Hall of Fame
"The only thing this man lacked was weight, for he possessed all the nerve, fight, and determination that is necessary to be a good football man." This is what appeared about the late Lawrence Edmund Kremers in the 1918 Coe College Acorn yearbook. Kremers was one of 17 students who reported for football practice in the fall of 1917 and quarterbacked the Kohawks to a 4-3 season. The 1917 football season, because of World War I, was a memorable one for Coe College. It also was special for Larry. He was the quarterback - most of the time - while his brother, Harold, also a Hall of Famer, was the center. In a game at Ames, the small squad held their powerful opponent to a 0-0 tie through three quarters. Ames finally scored in the final period to win 7-0. The game left the Kohawks battered physically and against Knox the next week Larry moved from quarterback to end to help out. Coe finished the season with a 5-0 victory over Cornell. After football he made the basketball squad as a forward. "Although slight in stature," according to the Acorn, "Lawrence was a source of worry to all his opponents. Playing his first intercollegiate basketball game he showed rare ability in teamwork and basket shooting. His speed was his main asset..." In the spring of 1918 Larry enlisted in the Army. He returned to Coe after the Armistice and resumed his college athletic career. Before receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry in the spring of 1920, he had earned two football letters and three in basketball. Larry was a member of Phi Alpha Pi fraternity and an officer for both the Clan of C and the Athletic Council. After graduation, he joined the Iowa Telephone Company, later to become the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company. He held a number of management positions with the company until his retirement. It is with sincere pleasure that I nominate posthumously Lawrence Edmund Kremers to the Coe Athletic Hall of Fame.
