Stagg, Amos Alonzo

Stagg, Amos Alonzo,

1862–1965, American football coach, b. West Orange, N.J., grad. Yale, 1888. He played end on the Yale football team and began his career as a coach (1889–91) at Springfield (Mass.) College. In 1892 he became athletic director at the Univ. of Chicago, coaching football there until 1933. In these 41 years he five times (1899, 1905, 1908, 1913, and 1924) coached undefeated teams. An authority on football, Stagg served (1904–32) on the football rules committee. Because of his age, he was compelled to resign his post at the Univ. of Chicago, but the "grand old man of football" later coached (1933–46) at the College of the Pacific and was (1947–52) assistant coach to his son at Susquehanna Univ. He collaborated in writing several books on football and is credited with the invention of numerous innovations in football play.

Stagg, Amos Alonzo

(1862–1965) football coach; born in West Orange, N.J. An end for Yale, he was named to the first All-America team in 1889 and began his 72-year coaching career the next year. In 1892 he became coach at the University of Chicago, remaining until 1932 when he reached the school's mandatory retirement age of 70. During his tenure there, he produced four undefeated teams and won seven Western Conference titles. From 1933 to 1946, he coached at College of Pacific, winning Coach of the Year honors in 1943 at age 81 when his team won seven games against major competition. After retiring as a head coach, he continued as an assistant until he was 98. Always a spokesman for fair, clean sport, he was nicknamed "Mr. Integrity." He was also a remarkably innovative football coach, inventing dozens of plays, tactics, and strategies that became standard for other coaches.