 Heisman,c. 1918 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1869-10-23)October 23, 1869 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | October 3, 1936(1936-10-03) (aged 66) New York, New York, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| Football | |
| 1887–1888 | Brown |
| 1889–1891 | Penn |
| Positions | Center,tackle,end |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football | |
| 1892 | Oberlin |
| 1893–1894 | Buchtel |
| 1894 | Oberlin |
| 1895–1899 | Auburn |
| 1900–1903 | Clemson |
| 1904–1919 | Georgia Tech |
| 1920–1922 | Penn |
| 1923 | Washington & Jefferson |
| 1924–1927 | Rice |
| Basketball | |
| 1908–1909 | Georgia Tech |
| 1912–1914 | Georgia Tech |
| Baseball | |
| 1894 | Buchtel |
| 1901–1903 | Clemson |
| 1904–1917 | Georgia Tech |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1904–1919 | Georgia Tech |
| 1924–1927 | Rice |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 186–70–18 (football) 9–14 (basketball) 199–108–7 (baseball) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| Football 1national (1917) 7SIAA (1900, 1902–1903, 1915–1918) Baseball SIAA (1906) | |
| College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1954 (profile) | |
John William Heisman (/ˈhaɪzmən/HYZE-mən; October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was an American sportsman, writer, and actor. He was a player and coach ofAmerican football, baseball, and basketball, and served as the head football coach atOberlin College, Buchtel College (now known as theUniversity of Akron),Auburn University,Clemson University,Georgia Tech, theUniversity of Pennsylvania,Washington & Jefferson College, andRice University, compiling a careercollege football record of 186–70–18.
Heisman was also the head basketball coach at Georgia Tech, tallying a mark of 9–14, and the head baseball coach at Buchtel, Clemson, and Georgia Tech, amassing a careercollege baseball record of 199–108–7. He served as theathletic director at Georgia Tech and Rice. While at Georgia Tech, he was also the president of theAtlanta Crackers baseball team.
SportswriterFuzzy Woodruff dubbed Heisman the "pioneer ofSouthern football".[1] He was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1954. His entry there notes that Heisman "stands only behindAmos Alonzo Stagg,Pop Warner, andWalter Camp as a master innovator of the brand of football of his day".[2] He was instrumental in several changes to the game, including legalizing theforward pass. TheHeisman Trophy, awarded annually to the season's most outstanding college football player, is named after him.
John Heisman was born Johann Wilhelm Heisman[n 1] on October 23, 1869, inCleveland, Ohio, the son ofBavarianGerman immigrant Johann Michael Heissmann and Sara Lehr Heissman. He grew up in northwestern Pennsylvania nearTitusville and wassalutatorian of his graduating class atTitusville High School.[6] His oration at his graduation entitled "The Dramatist as Sermonizer" was described as "full of dramatic emphasis and fire, and showed how the masterpieces ofShakespeare depicted the ends of unchecked passion."[6][7]
Although he was a drama student, he confessed he was "football mad". He playedvarsity football for Titusville High School from 1884 to 1886.[6] Heisman's father refused to watch him play at Titusville, calling football "bestial".[8] Heisman went on to play football as alineman atBrown University[9] and at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.[10][11][12] He also played baseball at Penn.[13]
OnBrown's football team, he was a substituteguard in 1887, and a startingtackle in 1888.[11] AtPenn, he was a substitutecenter in 1889, a substitute center and tackle in1890, and a startingend in1891.[11] SportswriterEdwin Pope tells us Heisman was "a 158-pound center ... in constant dread that his immediate teammates—guards weighing 212 and 243—would fall on him."[14] He had a flat nose due to being struck in the face by afootball, when he tried to block a kick againstPenn State byleap-frogging the center.[14]
Heisman graduated from theUniversity of Pennsylvania Law School in 1892.[12] Due to poor eyesight, he took his exams orally.[15][16]
In his bookPrinciples of Football, Heisman described his coaching strategy: "The coach should be masterful and commanding, even dictatorial. He has no time to say 'please' or 'mister'. At times he must be severe, arbitrary, and little short of aczar."[17][18] Heisman always used amegaphone at practice.[19] "Heisman's voice was deep, his diction perfect, his tone biting."[14] He was also known for his use ofpolysyllabic language,[9] and would repeat this annually, at the start of each football season:[20]
What is this? It is aprolate spheroid, an elongated sphere in which the outerleather casing is drawn tightly over a somewhat smallerrubber tubing. Better to have died as a small boy than tofumble this football.
