John Heisman

John W. Heisman (October 25, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a prominent American football player and subsequent college football coach in the early era of the sport.

Related Topics:
October 25 - 1869 - October 3 - 1936 - American football - Player - College football - Coach

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He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and played football at Brown University 1887-1889 and at the University of Pennsylvania 1890-1891. He coached at Oberlin College in 1893, went to the University of Akron in 1894, and returned to Oberlin the next year. In 1895, he went to Auburn University, where he stayed for five years. With all these schools combined, he lost only five games.

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Cleveland, Ohio - Brown University - University of Pennsylvania - Oberlin College - 1893 - University of Akron - 1894 - 1895 - Auburn University

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In 1900, he went to Clemson University, where he coached for four seasons before moving to Georgia Tech. He put together a spectacular 16 seasons there, including three undefeated seasons and a 32-game undefeated streak. He was coaching the Georgia Tech Engineers when they defeated the Cumberland University Bulldogs 222-0 in a game played in Atlanta in 1916, in the most one-sided college football game ever played, during which the Engineers scored with every possession of the ball. Heisman's running up the score against a totally outmanned opponent was to prove a point that many would still consider valid, namely that the voters in media polls purporting to rank college football teams pay far too much opinion to the margin of victory at the expense of other factors, including the quality of opponents played, and that a truly superior team can schedule opponents so weak that it can essentially score as many points as it desires, rendering margin of victory useless as a measure of relative strength compared to other good teams.

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1900 - Clemson University - Georgia Tech - Cumberland University - Atlanta

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He went back to Pennsyvania for one season in 1920, then to Washington and Jefferson College, before ending his career with four seasons at Rice University.

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1920 - Washington and Jefferson College - Rice University

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He was an innovator and developed one of the first shifts, had both guards pull to lead an end run, and had his center toss the ball back, instead of rolling or kicking it. He was a proponent of the legalization of the forward pass.

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Heisman subsequently became the athletics director of the former Downtown Athletic Club in Manhattan, New York, and in 1936 the club began awarding annually in his honor what is now almost universally referred to as the Heisman Trophy, given to the player voted as the season's best collegiate player. Voters for this award consist primarily of media representatives, who are allocated by regions across the country in order to filter out possible regional bias, and former receipients. Following the bankruptcy of the Downtown Athletic Club in 2002, the award is now given out by the Yale Club.

Related Topics:
Downtown Athletic Club - Manhattan - New York - 1936 - Heisman Trophy - Bankruptcy - 2002 - Yale Club

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