| Lester Belding | |
| Birth Date: | 5 December 1900 |
| Birth Place: | Mason City, Iowa, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Naperville, Illinois, U.S. |
| Player Sport1: | Football |
| Player Years2: | 1919–1921 |
| Player Team2: | Iowa |
| Player Positions: | End |
| Coach Sport1: | Football |
| Coach Years2: | 1927 |
| Coach Team2: | North Carolina (freshmen) |
| Coach Years3: | 1934–1942 |
| Coach Team3: | Dakota Wesleyan |
| Coach Years4: | 1945 |
| Coach Team4: | North Central (IL) |
| Coach Sport5: | Basketball |
| Coach Years6: | 1934–1943 |
| Coach Team6: | Dakota Wesleyan |
| Coach Years7: | 1944–1945 |
| Coach Team7: | Dakota Wesleyan |
| Coach Years8: | 1946–1948 |
| Coach Team8: | North Central (IL) |
| Coach Sport9: | Track and field |
| Coach Years10: | 1945–1965 |
| Coach Team10: | North Central (IL) |
| Admin Years1: | 1934–1945 |
| Admin Team1: | Dakota Wesleyan |
| Admin Years2: | 1945–1965 |
| Admin Team2: | North Central (IL) |
| Overall Record: | 27–39–2 (college football) 162–63 (college basketball) |
| Championships: | Football 1 SDIC (1936) Basketball 3 SDIC regular season (1939–1940, 1943) |
| Awards: | Consensus All-American (1919) 3× All-Big Ten (1919, 1920, 1921) University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame |
Lester Cort Belding (December 5, 1900 – May 27, 1965) was an American athlete and coach in football and track and field.[1] He was the first football player from the University of Iowa to be named a consensus All-American. He was inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 1963.
A native of Mason City, Iowa, Belding was a star football player for Mason City High School from 1914 to 1917.[2]
Belding enrolled at the University of Iowa where he played football for legendary coach Howard Jones. He was a consensus Football All-American at the end position in 1919,[3] the first player from the University of Iowa to receive the honor. Considered "one of the nation's premier collegiate pass catchers of his era,"[4] [5] he played on the undefeated 1921 national championship team that outscored opponents 123–15 and included Gordon Locke, Aubrey Devine, Glenn Devine, and Duke Slater. He was also a three-time first-team All-Big Ten Conference selection.[5]
Belding was also the captain of Iowa's track team in 1921, competing in the 100 and 220-yard dashes.[2] [5]
After graduating from Iowa in 1922, Belding became a coach. He coached at a prep school in Boulder, Colorado.[6] In 1923, Belding accepted a coaching position in Clinton, Iowa,[6] where he coached two state championship football teams.[2] He next accepted a position at the freshman coach at the University of North Carolina. He later served as the high school coach at Greensboro, North Carolina for seven years.[2] In 1933, Belding returned to Iowa where he was put in charge of high school athletics at Reinbeck, Iowa.[2] [7] From 1934 to 1945, he was the athletic director and head football and basketball coach at Dakota Wesleyan College in Mitchell, South Dakota.[2] [8] [9] He finished his career serving 20 years, from 1945 to 1965, as a track and football coach and athletic director at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.[1] [9] in 1963, Belding was inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.[10]
Belding died of a heart attack in 1965 at age 64.[1] He was posthumously inducted into the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991.