Heisman first coached at Oberlin College.[6][11] In 1892,The Oberlin Review wrote: "Mr. Heisman has entirely remade our football. He has taught us scientific football."[21] He used thedouble pass, from tackle tohalfback,[22] and moved hisquarterback to thesafety position ondefense.[23] Influenced byYale andPudge Heffelfinger, Heisman implemented the now illegal "flying wedge"formation.[24] It involved seven players arranged as a "V" to protect the ball carrier.[25] Heisman was also likely influenced by Heffelfinger topull guards onend runs.[26][27]
On his1892 team, Heisman'strainer was Clarence Hemingway, the father of authorErnest Hemingway[28] and one of his linemen was the firstHawaiian to play college football, the future politicianJohn Henry Wise.[29][30] The team beatOhio State twice, and considered itself undefeated at the end of the season.[29] However, the outcome of its game againstMichigan is still in dispute. Michigan declared it had won the game, 26–24, but Oberlin said it won 24–22. Thereferee, an Oberlin substitute player, had ruled that time had expired. Theumpire, a Michigan supporter, ruled otherwise. Michigan'sGeorge Jewett, who had scored all of his team's points and was the school's firstblack player, then ran for atouchdown with no Oberlin players on thefield.The Michigan Daily andDetroit Tribune reported that Michigan had won the game, whileThe Oberlin News andThe Oberlin Review reported that Oberlin had won.[28]
In 1893, Heisman became the football and baseball coach at Buchtel College. A disappointing baseball season was made up for by a 5–2football season.[31] It was then customary for the center to begin aplay by rolling or kicking the ball backwards, but this proved difficult for Buchtel's unusually tall quarterback Harry Clark.[32][n 2] Under Heisman, the center began tossing the ball to Clark, a practice that eventually evolved into thesnap.[34]
The first school to officially defeat Heisman wasCase School of Applied Science, known today asCase Western Reserve.[citation needed] Buchtel wona single game againstOhio State at theOhio State Fair[35] before Heisman returned to Oberlin in1894, posting a 4–3–1 record, including losses toMichigan and undefeatedPenn State.[25][36] The Penn State game ended with afair catch andfree kick, which resulted in afield goal for Penn State. Referees were confused whether teams could kick a field goal or had topunt on a free kick, and the game ended 6–4 in favor of Oberlin, but Walter Camp over-ruled the game officials, allowing Penn State its extra free kick and the victory 9–6.[37]
After his two years at Oberlin and possibly due to the economicPanic of 1893, Heisman invested his savings and began working at a tomato farm inMarshall, Texas.[38] It was hard work in the heat and Heisman was losing money.[39][40] He was contacted byWalter Riggs, then the manager of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (Auburn University)football team. Auburn was looking for a football coach, and Heisman was suggested to Riggs by his former player at Oberlin,Penn's then-captainCarl S. Williams.[39] For a salary of $500, he accepted a part-time job as a "trainer".[38]
Heisman coached football at Auburn from1895 to1899. Auburn's yearbook, theGlomerata, in 1897 stated "Heisman came to us in the fall of '95, and the day on which he arrived at Auburn can well be marked as the luckiest in the history of athletics at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute."[41] At Auburn, Heisman had the idea for his quarterback to call out "hike" or "hep" to start a play and receive the ball from the center, or to draw the opposing team into anoffsidepenalty.[42] He also used a fake snap to draw the other team offsides.[43] He began his use of a type of delayed buck play where an end took ahand-off, then handed the ball to the halfback on the opposite side, whorushed up the middle.[42] As a coach, Heisman "railed and snorted in practice, imploring players to do their all for God, country, Auburn, and Heisman. Before each game he made squadmen take a nonshirk, nonflinch oath."[44] Due to his fondness for Shakespeare, he would sometimes use a British accent at practice.[41] While it was then illegal to coach from the sidelines during a game, Heisman would sometimes use secret signals with a bottle or a handkerchief to communicate with his team.[38]
Heisman's first game as an Auburn coach came againstVanderbilt. Heisman had his quarterbackReynolds Tichenor use the "hidden ball trick" to tie the game at 6 points.[45][46] However, Vanderbilt answered by kicking a field goal and won 9–6, making it the first game of Southern football decided by a field goal.[47] In therivalry game withGeorgia, Auburn won 16–6. Georgia coach Pop Warner copied the hidden ball trick, and in 1903, hisCarlisle team famously used it to defeatHarvard.[48][49]
Earlier in the1895 season, Heisman witnessedone of the first illegal forward passes whenGeorgia facedNorth Carolina inAtlanta. Georgia was about to block a punt when UNC'sJoel Whitaker tossed the ball out of desperation, andGeorge Stephens caught the pass and ran 70 yards for a touchdown.[50][51] Georgia coach Pop Warner complained to the referee that the play was illegal, but the referee let the play stand because he did not see the pass.[51] Later, Heisman became one of the main proponents of making the forward pass legal.
