Hall of Fame
Hometown: Davenport, Iowa
Carl R. Makeever, Class of 1920, won distinction and ten letters in three sports at Coe College. He played on Coe's 1917 and 1919 football teams, missing the 1918 season because of military service. In his senior year he won All-State honors playing end. Basketball and baseball were his other sports and he won four letters in each. He captained the 1920 basketball squad and was selected by his coach, Ira Carrithers, as one of the best infielders to play during his coaching career.
The interest in sports that developed so intensely in Carl Makeever as a student led him to a career in coaching and working with young people. After graduation from Coe he took a job as assistant physical director of the YMCA in Davenport, Iowa. That job was the first step in building a career in YMCA work that spanned 44 years. He soon became physical director of the YMCA in Davenport, and in turn, held that position in Freeport and Joliet, Illinois. In Joliet he rounded out his work with 23 years directing the men's general program and membership activities.
For 44 years Carl Makeever taught, coached, organized and conducted YMCA programs in sports ranging from swimming to baseball to golf. It would be impossible to guess how many men and women come under his influence as a YMCA director. Whatever the number, he left them all with an outstanding example of sports skill, good sportsmanship, and love of competition.
Carl Makeever is part of a real Coe family. He and three brothers graduated from the college and all four Makeevers were Coe lettermen. His late brother, Merle "Midge" Makeever, was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame several years ago.
