Hardage was born on February 11, 1891 in Madison, Alabama to Monroe L., a liquor dealer, and Katherine Hardage. His father Monroe operated the Hardage Brother's Saloon. Hardage was a native of Decatur.
Playing career
Hardage was a prominent halfback at two different schools: Auburn and Vanderbilt, and was selected All-Southern every year in which he played. He was inducted into the Morgan County Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
Auburn
Hardage played two years for Mike Donahue's Auburn Tigers football team, from 1908 to 1909. He weighed some 165 pounds.
1908
The 1908 team disputes a Southern championship with the LSU Tigers despite losing to them due to charges of professionalism upon LSU. Hardage scored three touchdowns in the win over the Mercer Baptists, the only touchdown in a key win over the Sewanee Tigers, and two touchdowns in a win over coach John Heisman's Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, including a 108-yard kickoff return. Woodruff's account of the Sewanee game reads: "History was written when Auburn and Sewanee met in Birmingham...Auburn introduced a youthful half back, destined to become one of the most brilliant and famous ever to run across limed lines in the South. He was Lewis Hardage."
1909
The 1909 team lost to Vanderbilt, and to conference champion Sewanee by a single point.
The 1911 team lost one game by a single point to the only team able to score upon them, Michigan. Edwin Pope's Football's Greatest Coaches on the SIAA champion team reads "A lightning-swift backfield of Lew Hardage, Wilson Collins, Ammie Sikes, and Ray Morrison pushed Vandy through 1911 with only a 9-8 loss to Michigan." The Atlanta Constitution voted it the best backfield in the South. Once against Mississippi, Hardage started around left end, then reversed right, and was again crowded out, reversing field back around left end. He seemed to break a tackle by every Mississippi player on his way to the end zone.
In his senior year in 1912, Hardage was the captain of the team. He also was selected third-team All-American by Walter Camp, the fourth ever Southern player to get such a recognition. Innis Brown in 1912 wrote "Hardage has been rated as probably the most successful man in the south at making forward passes." He scored two touchdowns in the 105-0 defeat of Bethel. He tossed a 40-yard touchdown pass in a 100-3 win over Maryville. He returned an interception 35 yards for a touchdown against Rose Polytechnic. He was injured in the season's only loss, to national champion Harvard. Despite his hurt left ankle, Hardage "ran with great brilliance" in the 16–0 defeat of Sewanee, in his final game to secure a southern title.
Coaching career
After graduating from Vanderbilt, Hardage took several coaching jobs. His first position was as head coach of the Mercer Baptists in 1913, having a rough season at 2-5-1. He was later head coach at The McCallie School, a boys’ college-preparatory school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, from 1915 to 1917, where he had a coaching record of 11–4–3. Ralph McGill was a tackle and captain on the team. As a lieutenant, Hardage played for Barron Aviation Field during World War 1. In 1921, Hardage took the job of the athletic director at Gordon Military College.
In 1932, Hardage was hired as the head football coach at Oklahoma, where he coached for three seasons before resigning. McGugin got him the Oklahoma job.
He spent the 1935 season as an assistant football coach at Furman University before moving on to Florida where he became the backfield coach for coach Josh Cody's football team and the head coach of the baseball team. He thus coached Florida's lone All-SEC selection during this period: Walter Mayberry.