Lineman Marvin "Babe" Pearce had transferred to Auburn fromAlabama, and Reynolds Tichenor was captain of the1896 Auburn team, which beatGeorgia Tech 45–0.[52] Auburn players greased the train tracks the night before the game. Georgia Tech's train did not stop untilLoachapoka, and the Georgia Tech players had to walk the 5 miles back to Auburn.[53] This began a tradition of students parading through the streets in their pajamas, known as the "Wreck Tech Pajama Parade".[54] Auburn finished the season by losing 12–6 to Pop Warner'sSouthern Intercollegiate Athletic Association championGeorgia team, which was led by quarterbackRichard Von Albade Gammon.[55] Auburn received its first national publicity when Heisman was able to convinceHarper's Weekly to publish the 1896 team's photo.[38]
The1897 Auburn team featured linemen Pearce andJohn Penton, a transfer fromVirginia.[56] Of its three games, one was a scoreless tie againstSewanee, "The University of the South" in Tennessee.[57] Another was a 14–4 defeat ofNashville, which featuredBradley Walker.[58] Tichenor had transferred toGeorgia. Gammon moved tofullback and died in the game againstVirginia.[59] Auburn finished the 1897 football season $700 in debt, and in response, Heisman took on the role of a theater producer and staged thecomedicplayDavid Garrick.[60] Having made enough money for another football season, the1898 team won two out of three games, with its loss coming against undefeatedNorth Carolina.[57] After falling behind 13–4 toGeorgia, Heisman started using fullback George Mitcham, and won the game 18–17.[56][61]
The 1899 team, which Heisman considered his best while at Auburn,[56] was led by fullbackArthur Feagin. As Heisman recalled, "I do not think I have ever seen so fast a team as that was."[62] Auburn was leadingGeorgia by a score of 11–6 when the game was called due to darkness, lighting not being available at that time, resulting in an official scoreless tie.[63] Heisman fitted his linemen with straps and handles under their belts so that the other linemen could hold onto them and prevent the opposing team from breaking through the line. The umpire W. L. Taylor had to cut them.[38]
Auburn lost just one game, 11–10 to the "Iron Men" of Sewanee, whoshutout all their other opponents.[64] A report of the game says "Feagin is a player of exceptional ability, and runs with such force that some ground belongs to him on every attempt."[65] Heisman left Auburn after the 1899 season, and wrote a farewell letter with "tears in my eyes, and tears in my voice; tears even in the trembling of my hand".[66] "You will not feel hard toward me; you will forgive me, you will not forget me? Let me ask to retain your friendship. Can a man be associated for five successive seasons with Grand Old Auburn, toiling for her, befriended by her, striving with her, and yet not love her?"[66]
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Heisman was hired by Clemson University asfootball andbaseball coach. He coached at Clemson from 1900 to 1903, and was the first Clemson coach who had experience coaching at another school.[67][68] He still has the highest winning percentage in school history in both football and baseball.[69] Again Walter Riggs, who moved on from Auburn to coach and manage at Clemson, was instrumental in the hiring. Riggs started an association to help pay Heisman's salary, which was $1,800 per year, and raised $415.11.[70]
Heisman coached baseball from 1901 to 1903, posting a 28–6–1 record.[71] Under Heisman,pitcherVedder Sitton was considered "one of the best twirlers in the country" and one of "the best pitchers that Clemson ever had".[72][73]
In his four seasons as Clemson football coach, Heisman won three SIAA titles: in1900,1902, and1903.[10][74] By the time of his hiring in 1900, Heisman was "the undisputed master of Southern football".[75] Heisman later said that his approach at Clemson was "radically different from anything on earth".[76][77]
The 1900 season had "the rise of Clemson from a little school whose football teams had never been heard of before, to become a football machine of the very first power."[78] Clemson finished the season undefeated at 6–0, and beatDavidson on opening day by a 64–0 score, then the largest ever made in the South.[79]
Clemson then beatWofford 21–0, agreeing that every point scored after the first four touchdowns did not count, andSouth Carolina 51–0.[80][81] The team also beatGeorgia,VPI, andAlabama. Clemson beat Georgia 39–5, and Clemson players were pelted with coal from the nearby dorms.[81] Clemson beat VPI 12–5. The game was called short due to darkness, and on VPI was Hall of FamerHunter Carpenter.[81][82] Stars for the Clemson team included captain and tackle Norman Walker, endJim Lynah, and halfbackBuster Hunter.[56]
The1901 Clemson team beatGuilford on opening day 122–0, scoring the most points in Clemson history, and the next week it tiedTennessee 6–6, finishing the season at 3–1–1.[80] Clemson beatGeorgia and lost toVPI 17–11, with Carpenter starring for VPI.[83] The season closed with a defeat ofNorth Carolina. Lynah later transferred to Cornell and played for Pop Warner.[84]
Heisman was described as "a master of taking advantage of the surprise element."[85] The day before the game againstGeorgia Tech, Heisman sent in substitutes to Atlanta, who checked into a hotel, and partied until dawn. The next day, the varsity team was well rested and prepared, while Georgia Tech was fooled and expected an easy win. Clemson won that game 44–5.[69][86] In a 28–0 defeat ofFurman, an oak tree was on the field, and Heisman called for alateral pass using the tree as an extra blocker.[87]
