- Dutch Meyer
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For the baseball player, see Dutch Meyer (baseball).
Dutch Meyer 
Sport(s) Football, basketball, baseball Biographical details Born January 15, 1898 Place of birth Ellinger, Texas Died December 3, 1982 (aged 84) Place of death Fort Worth, Texas Playing career 1916–17, 1920–21 TCU Position(s) End Coaching career (HC unless noted) Football
1922
1923–1933
1934–1952
Basketball
1934–1937
Baseball
1926–1934
1945
1956–1957
Polytechnic HS (TX)
TCU (assistant)
TCU
TCU
TCU
TCU
TCUHead coaching record Overall 109–79–13 (football)
10–37 (basketball)
111–83–1 (baseball)Bowls 3–4 Statistics College Football Data Warehouse Accomplishments and honors Championships 2 National (1935, 1938)
3 SWC (1938, 1944, 1951)College Football Hall of Fame
Inducted in 1956 (profile)Leo R. "Dutch" Meyer (January 15, 1898 – December 3, 1982) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Texas Christian University from 1934 to 1952, compiling a record of 109–79–13. His TCU Horned Frogs football teams of 1935 and 1938 have been recognized as national champions. Meyer was also the head basketball coach at TCU from 1934 to 1937, tallying a mark of 10–37, and the head baseball coach at TCU (1926–1934, 1945, 1956–1957), amassing a record of 111–83–1. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1956.
Contents
Biography
A native of Ellinger, Texas, Meyer prepped at Waco High School under coach Paul Tyson.[1] He went on to play football, baseball and basketball at TCU, earning 11 varsity letters overall. Upon graduation in 1922 with a degree in geology, Meyer played one summer in the minor leagues for the Cleveland Indians organization. That fall, he coached at Polytechnic High School in Fort Worth, Texas before becoming the freshman coach at TCU in 1923. He was promoted to head coach in 1934.
In 19 years as the Horned Frogs' coach, Meyer amassed a record of 109–79–13, and is to this day the all-time winningest coach in school history. He led TCU to a national championship in 1938, and Southwest Conference championships in 1938, 1944 and 1951.
TCU played in seven bowl games under his tenure, and he coached twelve All-Americans at TCU, including Sammy Baugh, Heisman Trophy winner Davey O'Brien, Darrell Lester and Ki Aldrich.
Meyer helped invent the modern passing game after he saw QB Sammy Baugh playing in a sandlot league and enrolled him at TCU. Because of Baugh's great arm, Coach Meyer created the "Meyer Spread" which is what is now known as the Double-Wing formation. This was a formation where the ends and wingback spread wider than was common for the time.
Sammy Baugh told The Washington Post:
"Dutch Meyer taught us. All the coaches I had in the pros, I didn't learn a damn thing from any of `em compared with what Dutch Meyer taught me. He taught the short pass. The first day we go into a room and he has three S's up on a blackboard; nobody knew what that meant. Then he gives us a little talk and he says, `This is our passing game.' He goes up to the blackboard and he writes three words that complete the S's: `Short, Sure and Safe.' That was his philosophy — the short pass."Everybody loved to throw the long pass. But the point Dutch Meyer made was, `Look at what the short pass can do for you.' You could throw it for seven yards on first down, then run a play or two for a first down, do it all over again and control the ball. That way you could beat a better team."[2]
Meyer's overall coaching style and philosophy is best summed up in a quote still given to TCU athletes before they go out to compete - "Fight 'em until hell freezes over. Then fight 'em on the ice!"[3]
Meyer wrote a book entitled Spread Formations which detailed his ideas about football formations. He retired from coaching in 1952, and became the Athletic Director at TCU until 1963. He also briefly served as the baseball coach at TCU in 1956, winning an SWC Championship. The same year, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in Waco in 1957. In 1961 the university named the recently constructed basketball facility, Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, in honor of Coach Meyer and Milton E. Daniel, a TCU trustee.
Meyer earned a number of nicknames through the years, including "Mr. Football," "The Saturday Fox," "Old Iron Pants" and "Old Dutch," in reference to his nephew, L. D. Meyer, who played for him at TCU and was known at "Little Dutch."
