John William Heisman ( ; October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a player and coach of American football, baseball, and basketball, as well as a sportswriter and actor. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College, Buchtel College (now known as the University of Akron), Auburn University, Clemson University, Georgia Tech, the University of Pennsylvania, Washington & Jefferson College, and Rice University, compiling a career college 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 career college baseball record of 199–108–7. He served as the athletic director at Georgia Tech and Rice. While at Georgia Tech, he was also the president of the Atlanta Crackers baseball team.
Sportswriter Fuzzy Woodruff dubbed Heisman the "pioneer of Southern football". He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1954. His entry there notes that Heisman "stands only behind Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pop Warner, and Walter Camp as a master innovator of the brand of football of his day". He was instrumental in several changes to the game, including legalizing the forward pass. The Heisman Trophy, awarded annually to the season's most outstanding college football player, is named after him.
Early life and playing career
John Heisman was born Johann Wilhelm Heisman on October 23, 1869, in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Bavarian German immigrant Johann Michael Heissmann and Sara Lehr Heissman. He grew up in northwestern Pennsylvania near Titusville and was salutatorian of his graduating class at Titusville High School. His oration at his graduation entitled "The Dramatist as Sermonizer" was described as "full of dramatic emphasis and fire, and showed how the masterpieces of Shakespeare depicted the ends of unchecked passion."
Although he was a drama student, he confessed he was "football mad". He played varsity football for Titusville High School from 1884 to 1886. Heisman's father refused to watch him play at Titusville, calling football "bestial". Heisman went on to play football as a lineman at Brown University and at the University of Pennsylvania. He also played baseball at Penn.
On Brown's football team, he was a substitute guard in 1887, and a starting tackle in 1888. At Penn, he was a substitute center in 1889, a substitute center and tackle in 1890, and a starting end in 1891. Sportswriter Edwin Pope tells us Heisman was "a 158-pound center ... in constant dread that his immediate teammatesguards weighing 212 and 243would fall on him." He had a flat nose due to being struck in the face by a football, when he tried to block a kick against Penn State by leap-frogging the center.
Heisman graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1892. Due to poor eyesight, he took his exams orally.
Coaching career
In his book Principles 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 a czar." Heisman always used a megaphone at practice. "Heisman's voice was deep, his diction perfect, his tone biting." He was also known for his use of polysyllabic language, and would repeat this annually, at the start of each football season:
Early coaching career: Oberlin and Buchtel
Heisman first coached at Oberlin College. In 1892, The Oberlin Review wrote: "Mr. Heisman has entirely remade our football. He has taught us scientific football." He used the double pass, from tackle to halfback, and moved his quarterback to the safety position on defense. Influenced by Yale and Pudge Heffelfinger, Heisman implemented the now illegal "flying wedge" formation. It involved seven players arranged as a "V" to protect the ball carrier. Heisman was also likely influenced by Heffelfinger to pull guards on end runs.