Leonard Raffensperger
| Sport(s) | Football, basketball |
|---|---|
| Biographical details | |
| Born |
November 6, 1903 Victor, Iowa |
| Died | September 19, 1974 (aged 70) Iowa City, Iowa |
| Playing career | |
| Football | |
| 1924–1925 | Iowa |
| Basketball | |
| 1924–1925 | Iowa |
| Position(s) | Lineman (football) |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football | |
| 1931–1947 | Waterloo East HS (IA) |
| 1948–1949 | Iowa (freshmen) |
| 1950–1951 | Iowa |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 5–10–3 (college) 110–48–14 (high school) |
Leonard Raffensperger (November 6, 1903 – September 19, 1974) was an American football and basketball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Iowa for two seasons in 1950 and 1951, compiling a record of 5–10–3. Raffensperger played football and basketball at Iowa and then served as a high school football coach for 21 years before joining the Iowa Hawkeyes football staff as an assistant coach in 1948.
Born in Victor, Iowa, Raffensperger did not play high school football, but he tried out for the football team at the University of Iowa and made the squad. He was a reserve lineman for coach Burt Ingwersen who did not see much playing time on the football field, though he did earn a letter with the Iowa basketball team as a sophomore in 1924–25.
Before Iowa's homecoming football game against Illinois in 1925, the Hawkeye team received a telegram from Ledrue Galloway, a talented black tackle from the 1924 team, who was fighting tuberculosis. Galloway's telegram said, "There will be twelve Iowa men on the field to beat Illinois. I am with you." Things looked bleak at first, when Red Grange returned the opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown. But Iowa fought back and delivered a 12–10 victory for their teammate Galloway, who died less than a year later. Raffensperger, a junior, suffered a career-ending knee injury in the game, and his playing career at Iowa was over.
Raffensperger graduated from Iowa in 1927 and took a high school coaching job in Reinbeck, Iowa. His football teams posted a 20–7–6 record in four years, from 1927 to 1930. Waterloo East High School in Waterloo, Iowa hired Raffensperger in 1931, and he spent the next 17 seasons there, compiling a 90–41–8 record.
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