The 1902 team went 6–1.[80] Clemson lost 12–6 to theSouth Carolina Gamecocks inColumbia, for the first time since1896, whentheir rivalry began.[88] Several fights broke out that day. As one writer put it: "The Carolina fans that week were carrying around a poster with the image of a tiger with a gamecock standing on top of it, holding the tiger's tail as if he was steering the tiger". Another brawl broke out before both sides agreed to burn the poster in an effort to defuse tensions. In the aftermath, the rivalry was suspended until 1909.[89][90] The last game of the season, Clemson beatTennessee 11–0 in the snow, in a game during which Tennessee'sToots Douglas launched a 109-yard punt (the field length was 110 yards in those days).[91][92]
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The 1903 team went 4–1–1, and opened the season by beatingGeorgia 29–0. The next week, Clemson played Georgia'srivalGeorgia Tech. To inspire Clemson, Georgia offered a bushel of apples for every point it scored after the 29th.[93] Rushing for 615 yards, Clemson beat Georgia Tech 73–0.[93] The team then beatNorth Carolina A&M, lost toNorth Carolina, and beat Davidson.[80]
After the end of the season, a postseason game was scheduled withCumberland, billed as the championship of the South. Clemson and Cumberland tied 11–11.[94] While both teams can therefore be listed as champion, Heisman named Cumberland champion.[74][95]
In 1902 and 1903, several Clemson players made theAll-Southern team, anall-star team of players from the South selected by several writers after the season, analogous toAll-America teams. They included ends Vedder Sitton andHope Sadler, quarterbackJohnny Maxwell, and fullbackJock Hanvey.[72][96]
Fuzzy Woodruff relates Heisman's role in selecting All-Southern teams: "The first selections that had any pretense of being backed by a judicial consideration were made by W. Reynolds Tichenor...The next selections were made by John W. Heisman, who was as good a judge of football men as the country ever produced."[97][98]
After the 73–0 defeat by Clemson, Georgia Tech approached Heisman and was able to hire him as a coach and an athletic director.[99][100] A banner proclaiming "Tech Gets Heisman for 1904" was strung across Atlanta'sPiedmont Park.[101] Heisman was hired for $2,250 a year and 30% of the home ticket sales,[102] a $50 raise over his Clemson salary.[101][n 3] He coached Georgia Tech for the longest tenure of his career, 16 years.
At Georgia Tech, Heisman coachedbaseball andbasketball in addition to football.[103]
The1906 Georgia Tech baseball team was his best, posting a 23–3 record.[104] Star players in 1906 included captain andoutfielderChip Robert,shortstopTommy McMillan, and pitchersEd Lafitte andCraig Day.[105][106] In 1907, Lafitte posted 19strikeouts in 10innings against rivalGeorgia.[107] In 1908, Heisman was also Georgia Tech's first basketball coach.[108] For many years after his death, from 1938 to 1956, Georgia Tech played basketball in the Heisman Gym.[109]
In 1904, Heisman was an official in an Atlanta indoor baseball league.[110] In 1908, Heisman became the president of the Atlanta Crackers, aminor league baseball team. The Atlanta Crackers captured the 1909Southern Association title.[111] Heisman also became the athletic director of theAtlanta Athletic Club in 1908, itsgolf course having been built in 1904.[102][112]
Heisman never had a losing season coaching Georgia Tech football, including three undefeated campaigns and a 32-game undefeated streak.[n 4] At some time during his tenure at Georgia Tech, he started the practice of posting downs and yardage on the scoreboard.[114]
Heisman'sfirst football season at Georgia Tech was an 8–1–1 record, the first winning season for Georgia Tech since1893 (the1901 team was blacklisted).[102] One source relates: "The real feature of the season was the marvelous advance made by the Georgia School of Technology."[115] Georgia Tech posted victories overGeorgia,Tennessee,Florida State,University of Florida (at Lake City), andCumberland, and a tie with Heisman's previous employer,Clemson. The team suffered just one loss, toAuburn. TackleLob Brown and halfbackBilly Wilson were selected All-Southern.[116] The same season,Dan McGugin was hired byVanderbilt andMike Donahue by Auburn. Vanderbilt and Auburn would dominate the SIAA until 1916, when Heisman won his first official title with Georgia Tech.[117][118]
The1905 Georgia Tech team, the first to be called "Yellow Jackets",[119] went 6–0–1 and Heisman gained a reputation as a coaching "wizard".[120][121] Heisman also drew much acclaim as a sportswriter, and was regularly published in the sports section of theAtlanta Constitution,[122] and later inCollier's Weekly.[123]
After the bloody1905 football season—theChicago Tribune reported 18 players had been killed and 159 seriously injured, United States PresidentTheodore Roosevelt intervened and demanded the rules be reformed to make the sport safer.[124] The rules committee then legalized the forward pass, for which Heisman was instrumental, enlisting the support ofHenry L. Williams and committee membersJohn Bell andPaul Dashiell.[125][126] Heisman believed that a forward pass would improve the game by allowing a more open style of play, thus discouraging mass attack tactics and the flying wedge formation.[22][127] The rule changes came in 1906, three years after Heisman began actively lobbying for that decision.[22][128]
Before the1910 season, Heisman convinced the rules committee to change football from a game of two halves to four quarters, again for safety.[129] Despite lobbying for these rule changes, Heisman's teams from 1906 to 1914 continued to post winning records, but with multiple losses each season, including a loss to Auburn each season but 1906.
