Herman L. “Jake” Jacobson was born October 26, 1899, in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, the son of Andrew and Mary Bekken Jacobson. He served in the US Army during World War I and in 1919 enrolled in Whitewater Normal School, graduating with a teaching degree in June 1921. He also graduated from the University of Illinois in 1926 with a Bachelors Degree in Athletic Coaching. He married Frances Wartenweiler of Monroe, Wisconsin, on March 19, 1928. In 1932 he earned a Masters Degree in Physical Education from the University of Wisconsin.

Jake taught Physical Education and coached athletic teams in Monroe and Cuba City and Milbank, South Dakota, prior to coming to Beloit in 1932. In Milbank his teams lost only four football games in five years (1926–31). He coached Jack Manders, who went on to be a star with the Chicago Bears.

Jake’s career as a civic and sports leader in the Beloit area spanned more than fifty years. At Beloit High School he won three state basketball championships in 1933, 1934, and 1937. He also coached the Purple Knights to six Big Eight Basketball titles and three Big Eight Football Championships. After retiring from active coaching in 1946, he continued in the school system as coordinator of secondary athletics and served as city-wide recreation director until he retired in 1965.

When Jake was president of the Wisconsin High School Coaches Association, he inaugurated the state-wide rating system for high school basketball teams. He was enshrined into the Whitewater Athletic Hall of Fame in 1965, inducted into the Wisconsin High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 1979, the Wisconsin High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1979, and the Wisconsin High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1983. Jake Jacobson was enshrined in the Beloit Hall of Fame on September 8, 1985.

In 1966 Jake was elected to the Rock County Board of Supervisors where he served as parks supervisor and was a member for sixteen years. He was a sixty-year member of the Morning Star Lodge No. 10 F & AM (Free and Accepted Masons–Beloit). He was a fifty-year member of the American Legion, a seventeen-year member of the Beloit Noon Kiwanis and a member of Second Congregational Church.

Jake was organizer and first president of the Beloit area Retired Teachers Association and was named Beloit’s Outstanding Citizen in 1965 by the Beloit Junior Chamber of Commerce. On November 25, 1980, the Beloit Board of Education officially named the new athletic field adjacent to Beloit Memorial High School as Jake Jacobson Field.

Jake was a member of radio station WBEL’s popular show, “The Football Forecast,” on Saturday mornings for eighteen years. He was always there to help others. Jake died on September 19, 1984, at the age of 84 in the University Hospital, Madison, from an apparent heart attack.

Joe Moen, General Manager of radio station WBEL, stated in the eulogy for Jake “that during a long and illustrious career and lifetime of service in one way or another he touched all of our lives and made them more meaningful. He was one of a kind. A unique individual who through his lovable personality, his enthusiasm and talents, accomplished so much, he truthfully can be called a legend.”

Those who knew Jake Jacobson admired not only his coaching skills and success but the great enthusiasm he brought to everything he became involved in. His pride for Beloit spilled over generously to areas other than the athletic field. He was proud of the city of Beloit and was involved in numerous community activities.

Jake Jacobson truly believed one man could make a difference in guiding youngsters toward productive and honorable lives. Beloit has been fortunate to have had H.L. Jake Jacobson. The hard work and good humor of Jake will be truly remembered.