View source for William Jennings Gardner

{{Short description|American football player, coach and law-enforcement agent}}
{{Other people|William Gardner|William Gardner (disambiguation){{!}}William Gardner}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{more citations needed|date=April 2011}}
{{Infobox CFL biography 
| name = William Jennings Gardner
| image =
| Imagewidth =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1884|1|23}}
| birth_place = [[North Dakota]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1965|6|15|1884|1|23}}
| death_place = [[Prescott, Arizona]], U.S.
| Height_ft = 5
| Height_in = 11
| Weight_lbs = 172
| position1 = [[Fullback (gridiron football)|Fullback]], [[End (gridiron football)|end]], [[Tackle (gridiron football position)|tackle]]
| College = [[Carlisle Indian Industrial School|Carlisle]]
| career_highlights = 
* First-team All-Service ([[1917 All-Service football team|1917]])
* [[Knute Rockne]] All-Time All-American team 
| playing_years1 = 1904–1907
| playing_team1 = [[Carlisle Indians football|Carlisle]]
| CollegeHOF =
| CollegeHOFID =
| HOF =
<!--Military service-->
|module = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes
|allegiance           = {{flagicon|United States}} [[United States of America|United States]]
|branch               = [[File:United States Department of the Army Seal.svg|20px|United States Army seal]] [[United States Army|U.S. Army]]
|serviceyears         = 1917–1919
|rank                 = 
|unit                 =
|battles              = [[World War I]]: [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]
|awards               = 
}}}}

'''William Jennings Gardner''' (January 23, 1884 – June 15, 1965) was an [[American football]] player, coach, and law-enforcement agent.  While working as a [[Bureau of Prohibition|Prohibition agent]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]], Gardner served with [[Eliot Ness]]'s "[[Untouchables (law enforcement)|Untouchables]]," a group of hand-picked federal agents who, from 1930 to 1932, sought to put an end to [[Al Capone]]'s illegal empire. Although Gardner was only involved with the group for a short period of time, he would be prominently mentioned in Ness's memoir of the investigation, ''[[The Untouchables (1957 book)|The Untouchables]]'', and inspire a recurring character in the [[The Untouchables (1959 TV series)|1959 television series]] based upon that book.<ref name="Collins & Schwartz">{{cite book|last1=Collins|first1=Max Allan|last2=Schwartz|first2=A. Brad|title=Scarface and the Untouchable: Al Capone, Eliot Ness, and the Battle for Chicago|date=2018|publisher=William Morrow|location=New York|isbn=978-0-06-244194-2|edition=1st|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n38zDwAAQBAJ&q=scarface+and+the+untouchable}}</ref>{{Rp|317, 319–321, 326, 328–329}}<ref>Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, ''The Untouchables'', (New York: Julian Messner, 1957).</ref><ref name="Tucker">{{cite book|last1=Tucker|first1=Kenneth|title=Eliot Ness and the Untouchables: The Historical Reality and the Film and Television Depictions|date=2012|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=978-0-786-449965|edition=2nd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fzWCLeXJI3AC}}</ref>{{Rp|16, 98–99}}

==Background==

===Early life===
Gardner was born in [[North Dakota]] to [[Ojibwe]] parents. At an early age he and his brother, George, were taken from the [[Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation]] and sent to [[Carlisle, Pennsylvania]] to attend the [[Carlisle Indian Industrial School]].{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

===Football career and athletics===
Gardner, who stood just under six feet and 172 pounds at the time, played [[End (American football)|end]], [[Tackle (American and Canadian football)|tackle]], and [[Fullback (American football)|fullback]] from 1904 to 1907, helping the little school defeat the powers of the time, which were Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Pennsylvania—known as the "Big Four". He also set a school record in track for the half mile, and also played basketball and baseball. Gardner enrolled in [[Dickinson School of Law]] his senior year in 1907. [[Glenn Scobey Warner|"Pop" Warner]] described his 1907 team as "nearly perfect", but was upset that [[Walter Camp]] had left Gardner off his All-American team. Later in the 1930s, [[Knute Rockne]] named Gardner to his All-Time All-American team for ''[[Collier's]]''.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

