Ernest Edward West (July 7, 1867 – July 16, 1914) was American college football player and coach. He was the organizer, head coach, and player on first football team at Georgia Tech.[1]
West was born in Rome, Georgia in 1867 and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1888.[2] After graduation, he resigned his commission and practiced law in Georgia before becoming a professor at the Georgia school of Technology.[2] In 1892, he organized Georgia Tech's first football team, acted as coach and captain, and played halfback.[2] It was only season he coach or played for the school. During the Spanish–American War, West served as a captain of marines.[2]
On June 14, 1914, during custody dispute over his nine-year-old daughter, West was found in a Chattanooga, Tennessee hotel room with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.[2] He survived his injuries, but died of kidney failure in Rhea Springs, Tennessee on July 17, 1914.[3]
