Frank Cleve

• Director of Physical Education 1926-1936

• Football, Basketball, & Baseball Coach 1926-1936

Biography

Frank Cleve was born in Minneapolis and received an A.B. from St. Olaf College in 1925. Afterwards, he attended the University of Minnesota in the summer of 1926 and later attended the University of Iowa in the summer of 1934. Cleve arrived at Concordia in 1926 to head the Physical Education Department and to coach the football, basketball, and baseball teams.

Under Cleve’s leadership in 1931, Concordia won its first Minnesota College Conference title in any sport when the basketball team beat St. Thomas 37-28. Football success followed the next fall with the team winning its first conference championship—an astounding feat considering that when Cleve came six years earlier, many Cobber footballers had never played the game prior to attending Concordia. Through Cleve’s patience and persistence, he developed the football program and earned the most wins as a football coach in its first 30 years. Many also felt that the 1931championship title proved Concordia’s athletic abilities and increased people’s awareness of the school. In 1934, the football team again won the conference championship. Cleve was inducted into the Minnesota Coaches Hall of Fame in 1965, the St. Olaf Athletic Hall of Fame in 1972, and the Concordia Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989.