Art Spaugy, Student Athlete

By Brant Short

Photos courtesy of Brant Short

In our family, the story of Arthur E. Spaugy was told and retold, as all good legends are, so I knew of his sporting achievements at the University of Idaho and of his tragic death. When I was growing up in the 1960s, I was often told about Art’s photograph on the university’s gymnasium wall.

He was my mother’s cousin, although they never met. He died in 1933 and my mom, Barbara Stennett, wasn’t born until 1938. But she knew his biography and shared it with me as part of my family legacy.

Actually, I never thought much about Art until she gave me several photographs of him and press clippings about his death. They had been collected by my great aunt Olga Fisher, who died in 2004 and was the last family member to know Art personally.

Although she was technically Art’s aunt, they were only six years apart in age and were more like siblings. Olga shared many stories of Art with my mother, who passed them on to me.

I was especially moved by the photographs of him that I inherited. Through capturing a moment in time, I think a photo can tell us something about the inner person, while a series of images from different times and contexts offer wider clues to the subject’s character.

I don’t have many photographs of Art but they’re enough to suggest a young man with a wry smile who exuded self-confidence, optimism, and who embraced life.

They inspired me to look further, in part to determine if my assumptions about him were correct, in part to better understand my family background, but also to consider sports and college life from nearly a century ago.

Art attended the University of Idaho from 1928-1932, where he excelled in football, played basketball and baseball, and was one of the most popular students on campus, active in many aspects of student life.

I suppose he exemplified the ideal of the “student athlete” of his generation. My investigations made me realize that although Art has been forgotten for nearly a century, fragments of his short life help recall a more innocent time in America.

Football players received little financial aid, participated in other extra-curricular activities, and often played both offense and defense. The vast majority of Vandal football players were from Idaho, many from rural areas of the state.