Hall of Honor
A fixture in the athletic department for 21 years since his arrival in 1921, Stanton coached football during his entire career at the Institute in addition to serving periods as the Director of Athletics and head coach for track & field and cross country. Upon retirement, he had held the longest tenure of any coach at a single school on the Pacific Coast.
A former captain of the Drexel Institute football team, Stanton coached at both SCIAC rivals Pomona and Occidental Colleges, as well as leading the US Army Fort Lewis team against the Mare Island Marines in the 1918 Rose Bowl. Stanton led the Beavers to back-to-back outright SCIAC titles in 1930 and 1931, as well as a share of the crown in 1923. His teams regularly landed a handful of players on the All-Conference lists, including a high of six in 1939 that was subsequently bettered just once in program history. He compiled a SCIAC record of 36-47, with 35 wins coming prior to Caltech's withdrawal from official conference competition from 1934-38 and the final immediately following his retirement announcement in 1941-42.
Caltech's current track bears his name thanks in part to a donation in 1986 by his son and 1927 alum, Dr. W. Layton Stanton. Still, there is perhaps no higher honor for a member of the Caltech community than to have been the subject of reflection by Nobel Laureate and former President Robert Millikan: "He has realized, to an extent that not all coaches have done, that the greatest value of competitive athletics is in learning the lessons of real sportsmanship and spreading the spirit of sportsmanship throughout our American life."