The1906 Georgia Tech team beatAuburn for the first time, and in a loss toSewanee first used Heisman'sjump shift offense, which became known as the Heisman shift.[130][131] In the jump shift, all but the center mayshift into various formations, with a jump before the snap. A play started with only the center on theline of scrimmage. Thebackfield would be in a vertical line, as if in anI-formation with an extra halfback, or a giant T. After the shift, a split second elapsed, and then the ball was snapped.[132] In one common instance of the jump shift, the line shifted to put the center between guard and tackle. The threebacks nearest the line of scrimmage would shift all to one side, and the center snapped it to the tailback.[133]
The1907 team played its games atPonce de Leon Park, where the Atlanta Crackers also played.[120] The team went 4–4, and suffered Heisman's worst loss at Georgia Tech, 54–0 toVanderbilt.[134]"Twenty Percent" Davis, considered 20% of the team's worth,[135] was selected All-Southern.[136]
Chip Robert was captain of the1908 team, which went 6–3, including a 44–0 blowout loss toAuburn in whichLew Hardage returned a kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown.[120][137] Davis again was All-Southern.[138] Georgia attacked Georgia Tech's recruitment tactics in football.[139] Georgia alumni incited an SIAA investigation, claiming that Georgia Tech had created a fraudulent scholarship fund.[139] The SIAA ruled in favor of Georgia Tech, but the 1908 game was canceled that season due to bad blood between the rivals.[139] Davis was captain of the1909 team, which won seven games, but was shutout by SIAA championSewanee andAuburn.[120]
Heisman's1910 team went 5–3, and relied on the jump shift for the first time.[120][132] Hall of FamerBob McWhorter played for the Georgia Bulldogs from 1910 to 1913, and for those seasons Georgia Tech lost to Georgia and Auburn.
In 1910, Georgia Tech was also beaten by SIAA championVanderbilt 22–0. Though Vanderbilt was held scoreless in the first half,Ray Morrison starred in the second half and Bradley Walker's officiating was criticized throughout.[140] TacklePat Patterson was selected All-Southern.[141] The1911 team featured future head coachWilliam Alexander as a reserve quarterback.[142][143] Pat Patterson was team captain and selected All-Southern.[120] The team playedAlabama to a scoreless tie, after which Heisman said he had never seen a player "so thoroughly imbued with the true spirit of football asHargrove Van de Graaff."[144]
The1912 team opened the season by playing the Army's 11th Cavalry regiment to a scoreless tie. The team also lost toSewanee, and quarterbackAlf McDonald was selected All-Southern.[145] The team moved toGrant Field from Ponce de Leon Park by1913, and lost its first game there toGeorgia 14–0.[146] The season's toughest win came againstFlorida, 13–3, after Florida was up 3–0 at the half. Heisman said his opponents played the best football he had seen a Florida squad play.[147]
The independent1914 team was captained by halfbackWooch Fielder and went 6–2. The team beatMercer 105–0 and the next week had a 13–0 upset loss toAlabama.[120] EndJim Senter and halfback J. S. Patton were selected All-Southern.[148]
During the span of1915 to1918, Georgia Tech posted a 30–1–2 record, outscored opponents 1611–93, and claimed four straight SIAA titles.[74]
The 1915 team went 7–0–1 and claimed a shared SIAA title withVanderbilt, despite being officially independent.[149] The tie came against rivalGeorgia, in inches of mud.[150] Georgia centerJohn G. Henderson headed a group of three men, one behind the other, with his hands upon the shoulders of the one in front, to counter Heisman's jump shift.[151]
HalfbackEverett Strupper joined the team in 1915 and was partiallydeaf.[152] He called the signals instead of the quarterback.[153] When Strupper tried out for the team, he noticed that the quarterback shouted the signals every time he was to carry the ball. Realizing that the loud signals would be a tip-off to the opposition, Strupper told Heisman: "Coach, those loud signals are absolutely unnecessary. You see when sickness in my kid days brought on this deafness my folks gave me the best instructors obtainable to teach melip-reading." Heisman recalled how Strupper overcame his deafness: "He couldn't hear anything but a regular shout, but he could read your lips like a flash. No lad who ever stepped on a football field had keener eyes than Everett had. The enemy found this out the minute he began looking for openings through which to run the ball."[154]
Fielder and guardBob Lang made the composite All-Southern team, and Senter, quarterbackFroggie Morrison, and Strupper were selected All-Southern by some writer.[155] The team was immediately dubbed the greatest in Georgia Tech's history up to that point.[149][156] However, the team continued to improve over the next two seasons. SportswriterMorgan Blake called Strupper, "probably the greatest running half-back the South has known."[157]
