William Jennings Gardner
| Date of birth | January 23, 1884 |
|---|---|
| Place of birth | North Dakota, United States |
| Date of death | June 15, 1965 (aged 81) |
| Place of death | Prescott, Arizona, United States |
| Career information | |
| Position(s) | Fullback, end, tackle |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) |
| Weight | 172 lb (78 kg) |
| College | Carlisle |
| Career history | |
| As player | |
| 1904–1907 | Carlisle Indians |
| Career highlights and awards | |
|
|
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |
 United States
|
| Service/branch |
 U.S. Army
|
| Years of service | 1917–1919 |
| Battles/wars | World War I: Western Front |
William Jennings Gardner (January 23, 1884 – June 15, 1965) was an American football player, coach, and law-enforcement agent. He was one of Eliot Ness's "Untouchables," a group of 13 hand-picked United States federal law-enforcement agents who, from 1929 to 1931, sought to put an end to Al Capone's illegal empire. Ness chose Gardner for his team because he was an expert at undercover work.
Gardner was born in North Dakota. He was the son of a half-white, half-Chippewa Indian father and a Chippewa mother. At an early age he and his brother, George, were taken from the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation and sent to Carlisle, Pennsylvania to attend the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
Gardner, who stood just under six feet and 172 pounds at the time, played end, tackle, and fullback from 1904 to 1907, helping the little school defeat the powers of the time, which were Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Pennsylvania—known as the "Big Four". He also set a school record in track for the half mile, and also played basketball and baseball. Gardner enrolled in Dickinson School of Law his senior year in 1907. "Pop" Warner described his 1907 team as "nearly perfect", but was upset that Walter Camp had left Gardner off his All-American team. Later in the 1930s, Knute Rockne named Gardner to his All-Time All-American team for Collier's.
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