William Henry Jackson Beckett (1882 – March 15, 1954) was an American football coach.
Becket was the first African American person to ever be awarded a degree at Springfield College–then known as the International YMCA Training School–in Springfield, Massachusetts.
[2] Beckett became the head football coach and first full-time athletic director at Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1917.
[3] Beckett taught physical education at Sumner High School in St. Louis, Missouri for 35 years before retiring in 1954.
He died of a cerebral hemorrhage on March 15, 1954, at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St.