Football History Rewind 36

We regress back a few years to talk more about Pop Warner and his star player at Carlisle Jim Thorpe; then fast forward to how Warner used what he learned at Carlisle to coach Pitt to greatness. 

Glen “Pop” Warner was indeed an innovator in the game of football, and a one man that stretched the rules to their limits. Our last edition of Football History Rewind left on in the 1907 season and the dawn of a superstar, Jim Thorpe, under Warner’s system.

Warner’s genius continues

The Native American Indians that Warner coached at Carlisle loved surprises and out of the ordinary plays. The endearment of these types of plays and methods made the Carlisle team practice them harder and longer to get them right. Pop would not disappoint his young lads of the grid iron either as he continually came up with very innovative ideas that were usually very effective.

One such item of Warner’s creative mind was the “Wing back “ offensive alignment. The wing back is a formation where one of the backs moves up into a position before the snap so as tho flank the defensive tackle, which practically gives the offense an eight man line. Yes Pop originated this idea a century ago and the concept is used by almost every team playing today.

Another brilliant and very effective tool introduced by Pop was the “body block”. Up til the early 1900's all blocking was done by the use of one’s shoulders. Warner took blocking to a whole new level when his Carlisle team rolled out what was then called the “Indian Block” due to the fact that they were the only team using the method. This blocking technique had the Carlisle players diving at an opponent as they left the ground entirely in an almost prone position in the air. The blocker would twist while air born so as to catch a defender right above the knees and then rolling so as to use his entire body length as an obstacle to the progression of the defensive player.

The great Thorpe

Many have deemed the title of “greatest player ever” to Jim Thorpe. Thorpe was but a substitute in 1907. He had flashes of brilliance in spot duty behind some older more experienced players but never made it that season as a regular starter. When Jim returned to Carlisle in 1908 he won a spot with regular eleven. Warner claimed that Thorpe was never really all that special during practice but once he had the uniform on and the plays really counted Big Jim became a man amongst boys.

Thorpe weighed 178 pounds and was exceptionally well built athletically. He was fast, elusive and very strong. He was also a very well rounded athlete as he had great success in track and field, specializing in hurdling and jumping, Jim was so good that he represented the United States in the 1912 Olympic Games held in Stockholm where he excelled in a variety of events. Thorpe also loved to play baseball. As a sad commentary his love for baseball cost him all of his Olympic medals due to the fact that he played for a baseball team in North Carolina during the summer of 1909 who paid him for playing. This fact was uncovered in 1913 and the scandalous affair of a professional athlete participating in the “amateur only” Olympics disqualified all of his great victories and Jim had to sadly surrender his medals to those who finished second to him. Warner described to a reporter in later years that the Native American super star did not understand the concepts of professional versus amateur athletes. He was asked to play a game he loved and the men that asked him gave the poor Indian some spending money. Thorpe went on to play baseball professionally with disappointing results but did return to play football in the pro ranks where he was a great attraction and is a legend of the game.

Warner moves on

The focus on Pop Warner started a few editions back in this series where we broke in with this great man’s story during a discussion on the 1916 season. This year is important for the fact that Warner left Carlisle and went on to coach at Pitt. As stated earlier Pop many times told people that his 1916 Panther squad was the best he ever coached. Pittsburgh went on to win all of their games and was deemed the National Champions that season but it wasn’t just because they had great athletes playing on the field. A lot of it was that these great athletes were playing under Warner’s system.

Pitt overpowered the opposition with an unbalanced line attack and with a single wing offense.
The single wing formation was the invention of Warner when he was at Carlisle in 1912 but he molded it into a legendary formation at Pitt. The major characteristic of the single wing is that it is a formation that does not start with a direct snap to a man under center. If you think about it the shot gun formation, used today, is technically a single wing offense though it not commonly called this anymore. None the less Pop Warner developed and introduced the offensive line up that has evolved into the shot gun formation of today’s era. 

In 1916 Warner took his single wing and evolved it into the double wing formation where a back would line up on the outside shoulder of the offensive end in an unbalanced formation. The Quarterback meanwhile would line up behind the strong side tackle, leaving only the fullback in the rear center of the formation. The great success of the formation was the spreading of the defense by the formation and the deception from fake hand offs, reverses and counters that Warner through into the mix. The true genius of this system was the passing game especially when Warner had both a quarterback and a fullback who could throw the ball well.

That is all we have room for in this issue, but please look back soon as the story of football will continue.

The banner photo is a picture of Jim Thorpe tackling dummy that is made of weights and pulley on wire, with Coach Glenn Pop Warner. 1912, taken by an unknown.

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: On This Day Sports, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com