October 23, 1869

John Heisman, a legendary college football coach and innovator for whom the annual award for the sport’s best player is named, was born in Cleveland, Ohio. A multi-sport star in college, he decided to pursue a career as a coach after earning a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. As a coach at Oberlin College, Buchtel, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama (now Auburn), Clemson, Georgia Tech (where he won a national championship), Pennsylvania, Washington and Jefferson and Rice, his overall record was 185-70-18. He introduced numerous innovations, including the hidden-ball play, the handoff, double lateral, flea-flicker and the center-to-quarterback direct snap. He also helped popularize the forward pass. After retirement, Heisman became director of athletics at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York, which named the annual award for best college football player in his honor after he died in 1936.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

John Heisman (1869-1936) was an early innovator of American football who coached the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama (now Auburn University) team from 1895-99. The Heisman Trophy, given to college football’s most outstanding player, is named in his honor. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Auburn University Libraries)

John Heisman, far right, and the team in 1896 during his second year as head coach of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama (now Auburn University) football program. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Auburn University Libraries)

John Heisman posing for a photograph while at Penn, 1891. (Oberlin College Archives, Wikipedia)

Georgia Tech coach John Heisman, c. 1918. (Georgia Tech Archives, Wikipedia)

This is a cropped view of a photograph taken at the football game between Auburn University and the University of Georgia on Nov. 28, 1895 at Piedmont Park in Atlanta. (Fred L. Howe, Atlanta History Center, Wikipedia)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.