early 1977 and took a job as athletic director at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Alex Agase stayed in that job until 1982, when he unexpectedly resigned citing "personal reasons".
Alex Agase remained active in college football by assisting Bo Schembechler as a volunteer at the University of Michigan until 1987, focusing on special teams.
Alex Agase was named to the Walter Camp Foundation all-century team in 1989 and the University of Illinois all-century team in 1990.
Alex Agase was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1963.
Alex Agase died in 2007 at a hospital near his home in Tarpon Springs, Florida.