The1916 team went 8–0–1, captured the team's first official SIAA title, and was the first to vault Georgia Tech football to national prominence.[143] According to one writer, it "seemed to personify Heisman" by playing hard in every game on both offense and defense.[158] Strupper, Lang, fullbackTommy Spence, tackleWalker Carpenter, and centerPup Phillips were all selected All-Southern.[159] Only one newspaper in all of the South was said to have neglected to have Strupper on its All-Southern team.[160] Phillips was the first Georgia Tech center selected All-Southern, and made Walter Camp's third-team All-American.[161] Spence got Camp's honorable mention.[162]
Without throwing a single forward pass, Georgia Tech defeated theCumberland College Bulldogs,222–0, in the most one-sided college football game ever played. Strupper led the scoring with six touchdowns.[163] SportswriterGrantland Rice wrote, "Cumberland's greatest individual play of the game occurred when fullbackAllen circled right end for a 6-yard loss."[164]
Up 126–0 at halftime, Heisman reportedly told his players, "You're doing all right, team, we're ahead, but you just can't tell what those Cumberland players have up their sleeves. They may spring a surprise. Be alert, men! Hit 'em clean, but hit 'em hard!"[164][163] However, even Heisman relented, and shortened the quarters in the second half to 12 minutes each instead of 15.[163]
Heisman'srunning up the score against his outmanned opponent was motivated by revenge against Cumberland's baseball team, for running up the score against Georgia Tech 22–0 with a team primarily composed of professionalNashville Vols players,[165][166] and against the sportswriters who he felt were too focused on numbers, such as those who picked Vanderbilt as champion the previous season.[167]
In 1917, the backfield ofJoe Guyon,Al Hill,Judy Harlan, and Strupper helped propel Heisman to his finest success. Georgia Tech posted a 9–0 record and a national championship, the first for a Southern team.[168] For many years, it was considered the finest team the South ever produced.[169] SportswriterFrank G. Menke selected Strupper and team captain Carpenter for his All-America team; the first two players from theDeep South ever selected first-team All-American.[170]
Joe Guyon was aChippewaIndian, who had transferred fromCarlisle, and whose brother Charles "Wahoo" Guyon was Heisman's assistant coach on the team.[171] Judy Harlan said about Guyon, "Once in a while the Indian would come out in Joe, such as the nights Heisman gave us a white football and had us working out under the lights. That's when Guyon would give out the blood-curdling war whoops."[172] His first carry for Georgia Tech was a 75-yard touchdown againstWake Forest.[173]
The 1917 Georgia Tech team outscored opponents 491–17 and beatPenn 41–0. Historian Bernie McCarty called it "Strupper's finest hour, coming through against powerful Penn in the contest that shocked theEast."[174] Pop Warner's undefeatedPittsburgh team beat Penn just 14–6.[175] Georgia Tech's 83–0 victory overVanderbilt is the worst loss in Vanderbilt history, and the 63–0 defeat ofWashington and Lee was the worst loss in W&L history at the time.[171] In the 48–0 defeat ofTulane, each of the four members of the backfield eclipsed 100 yards rushing, and Guyon also passed for two touchdowns.[176]Auburn, the SIAA's second place team, was beaten 68–7.[171]
Institute faculty succeeded in preventing a postseason national championship game with Pittsburgh.[177] In the next season of 1918, after losing several players toWorld War I, Georgia Tech lost a lopsided game toPittsburgh 32–0.[178] SportswriterFrancis J. Powers wrote:
AtForbes Field, the dressing rooms of the two teams were separated only by a thin wall. As the Panthers were sitting around, awaiting Warner's pregame talk, Heisman began to orate in the adjoining room. In his charge to the Tech squad, Heisman became flowery and fiery. He brought the heroes ofancient Greece and the soldier dead in his armor among the ruins ofPompeii. It was terrific and the Panthers sat, spellbound. When Heisman had finished, Warner chortled and quietly said to his players: 'Okay, boys. There's the speech. Now go out and knock them off.'[179]
Heisman cut back on his expanded duties in 1918, and only coached football between September 1 and December 15.[102] Georgia Tech went 6–1 and eclipsed 100 points three different times.[180]Buck Flowers, a small back in his first year on the team, had transferred fromDavidson a year before, where he had starred in a game against Georgia Tech.[181] Flowers had grown to weigh 150 pounds and was a backup until Heisman discovered his ability as an open-field runner onpunt returns.[182]
Also in 1918, centerBum Day became the first player from the South selected for Walter Camp's first-team All-America, historically loaded with college players fromHarvard, Yale, Princeton, and other northeastern colleges.[183] Flowers and tackleBill Fincher made Camp's second team.[184] Guyon made Menke's first team All-America as a tackle.[185]
The1919 team was beaten byPittsburgh andWashington and Lee, and in the final gameAuburn gave Georgia Tech its first loss to an SIAA school in 5 years (sinceAuburn in 1914).[186] Flowers, Harlan, Fincher, Phillips,Dummy Lebey,Al Staton, andShorty Guill were All-Southern.[187] Heisman left Atlanta after the season, and William Alexander was hired as his successor.[188]
Heisman went back toPenn for three seasons from 1920 to 1922. Most notable perhaps is the9–7 loss toAlabama in 1922, the Crimson Tide's first major intersectional victory.[189] In 1923, Heisman coached theWashington and Jefferson Presidents, which beat the previously undefeatedWest Virginia Mountaineers.[190]
