Henry L. Williams
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Dr. Henry Lane Williams (July 26, 1869–June 14, 1931) was an early college football coach. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut.
[edit] Coaching Career
Williams served as head coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team from 1900 to 1921. The Gophers were Big Ten Champions in 1909 and Co-Big Ten Champions in 1900, 1903, 1904, 1906 and 1915 under Williams. He had a 136-33-11 record at Minnesota, which is still the highest winning percentage (.736) of any Gopher football coach to date, with the exception of Wallie Winter who went 6-0 in his only seaon 1893. In 1903, the Gophers went 14-0-1. The lone tie came against Fielding Yost's Michigan Wolverines football team. The Wolverines left behind their water jug, which has become known as the Little Brown Jug, one of the oldest and most famous college football trophies. Williams Arena, the Gopher basketball building, is named after Dr. Williams.
Dr. Williams was also a football coach for the Army Black Knights football team at West Point. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame with the inaugural class in 1951.
Henry Williams first brought big time winning sports to Minnesota. Pudge Heffelfinger was sent to Yale, they sent Williams in return. He coached great Minnesota products like Gil Dobie (legendary Washington/Navy/Cornell/Boston College football coach), Clark Shaughnessy & Bernie Bierman, who both helped turn the Tulane Green Wave football team into an elite national elite power, and Shaughnessy helped transform the way football is played even to this day. The 1941 National Title Trophy was named after him. It was formerly the Knute Rockne Memorial Award, and they retired that one, since the Gophers won it 3 times, and started a new one called the Henry L. Williams Trophy.
He was the first to propose the forward pass be legalized, and along with Pudge Heffelfinger (at the time an assistant on his staff), invented the 4 man defensive backfield, and the Minnesota Shift, known and used nationwide by that name. Source
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