| Wins against Kentucky - 1 | Losses against Kentucky - 0 |
Alma Mater: Lake Forest University
Hometown: Ottumwa, IA
Date Born: June 4, 1887
Date Died: August 26, 1928
Overall Record: 106-53 [9 Seasons]
| Date | Matchup | UK Result | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/20/1924 | Michigan at Kentucky | L | 11 - 21 | - |
Obituary - Detroit Free Press (August 27, 1928)
Death Claims Wolverine Coach
MATHER SUCCUMBS TO CANCER ATTACK
Basketball Mentor, Who Developed Many Strong Combinations, Fails to Regain Strength Following Operation
Ann Arbor, Mich., Aug. 26. - Edward Mather, for 10 years coach of the University of Michigan basketball teams, died here this morning at 6 o'clock following along illness.
The death of Mr. Mather ended one of the most successful coaching careers in the middlewest and Michigan loses a member of the tutoring staff that it could ill afford to lose.
Mr. Mather virtually ended his coaching with the winning of the Big Ten basketball championship for the 1926-27 season. A few weeks after it ended he went to the operating table for the serious cancer operation from which he failed to recover. He was nominally in charge of freshman football last fall and started to coach the last year's basketball team. A tip from his physician to Fielding H. Yost resulted in the latter taking over the responsibility for the team for the last season. And while the retiring coach visited the practice court at times after that, even these visits soon failed.
Keeps in Touch
Because of his intense interest in the team, a telephone line was installed at his hospital bedside during the playing season, with Harry Kipke relaying the ever-changing plays to him. He even received the summary at the end of the game by this method.
Mr. Mather came to Michigan in 1919 to become coach of a basketball squad that had been organized but a few years and was without a background of organization or playing success. Michigan was the last of the Big Ten teams to adopt the court game. During the seven years he had charge of the Michigan team the Wolverines twice tied for the Big Ten leadership and for the most of the years were in the first division.
Product of the West
The dead coach was a product of the middle west. He was born at Ottumwa, Iowa, and was a three-sport man at the high school there for three or four years preceding 1904. He spent four years at Lake Forest and was named captain in his senior year. He was named an all-western end by the Chicago Daily News in 1909.
Following his graduation he coached two years at Lake Forest and then became coach of all athletic teams at Kalamazoo college, where he remained for five years. In four of the five years his basketball team won all its games on the home floor, winning the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association title the same four years.
He is survived by a widow and two small sons.