Gardner then served as coach at [[duPont Manual High School]] in [[Louisville, Kentucky]] from 1908 through 1911. Gardner was normally described in newspapers of the day as reserved, but sometimes he had a "wolf - like nervousness". One newspaper referred to him as "the 'Indian' athlete". Gardner had a feared trickery as a football coach. The Director of Harvard's Hemenway Gymnasium found him to be one of the strongest Americans in 1911, conferred after a series of measurements and physical tests. Gardner even outscored renowned boxers [[John L. Sullivan]], [[Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson]], and [[James J. Jeffries]]. Gardner then became director of athletics at [[Otterbein University]]. He then played on an all-star team in Atlanta and while in Indiana, Gardner recruited another star—[[Jim Thorpe]].{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

In August 1920, Gardner was appointed as the physical direct and coach of all athletics at the head baseball coach at St. Edward's College—now known as –[[St. Edward's University]]—in [[Austin, Texas]].<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=All-American Star Will Coach At St. Edward's |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12292889/the_waco_newstribune/ |newspaper=[[Austin American-Statesman]] |location=[[Austin, Texas]] |date=August 25, 1920 |page=3 |access-date=June 11, 2020 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{Open access}} }}</ref> In July 1921, he was hired as the athletic director and head football coach at [[Southwestern University]] in [[Georgetown, Texas]].<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=W. J. Gardner to Coach Pirates; All-American End Will Be Mentor of Southwestern Eleven |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12292889/the_waco_newstribune/ |newspaper=[[Waco News-Tribune]] |location=[[Waco, Texas]] |date=July 17, 1921 |page=20 |access-date=July 11, 2017 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{Open access}} }}</ref>

===Family life and war===
Gardner finished law school in 1909 and was admitted to the Louisville bar in 1910. Gardner enlisted in the [[United States Army]] as a private during [[World War I]] and became the only "Indian" to receive a captain's commission at Fort Sheridan. As usual, Gardner captained the Camp Custer football team. He fought in the [[trench warfare|trenches]] in [[France]] and his pension stated that he had been [[chemical warfare|gassed]]. Gardner married Alene French, a socialite from [[Niles, Michigan]], in 1919, and fathered one son, Frank Gardner, and two daughters: Jacqueline Gardner Carson and Alene Gardner Schnapf. The Gardner family traveled all over the United States, from [[Maryland]] to [[Texas]], primarily because of Bill's highly mobile professional lifestyle, involved in both law and athletics.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

==The Untouchables==
Gardner joined the [[Bureau of Prohibition]] in 1926. Two years later, he served alongside [[Eliot Ness]] on a squad of special agents sent to Chicago with orders to combat the rampant bootlegging and lawlessness caused by [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]].<ref name="Collins & Schwartz" />{{Rp|121–125, 319–321}}

In late 1930, Ness was chosen to lead a smaller, select unit of Prohibition agents specifically ordered to investigate the bootlegging operations of the [[Chicago Outfit]] run by [[Al Capone]]. Gardner was one of the first six agents Ness selected for the group, which would later become known as "[[Untouchables (law enforcement)|The Untouchables]]" after Ness and other agents refused large bribes from the Capone Outfit.<ref name="Collins & Schwartz" />{{Rp|311–314, 317–329, 360–365}}

Less than two months after joining the squad, Gardner absented himself from duty without official leave, then abruptly returned only to resign from the bureau three weeks later. Although Gardner did participate in the early stages of the Untouchables' investigation, he took no part in the high-profile raids that would make Ness's unit famous.<ref name="Collins & Schwartz" />{{Rp|317–329, 349–365}}

==Later life==
Gardner later rejoined the Prohibition Bureau but was dismissed around the time of Prohibition's repeal. Suffering from [[alcoholism]] in his later years, he died at the age of 81 from an illness at the Prescott Veterans Hospital in 1965.<ref name="Collins & Schwartz" />{{Rp|328–329}}<ref name="Benjey">{{cite book|last1=Benjey|first1=Tom|title=Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs: Jim Thorpe & Pop Warner's Carlisle Indian School football immortals tackle socialites, bootleggers, students, moguls, prejudice, the governmentent, ghouls, tooth decay and rum|date=2008|publisher=Tuxedo Press|location=Carlisle, PA|isbn=978-0-9774486-7-8|edition=1st|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Y-IMQAACAAJ}}</ref>{{Rp|131–132}} He was buried at the Prescott National Cemetery in Arizona, on June 17, 1965. His grave site number is 86, section number 12, row E.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

