Ernest E. West (American football)

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.

West was born in Rome, Georgia in 1867 and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1888. After graduation, he resigned his commission and practiced law in Georgia before becoming a professor at the Georgia school of Technology. In 1892, he organized Georgia Tech's first football team, acted as coach and captain, and played halfback. It was only season he coach or played for the school. During the Spanish–American War, West served as a captain of marines.

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. He survived his injuries, but died of kidney failure in Rhea Springs, Tennessee on July 17, 1914.