Following the season at Washington and Jefferson College, Heisman ended his coaching career with four seasons atRice. In 1924, after being selected by the Committee on Outdoor Sports, he took over the job as Rice University's first full-time headfootball coach and athletic director, succeedingPhillip Arbuckle.[191][192] His teams saw little success, and he earned more than any faculty member.[192]
Rice was his last coaching job before he retired in 1927 to lead theDowntown Athletic Club inManhattan, New York.[193] In 1935, the Downtown Athletic Club began awarding a Downtown Athletic Club trophy for the best football player east of theMississippi River.[9]
Heisman met his first wife, an actress, while he was participating in theater during his time at Clemson.[194] Evelyn McCollum Cox, whose stage name was Evelyn Barksdale, was a widow with a single child, a 12-year-old boy named Carlisle.[195] They married during the 1903 season, on October 24, 1903, a day after Heisman's 34th birthday.[196] While in Atlanta, Heisman also shared the house with the familypoodle named Woo. He would feed the dog ice cream.[197]
In 1918, Heisman and his wife divorced, and to prevent any social embarrassment to his former wife, who chose to remain in the city, he left Atlanta after the 1919 football season.[146][194] Carlisle and Heisman would remain close.[87][194]
Heisman met Edith Maora Cole, a student at Buchtel College, where he was coaching football during the 1893 and 1894 seasons.[194] The two were close, but decided not to marry due to Edith's problems withtuberculosis.[194] When they met again in 1924, Heisman was living inWashington, Pennsylvania, and coaching at Washington and Jefferson College. This time, they did decide to marry, doing it that same year, right before Heisman left Pennsylvania to take his last head coaching job at Rice University in Texas.[194]
Heisman considered himself an actor as well as coach, and was a part of several acting troupes in the offseason. He was known for delivering grand theatrical speeches to inspire his players, and some considered him to be an eccentric and melodramatic. He was described as exhibiting "the temperament, panache, and audacity of the showman."[38]
His 1897 Auburn team finished $700 in debt. To raise money for next season, Heisman created the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (Auburn) Dramatic Club to stage and act as the main character in the comic playDavid Garrick byThomas William Robertson.[38][198]George Petrie described the play as "decidedly the most successful event of its kind ever seen in Auburn".[38] A local newspaper,The Opelika Post, reviewed Heisman's performance:
He was naturalness itself, and there was not a single place in which he overdid his part. His changes from drunk to sober and back again in the drunken scene were skillfully done, and the humor of many of his speeches caused a roar of laughter. He acted not like an amateur, but like the skilled professional that he is.[38]
During his time at Auburn, Heisman also took on more serious roles, and was considered as a refined elocutionist when performing Shakespearean plays or reciting his monologues.[38] The next year, the API Dramatic Club performedA Scrap of Paper byVictorien Sardou.[38] In May 1898, Heisman appeared inDiplomacy, an English adaptation ofDora by Sardou, with the Mordaunt-Block Stock Company at theHerald Square Theater onBroadway. Later that summer, he performed inThe Ragged Regiment byRobert Neilson Stephens at the Herald Square Theater andCaste at the Columbus Theater inHarlem.[199]
In 1899, he was in the Macdonald Stock Company, which performed at Crump's Park inMacon, Georgia, including the role of Dentatus inVirginius byJames Sheridan Knowles. When the Macdonald Stock Company took a hiatus in June 1899, Heisman joined the Thanouser-Hatch Company of Atlanta. He performed in at least two plays for this company, inBrother John byMartha Morton at the Grand Theater in Atlanta, playing the role of Captain Van Sprague.[199]
At the end of Auburn's 1899 season, a public conflict developed between Heisman and umpire W. L. Taylor. Heisman wrote to theBirmingham Age-Herald complaining about Taylor's officiating in general and specifically his cancellation of an Auburn touchdown because the scoring play began before the starting whistle following atime out. In his published reply, Taylor critiqued Heisman as someone with "histrionic gifts," making "lurid appeals," and seeking "peanut gallery applause" for "heroically acted character parts" in some "cheap theater." Heisman responded to that characterization as "The heinous crime I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny" and that what Taylor said could be a "studied insult to the whole art of acting."[38]
