Augustana College Athletics

Emil Lofgren was one of Augustana’s first outstanding athletes. He was a starting halfback on the school’s first football team in the mid-1890’s and was a motivating force behind the formation of that squad. He later served the college as both a basketball and baseball coach.

Following his graduation from Augustana in 1897, Lofgren attended medical school at both the University of Iowa and Northwestern University, where he received his M.D. He served in the American army during the Spanish-American War and then returned to his hometown of Rockford, Illinois where he served as the city’s health commissioner for four years before setting up a private practice.

He practiced medicine in Rockford for 53 years and he served for 30 years as the president of the Winnebago County Medical Society. He passed away in 1954.