UA36I Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Series 5 - E.A. Diddle

Description: Records created by and about E.A. Diddle during his tenure as athletic director and coach at Western Kentucky University from 1922-1964, the bulk of the collection is arranged in chronological order. The collection consists of athletic correspondence, relating primarily to scheduling of football, baseball, men's and women's basketball games, 1922-24. Personal correspondence, including get well cards and letters sent during Diddle's hospitalization for surgery in 1958. Inscribed photo album documenting administration of Governor Lawrence Wetherby. Congratulatory letters and clippings on award of "Kentuckian of the Year" for 1957. Telegrams of support sent during the Hilltoppers' participation in the National Invitational Tournament, Sugar Bowl and other tournaments during the 1940s and 1950s. Letters and program regarding induction into Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame. Reel-to-reel and cassette taped interviews by and about Diddle. Copies of numerous articles about Diddle in regional and national publications. A copy of C. Harvey Gardiner's book Coach Diddle, Mr. Diddle: Motivator of Men (1984). Numerous awards, plaques and citations. Photographs and sixteen scrapbooks contain get-well cards when Diddle suffered a series of heart attacks in 1952, and also chronicle various seasons of the men's basketball team from 1936 to 1963. See also the University Archives vertical file and photo files.

Extent: 12 boxes and 16 scrapbooks

Dates: 1922-1998

Biographical/Historical Note: E. A. Diddle was born in Gradyville, Adair County, Kentucky on March 12, 1895. He joined Western in 1922 as athletic director, receiving an A. B. degree in 1935. He coached football until 1929 and baseball until 1957, but achieved his greatest success as men’s basketball coach from 1922 to 1964. Diddle’s record of 759-302 was the best record held by a college coach at the time of his retirement. He coached his teams to 13 K.I.A.C. and 8 S.I.A.C. championships as well as 10 O.V.C. titles. During games he waved, threw and chewed on a towel to calm his nervousness and express his emotions; today, red towels are a revered tradition at Western games. Diddle was awarded many honors including induction into the Kentucky and Ohio Valley Conference Athletic Halls of Fame. He was inducted into Western’s newly created Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991, and into the Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 1992. He died on January 2, 1970.

Container List:

Box 1

Folder 1 nd Inventory and separation sheets

Folder 2 1922-23 Correspondence - Baseball

Folder 3 1923 Baseball - Game contracts

Folder 4 1922-23 Correspondence – Men’s basketball

Folder 5 1922-24 Men’s basketball - Game contracts

Folder 6 ca. 1922 Basketball - Game contracts (blank)

Folder 7 1922-23 Correspondence – Women’s basketball

Folder 8 1923 Women’s basketball - Game contracts

Folder 9 1922-24 Correspondence - Football

Folder 10 1922-23 Miscellaneous athletic correspondence and notes

Folder 11 1922-23 Game schedules

Folder 12 1922-23 Ky. High School Athletic Association – District Basketball Tournaments –
Correspondence, regulations, blank contracts, certificates of eligibility

Folder 13 nd, 1933-62 Personal clippings and notes

Folder 14 1944-68 Correspondence, postcards

Folder 15 nd, 1962-66 Correspondence - principally regarding 1963 illness, Diddle Arena
dedication and retirement

Folder 16 1952 Letters and acknowledgments to well-wishers

Box 2

Folder 1 1955[?] Governor Lawrence Wetherby photo album, inscribed

Folder 2 1956 R. O. T. C. Summer camp materials

Folder 3 1957 Kentuckian of the Year 1957 - Votes

Folder 4 1958 Kentuckian of the Year 1957 - Congratulatory letters and clippings

Folder 5-9 1958 Get-well cards and letters

Folder 10 1958-64 Basketball recruitment letters

Folder 11-13 1950-70 Awards/Honors: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, certificates, Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame

Box 3

Folder 1-15 1940-62 Telegrams of support: 1940 KIAC Tournament, Canisius game,
“Eastern Tours,” Collegiate Invitational Basketball Tournament, 1949-1954 National Invitational Tournaments, 1959 Sugar Bowl and 1962 NCAA Tournament

Folder 16 1954, 1964 Birthday telegrams

Folder 17 nd Telegrams of support

Box 4 1984 Coach Diddle, Mister Diddle, by C. Harvey Gardiner (Nashville:
Parthenon Press, 1984) - Original typescript, 2 sets of printer’s proofs, copy of book. See also Box 12 for audiotapes.

Box 5 1954-70 Reel-to-reel audiotapes – Interviews and programs, list in box

Box 6 1968-70 Reel-to-reel audiotapes – Interviews and programs, list in box

Box 7 nd Miscellaneous personal and desk items

Box 8 1944-60 Original copies of articles about Diddle in the Courier-Journal
Magazine, Sport, Nashville Tennessean Magazine, Saturday Evening Post, Southern Telephone News and Collier’s, list in box

Box 9 nd, 1936-70 Oversized photos and recording, list in box

Box 10 1947-75 Plaques honoring E. A. Diddle, list in box

Box 11 1959-98 Cassette tapes - interviews conducted by William Jenkins, Jr. for book about Diddle; also contains cassette copies of some reel-to- reel tapes in Boxes 5 & 6, list in box

Box 12 1959-84 Cassette tapes - includes copies of some reel-to-reel tapes in Boxes 5 & 6; cassette tapes of Harvey Gardiner’s interviews for Coach Diddle, Mister Diddle (Box 4), list in box

Scrapbooks 1936-1963 Hilltoppers, College High and get well cards

Subjects:

Basketball coaches – Men’s team - Kentucky
Diddle, Edgar Allen, 1895-1970
Western Kentucky State College - Faculty
Western Kentucky State Normal School and Teachers College - Faculty
Western Kentucky State Teachers College - Alumni and alumnae
Western Kentucky State Teachers College – Faculty

Accession Information: These records were transferred to the University Archives upon its creation.

Access Restrictions: none

Copyright Notice:

Preferred Citation: UA36I Faculty/Staff Personal Papers, Series 5 E.A. Diddle, WKU Archives, Kentucky Library & Museum, Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA.

Processing Information: Processed by Lynn Niedermeier