Background
"Lewie" Hardage was born on February 11, 1891 in Madison, Alabama to Monroe L., a liquor dealer, and Katherine Hardage. His father Monroe operated the Hardage Brother"s Saloon.
"Lewie" Hardage was born on February 11, 1891 in Madison, Alabama to Monroe L., a liquor dealer, and Katherine Hardage. His father Monroe operated the Hardage Brother"s Saloon.
Auburn University.
Hardage was an All-Southern halfback every year he played: 1908, 1909, 1911, and 1912—the first two for Mike Donahue"s Auburn Tigers of Auburn University and the latter two for Dan McGugin"s Vanderbilt Commodores of Vanderbilt University. He served as the head football coach at Mercer University in 1913 and at the University of Oklahoma from 1932 to 1934, compiling a career college football coaching record of 13–17–5. Hardage was later the head baseball coach at the University of Florida from 1937 to 1939, tallying a mark of 35–24–1.
Hardage was a prominent halfback at two different schools: Auburn and Vanderbilt, and was selected All-Southern every year in which he played.
Auburn
Hardage played two years for Mike Donahue"s Auburn Tigers football team, from 1908 to 1909. The 1908 team disputes a Southern championship with the Louisiana State University Tigers despite losing to them.
Vanderbilt
Hardage was then a two-year letterman for coach Dan McGugin"s Vanderbilt Commodores football team (1911–1912), both years in which Vanderbilt was Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) champions. = 1911 The 1911 team lost one game by a single point to the only team able to score upon them, Michigan.
= 1912 In his senior year in 1912, Hardage was the captain of the team
He also was selected third-team All-American by Walter Camp, the fourth ever Southern player to get such a recognition. Innis Brown in 1912 wrote "Hardage has been rated as probably the most successful man in the south at making forward passes."
After graduating from Vanderbilt, Hardage took several coaching jobs. He was head coach at The McCallie School, a boys’ college-preparatory school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, from 1915 to 1917, where he had a coaching record of 11–4–3.
In 1921, he took the job of the athletic director at Gordon Military College.
From 1922 to 1931, Hardage returned to his alma mater, Vanderbilt, as the backfield coach for the football team He focused particularly on Gil Reese upon his arrival, and later coached Hall of Famer Bill Spears.
In 1932, Hardage was hired as the head football coach at Oklahoma, where he coached for three seasons. He spent the 1935 season as an assistant football coach at Furman University before moving on to Florida where he became the backfield coach for the football team and the head coach of the baseball team