In 1900, Heisman joined the Spooner Dramatic Company ofTampa, Florida. On return fromKey West, Heisman got very seasick.[38] By 1901, Heisman joined the Dixie Stock Company, which performed several plays in the Dukate Theater atBiloxi, Mississippi.[200] There, he received his first major romantic lead, Armand inCamille.[38] In 1902, he managed Crump's Park Stock Company.[200] He started the Heisman Dramatic Stock Company while at Clemson in 1903, which spent much of the summer performing at Riverside Park inAsheville, North Carolina.[201] By 1904, Heisman operated the Heisman Stock Company. It performed at the Casino Theater at Pickett Springs Resort inMontgomery, Alabama. Their first performance wasWilliam Gillette'sBecause She Loved Him So. The next summer opened with a performance at the Grand Opera House inAugusta, Georgia. In 1906 and 1907, Heisman again performed in Crump's Park in Macon, as well as the Thunderbolt Casino inSavannah. In 1906, he purchased anEdisonkinetograph for his audiences.[202] By 1908, Heisman managed Heisman Theatrical Enterprises.[196]
Heisman died of pneumonia on October 3, 1936, in New York City.[9] Three days later, his body was taken by train to his wife's hometown ofRhinelander, Wisconsin, where he was buried in Grave D, Lot 11, Block 3 of the city-owned Forest Home Cemetery.[203][204] When Heisman died, he was preparing to write a history of football.[205]
Heisman was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1954, a member of the second class of inductees.[2] Heisman was an innovator and "master strategist".[10] He developed one of the first shifts.[206][207] He was a proponent of the legalization of the forward pass. He had both his guards pull to lead an end run and had his center snap the ball. He invented the hidden ball play, and originated the "hike" or "hep" shouted by the quarterback to start each play. He led the effort to cut the game from halves to quarters. He is credited with the idea of listing downs and yardage on the scoreboard, and of putting his quarterback atsafety on defense.[2][208]
On December 10, 1936, just two months after Heisman's death on October 3, the Downtown Athletic Club trophy was renamed theHeisman Memorial Trophy, and is now given to the player voted as the season's most outstanding collegiate football player.[9] Voters for this award consist primarily of media representatives, who are allocated by regions across the country to filter out possible regional bias, and former recipients.[9] Following thebankruptcy of the Downtown Athletic Club in 2002, the award is now given out by the Heisman Trust.[209]
Georgia Tech's basketball team played in Heisman Gym which was named in his honor when it opened in 1938. Located behind the north stands of Grant Field, the gym was the home of Tech basketball until 1956, when the team moved into Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The facility also had a pool, which was used by the Tech swim team, and an Auditorium. After the basketball team left, the gym was used for swimming until 1977, and as an auditorium until the Ferst Center For The Arts opened in 1992. The gym was demolished in 1995. Heisman Street on Clemson's campus is named in his honor.[210] Heisman Drive, located directly south ofJordan–Hare Stadium on the Auburn University campus, is named in his honor, as well.[211] A bust of him is also in Jordan–Hare Stadium.[212] A wooden statue of Heisman was placed at theRhinelander–Oneida County Airport.[213] A bronze statue of him was placed on Akron's campus,[214] and one is located directly north ofBobby Dodd Stadium on the main campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology.[215] Heisman has also been the subject of amusical.[216]
Heisman'scoaching tree includes:
† While officially independent, Georgia Tech claimed an SIAA title in 1915.
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buchtel(Independent)(1894) | |||||||||
| 1894 | Buchtel | 8–5 | |||||||
| Buchtel: | 8–5 (.615) | ||||||||
| Clemson Tigers(Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association)(1901–1903) | |||||||||
| 1901 | Clemson | 10–2–1 | 3–1–1 | ||||||
| 1902 | Clemson | 9–3 | 1–2 | ||||||
| 1903 | Clemson | 9–1 | 4–0 | ||||||
| Clemson: | 28–6–1 (.814) | 8–3–1 (.708) | |||||||
| Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets(Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association)(1904–1917) | |||||||||
| 1904 | Georgia Tech | 15–7 | 9–6 | ||||||
| 1905 | Georgia Tech | 13–4 | 7–4 | ||||||
| 1906 | Georgia Tech | 23–3 | 16–2 | 1st | |||||
| 1907 | Georgia Tech | 10–5–1 | 10–5–1 | ||||||
| 1908 | Georgia Tech | 9–12 | 7–10 | ||||||
| 1909 | Georgia Tech | 13–8–1 | 7–7–1 | ||||||
| 1910 | Georgia Tech | 11–5–1 | 11–5–1 | ||||||
| 1911 | Georgia Tech | 7–6 | 6–5 | ||||||
| 1912 | Georgia Tech | 8–10 | 8–9 | ||||||
| 1913 | Georgia Tech | 9–8 | 9–7 | ||||||
| 1914 | Georgia Tech | 12–8 | 10–8 | ||||||
| 1915 | Georgia Tech | 7–8–2 | 6–7–2 | ||||||
| 1916 | Georgia Tech | 14–6 | 11–5 | ||||||
| 1917 | Georgia Tech | 12–7 | 6–6 | ||||||
| Georgia Tech: | 163–97–5 (.625)) | 123–86–5 (.586) | |||||||
| Total: | 199–108–7 (.645) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets(Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association)(1908–1909) | |||||||||
| 1908–09 | Georgia Tech | 1–6 | 1–5 | ||||||
| Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets(Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association)(1912–1914) | |||||||||
| 1912–13 | Georgia Tech | 2–6 | 2–6 | ||||||
| 1913–14 | Georgia Tech | 6–2 | 5–2 | ||||||
| Georgia Tech: | 8–8 (.500) | 7–8 (.467) | |||||||
| Total: | 9–14 (.391) | ||||||||
"Strupper Given Many Honors".Columbus Ledger. December 4, 1916.{{cite book}}:|website= ignored (help)
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|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
