Today is the anniversary of the birthday of John Heisman. Heisman was a great innovator in college football and has the trophy given to each year’s best player named after him. The sportsmanship trophy is not named after him.
In October, 1916, the powerhouse Georgia Tech football team played Cumberland State. Georgia Tech was coached by the legendary John Heisman. Heisman is credited with dividing games into four quarters, the center snap directly to the quarterback, the T and I formations, and athletic dormitories. In 1935, the annual award to the best college football played was named after him. It is not a sportsmanship award. Cumberland had only 16 players and lost three of the best ones when they missed the train on a stop at Nashville. The team had stopped there to try to recruit some Vanderbilt players. The outmanned and outskilled team was down 126-0 (19 touchdowns) at halftime. Incredibly, Heisman gave a halftime speech that included: “Men, we might be in front, but you never know what those Cumberland players have up their sleeves.” He did not call off the dogs in the second half and the score ended up 222-0. Georgia Tech rushed for 528 yards and did not throw a single pass (they were rare back then). Supposedly, by the end of the game, Cumberland players were hiding under the bench rather than go back in the game. Heisman’s unsporting behavior did not go unnoticed. Sportswriters gave him the nickname “Ole Shut the Gates of Mercy”, but time and a trophy have scrubbed his reputation. Ayres p. 184-
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