There is currently an up-scale burger joint on University Drive right next to campus called "Dutch's" that is dedicated to the former TCU coach.[4][5]
Head coaching record
Football
Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs Coaches# AP° TCU Horned Frogs (Southwest Conference) (1934–1952) 1934 TCU 8–4 3–3 4th 1935 TCU 12–1 5–1 2nd W Sugar 1936 TCU 9–2–2 4–1–1 2nd W Cotton 16 1937 TCU 4–4–2 3–1–2 2nd 1938 TCU 11–0 6–0 1st W Sugar 1 1939 TCU 3–7 1–5 6th 1940 TCU 3–7 2–4 5th 1941 TCU 7–3–1 4–1–1 T–2nd L Orange 1942 TCU 7–3 4–2 3rd 1943 TCU 2–6 1–4 T–5th 1944 TCU 7–3–1 3–1–1 1st L Cotton 1945 TCU 5–5 3–3 T–3rd 1946 TCU 2–7–1 2–4 T–5th 1947 TCU 4–5–2 2–3–1 4th L Delta 1948 TCU 4–5–1 1–4–1 6th 1949 TCU 6–3–1 3–3 T–3rd 1950 TCU 5–5 3–3 T–3rd 1951 TCU 6–5 5–1 1st L Cotton 10 11 1952 TCU 4–4–2 2–2–2 4th TCU: 109–79–13 57–46–9 Total: 109–79–13 National Championship Conference Title Conference Division Title #Rankings from final Coaches' Poll.
°Rankings from final AP Poll.References
- ^ Ratliff, Harold (1963). Autumn's Mightiest Legions: History of Texas Schoolboy Football. Waco: Texian Press. pp. 41–45.
- ^ The Washington Post. February 2, 1998. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/redskins/longterm/book/pages/9.htm. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
- ^ TCU History at www.tcu.edu
- ^ TCU Magazine
- ^ :: Dutch'S Legendary Hamburgers ::
External links
- Dutch Meyer at the College Football Hall of Fame
- Dutch Meyer at the College Football Data Warehouse
- Dutch Meyer at College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
- Dutch Meyer at the Handbook of Texas
TCU Horned Frogs head baseball coaches Unknown (1896) • Alexander Easley (1897) • Unknown (1898–1906) • Ellis Hardy (1907–1910) • M. A. Baldwin (1911) • Henry W. Lever (1912) • William Nance (1913) • Frederick M. Cahoon (1914) • Fred Moore (1915) • Ewing Y. Freeland (1916) • Unknown (1917–1918) • Fred Cahoon (1919–1920) • William Nance (1921–1925) • Dutch Meyer (1926–1934) • Raymond Wolf (1935–1936) • Howard Grubbs (1937–1939) • Walter Roach (1940–1942) • No team (1943–1944) • Dutch Meyer (1945) • Walter Roach (1946–1955) • Dutch Meyer (1956–1957) • Clyde McDowell (1958–1961) • Frank Windegger (1962–1975) • Roger Williams (1976) • Willie Maxwell (1977–1983) • Bragg Stockton (1984–1986) • Lance Brown (1987–2003) • Jim Schlossnagle (2004– )
TCU Horned Frogs head football coaches No coach (1896) • Joe Field (1897) • James Morrison (1898) • No coach (1899) • No team (1900) • No coach (1901) • H. E. Hildebrand (1902) • No coach (1903) • C. E. Cronk (1904) • E. J. Hyde (1905–1907) • J. R. Langley (1908–1909) • Kemp Lewis (1910) • Henry W. Lever (1911) • W. T. Stewart (1912) • Fred Cahoon (1913) • Stanley A. Boles (1914) • Ewing Y. Freeland (1915) • Milton Daniel (1916–1917) • E. M. Tipton (1918) • T. D. Hackney (1919) • William L. Driver (1920–1921) • John McKnight (1922) • Matty Bell (1923–1928) • Francis Schmidt (1929–1933) • Dutch Meyer (1934–1952) • Abe Martin (1953–1966) • Fred Taylor (1967–1970) • Jim Pittman (1971) • Billy Tohill (1971–1973) • Jim Shofner (1974–1976) • F. A. Dry (1977–1982) • Jim Wacker (1983–1991) • Pat Sullivan (1992–1997) • Dennis Franchione (1998–2000) • Gary Patterson (2000– )
TCU Horned Frogs basketball head coaches J. R. Langley (1908–1909) • Oscar Wise (1909–1910) • No team (1910–1913) • Unknown (1913–1914) • F. M. Cahoon (1914–1915) • Ewing Y. Freeland (1915–1916) • Unknown (1916–1919) • T. D. Hackney (1919–1920) • William L. Driver (1920–1922) • John McKnight (1922–1923) • Matty Bell (1923–1929) • Francis Schmidt (1929–1934) • Dutch Meyer (1934–1937) • Mike Brumbelow (1937–1941) • Herbert McQuillan (1941–1948) • Buster Brannon (1948–1967) • Johnny Swainn (1967–1977) • Tim Somerville (1977–1979) • Jim Killingsworth (1979–1987) • Moe Iba (1987–1994) • Billy Tubbs (1994–2002) • Neil Dougherty (2002–2008) • Jim Christian (2008– )
Categories:- 1898 births
- 1982 deaths
- TCU Horned Frogs baseball coaches
- TCU Horned Frogs football coaches
- TCU Horned Frogs football players
- TCU Horned Frogs basketball coaches
- High school football coaches in the United States
- College Football Hall of Fame inductees
- People from Fayette County, Texas
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