Amos Alonzo Stagg pioneered and championed many concepts still used in football. It is interesting to read what the contemporary journalists of 1926 thought of the Grand Old Man of Football, so when I came across the article below in the October 25 Tacoma Daily Ledger, on a syndicated national feed, I felt it was worth reading and sharing.
Stagg Grand Old Man 1926 Oct 25, 1926 The Tacoma Daily Ledger (Tacoma, Washington) Newspapers.com
The October 25, 1926 article outlines the extensive athletic and coaching achievements of Amos Alonzo Stagg. His primary accomplishments include:
- Athletic Excellence at Yale: Stagg was a celebrated standout in football, baseball, and track at Yale University. He led the Yale baseball team in 1888 and repeatedly rejected offers to play in the major leagues because he opposed the atmosphere of professional baseball. In football, he was named an All-American end on Walter Campโs very first All-America team in 1889.
- Unprecedented Coaching Tenure: Recognized as the “Grand Old Man of Western Football” and the dean of college coaches, Stagg holds the record for the longest continuous coaching tenure at a single institution. He began coaching at the University of Chicago when the school was founded in 1892.
- Tactical Innovations: Stagg is credited with bringing the highly successful 1883 Yale “steamroller” system to the Midwest, a system that once scored nearly 700 points in a single season. He was also recognized as one of the earliest adopters of the forward pass, effectively opening up offensive strategies against traditional defenses.
