| Walter R. Okeson | |
| Birth Date: | 3 October 1875 |
| Birth Place: | Port Royal, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. U.S. |
| Position1: | End |
| Coaching Years1: | 1897 |
| Coaching Team1: | Latrobe Athletic Association |
| Coaching Years2: | 1900 |
| Coaching Team2: | Lehigh |
| Coaching Years3: | 1901 |
| Coaching Team3: | Lehigh (assistant) |
| Playing Years1: | 1897 |
| Playing Team1: | Latrobe Athletic Association |
| Playing Years2: | 1898 |
| Playing Team2: | Duquesne Country & A. C. |
| Career Highlights: |
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Walter Raleigh "Okey" Okeson (October 3, 1875 – November 4, 1943)[1] was an American football player and coach. He was a player-coach for the first all-professional football team, the Latrobe Athletic Association club in 1897. Okeson was the head football coach at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for one season, in 1900, compiling a record of 5–6.
Okeson was also an All-American end at Lehigh. In 1897 he was a player-coach for the Latrobe Athletic Association and led the team to a 10–2–1 record. He was later named to the "All Western Pennsylvania Team" by The Pittsburg Times after the season. In 1898, he played for the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club. At the end of that season, Okeson played for Duquesne against the 1898 Western Pennsylvania All-Star football team, formed by Latrobe manager Dave Berry.[2] [3] [4] Duquesne won the game, 16–0.
Okeson was the chairman of the College Football Rules Committee for a time. He was also the editor for the 1933–1940 editions of Spalding's Foot Ball Guide. The 1934 edition of the Guide contained a "National Champion Foot Ball Teams" list compiled by football historian Parke H. Davis, who died before publication. As editor, Okeson was responsible for the subsequent additions to this list in the 1935 and 1936 editions of the Guide, which were then titled "Outstanding Nationwide and Sectional Teams" that were "Originally Compiled by the late Parke H. Davis."[5]
In the 1939 Guide, Okeson wrote,[6]
Okeson was elected to the Lehigh University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999.[7]