Despite only working with the Untouchables for five weeks, Gardner was the real-life inspiration behind [[Abel Fernandez]]'s character of Agent William "Bill" Youngfellow, serving under [[Robert Stack]]'s Eliot Ness in the original 1959–1963 ''[[The Untouchables (1959 TV series)|The Untouchables]]'' T.V. series.<ref name="Collins & Schwartz" />{{Rp|329}}<ref name="Tucker" />{{Rp|16, 98–99}} He also inspired [[Michael Horse]]'s character, George Steelman, Native American agent under [[Tom Amandes]]'s Ness, in the [[The Untouchables (1993 TV series)|revived series]] syndicated to local stations in 1993.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

==Head coaching record==
===College football===
{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no }}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name      = [[Otterbein Cardinals football|Otterbein Cardinals]]
 | conf      = Independent
 | startyear = 1912
 | endyear   = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1912 college football season|1912]]
 | name         = Otterbein
 | overall      = 1–9
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
 | name       = Otterbein
 | overall    = 1–9
 | confrecord = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name      = [[St. Edward's Crusaders football|St. Edward's Saints]]
 | conf      = [[Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association]]
 | startyear = 1920
 | endyear   = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1920 college football season|1920]]
 | name         = St. Edward's
 | overall      = 7–2
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
 | name       = St. Edward's
 | overall    = 7–2
 | confrecord = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name      = [[Southwestern Pirates football|Southwestern Pirates]]
 | conf      = [[Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association]]
 | startyear = 1921
 | endyear   = 1924
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1921 college football season|1921]]
 | name         = Southwestern
 | overall      = 0–6–1
 | conference   = 0–3–1
 | confstanding = T–8th
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1922 college football season|1922]]
 | name         = Southwestern
 | overall      = 4–6
 | conference   = 2–3
 | confstanding = 7th
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1923 college football season|1923]]
 | name         = Southwestern
 | overall      = 2–5–1
 | conference   = 2–1–1
 | confstanding = T–3rd
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1924 college football season|1924]]
 | name         = Southwestern
 | overall      = 4–5
 | conference   = 3–2
 | confstanding = 5th
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
 | name       = Southwestern
 | overall    = 10–22–1
 | confrecord = 7–9–2
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record End
 | overall  = 18–33–1
 | bowls    = no
 | poll     = no
 | polltype = 
 | legend   = no
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Find a Grave}}

{{Otterbein Cardinals football coach navbox}}
{{Sewanee Tigers athletic director navbox}}
{{St. Edward's Crusaders football coach navbox}}
{{St. Edward's Hilltoppers baseball coach navbox}}
{{Southwestern Pirates football coach navbox}}
{{Southwestern Pirates men's basketball coach navbox}}
{{The Untouchables}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, William Jennings}}
[[Category:1884 births]]
[[Category:1965 deaths]]
[[Category:American football ends]]
[[Category:American football fullbacks]]
[[Category:American football tackles]]
[[Category:Carlisle Indians football players]]
[[Category:Otterbein Cardinals football coaches]]
[[Category:Otterbein Cardinals men's basketball coaches]]
[[Category:Sewanee Tigers athletic directors]]
[[Category:Southwestern Pirates athletic directors]]
[[Category:Southwestern Pirates baseball coaches]]
[[Category:Southwestern Pirates football coaches]]
[[Category:Southwestern Pirates men's basketball coaches]]
[[Category:St. Edward's Hilltoppers baseball coaches]]
[[Category:St. Edward's Crusaders football coaches]]
[[Category:Dickinson School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Basketball coaches from North Dakota]]
[[Category:American Ojibwe people]]
[[Category:Players of American football from North Dakota]]
[[Category:Native American players of American football]]
[[Category:Native American United States military personnel]]
[[Category:The Untouchables]]