Homer Woodson Hargiss

College coach infobox
Name = H. W. "Bill" Hargiss


Caption =
DateOfBirth = September 1, 1887
Birthplace = Cherokee County, Kansas
DateOfDeath = October 15, 1978 [ [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rayholt/RobertsFamily/p27.htm Ancestry.com] , Homer Woodson Hargiss]
Deathplace =
Sport = Football
Track and Field
College =
Title =
OverallRecord = 102-53-16 (football) [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Football%20record/Overall%20football%20record.htm Overall football coaching record for H. W. "Bill" Hargiss ] ]
Awards =
Player = trigger
Years = 1905-1909
Team = Emporia State
Position = fullback [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/1905%20College/For%20the%20sport%20of%20it/For%20the%20Sport%20of%20It.htm Hargiss playing football at KSN ] ]
Championships =
CFbDWID = 974
CoachYears = 1910-1912
1913
1914-1917
1918-1919
1918-1920
1920-1927
1928-1932
CoachTeams = College of Emporia (football)
Kansas (asst)
Emporia State (football) Oregon State (football) Oregon State (basketball) Emporia State (football) Kansas(football)
FootballHOF =
CollegeHOFID =

Homer Woodson "Bill" Hargiss (September 1, 1887–October 15, 1978) was a college football, basketball, and track coach. He was an early innovator in football and was known to be one of the first coaches to use the forward pass and the huddle.

Achievements as an athlete

Hargiss participated in sports at "Kansas Normal College", now Emporia State University. He was a standout at the college in football, baseball, basketball, gymnastics, boxing, and track & field. Emporia State honored him in 1982 by inducting him into their "Athletic Hall of Honor" -- the first year the honor was available [ [http://www.emporia.edu/a/athletics/hallofhonornames.htm Emporia State University Athletic Hall of Honor] ] , as a distinguished alumni in 1970 [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Distinguished%20Alumnus/ESU%20distinguished%20alumnus.htm Bill Hargiss selected Emporia State University Distinguished Alumnus, 1970 ] ] , and for the all-Centennial Team in 1997 [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/ESU%20Centennial%20team/Centennial%20team.htm Bill Hargiss selected to the Emporia State University Centennial Team, 1997 ] ] . Hargiss would later return to the college as a coach.

Coaching years

College of Emporia

Hargiss's first coaching job came as the head coach of the College of Emporia (C of E) in Emporia, Kansas. The school had a well-developed rivalry with Kansas State Normal School, where Hargiss played quarterback the previous year, and would later coach. [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/1910%20C%20of%20E/C%20of%20E%201910.htm Hargiss and football at the College of Emporia] ]

At C of E, Hargiss developed plays using talented quarterback Arthur Schabinger that most had never seen before--namely: the forward pass and the option pass.

Forward Pass

In the team's 1910 game at Washburn University, Arthur Schabinger has been credited by some to have thrown the first legal forward pass in college football history. [ [https://www.kshof.org/hof-profiles.cfm?record_id=38 Kansas Sports Hall of Fame] Arthur Schabinger] While this claim is disputed by other colleges, College of Emporia most certainly was one of the first innovators of the play particularly to throw "overhand" forward passes instead of the more common "underhand" passes. [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Forward%20Pass/First%20use%20forward%20pass.htm Homer Hargiss History] Definitive use of forward pass] The school was using the forward pass as a regular play three years before Knute Rockne and Notre Dame Football. [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Forward%20Pass/547/Emporia%20Gazette.htm Emporia Gazette] , "The Emporia Gazette Give Credit to C. of E." by E. T. Lowther]

For the second to last game in 1910, Schabringer scored seven touchdowns in a 107-0 win over Pittsburg Normal. The forward pass played a major role in the game as well. [ [http://www.emporiagazette.com/ Emporia Gazette] , "First Hargiss Team Set Scoring Mark" by Ed Shupe, January 23, 1974]

Option Pass

Hargiss also ran the option pass play (possibly the first of all time) at the College of Emporia in 1910. The "option pass" play was a sweep to the end with halfbacks that would either pass or run depending on how the defensive play would develop. [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Forward%20Pass/First%20use%20forward%20pass.htm Oberheide.org] Hargiss's Option Play]

Oregon State University

Hargiss was the head football, basketball, and track coach at Oregon State University from 1918 to 1919 [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/1918%20OAC/Barometer/30Sep1918/30Sept1918_Hargiss%20new%20football%20coach.htm New football coach for OAC ] ] . During his tenure there, he compiled a 6-8-1 record. [cite web | url = http://www.osubeavers.com/pdf4/39515.pdf?ATCLID=153842&SPSID=27968&SPID=1952&DB_OEM_ID=4700| title = 2006 Football Media Guide - Year-By-Year Results| publisher = Oregon State University| accessdate = 2006-11-14| format = PDF| language = English] From 1918–1920 he also coached the Oregon State Beavers basketball team. [cite web| url = http://osubeavers.nmnathletics.com//pdf5/21240.pdf?SPSID=27770&SPID=1954&DB_OEM_ID=4700 |title = 2005-06 Men's Basketball Media Guide - OSU Team History
publisher = Oregon State University| accessdate = 2006-11-14| format = PDF| pages = 18| language = English]

Emporia State University

Hargiss was the ninth and twelfth head football coach for Emporia State University (called Kansas Normal School at the time) in Emporia, Kansas and he held that position for twelve seasons, from 1914 until 1917 and then returning from 1920 until 1927. His overall coaching record at ESU was 61 wins, 23 losses, and 11 ties. This ranks him third at ESU in terms of total wins and first at ESU in terms of winning percentage. [http://www.emporia.edu/athletics/football/07ESUFBmediaguide.pdf#87]

While at Kansas Normal, Hargiss coached the 1926 team to an undefeated season and outscored their opponents 144 to 3. The closest game of the season was a 6-0 battle against Hargiss's former team, the College of Emporia. [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Undefeated%201926%20season/Undefeated%201926%20season.htm Oberheide.org, ESU 1926 season] ]

University of Kansas

From 1928 to 1932 he served as the head football coach at University of Kansas. His record there was 18-16. Overall, he is one of only a handful of football coaches who ended their career with a .500 record going 24-24-3.

Football Developments

Use of the huddle

Oregon State was one of the very first schools nationally to use the huddle formation in a game. It happened against the University of Washington in Seattle in 1918. Beaver Head Coach "Bill" Hargiss instructed the starters that once they returned to the field, they were to stand 10 yards behind the ball before the beginning of each play and whisper to one another what they were going to do next. [http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/CFHSN/CFHSNv11/CFHSNv11n2c.pdf#2]

An eyewitness to the game was veteran Seattle sports columnist Royal Brougham, whose stories of the contest give testimony today to OSU's early use of this pioneering new formation. [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Huddle/First%20use%20huddle.htm Offensive huddle ] ]

Forward Pass

While coaching at the College of Emporia, Hargiss would regularly use the forward pass and records show that it was used as early as 1910, three years before Knute Rockne began to regularly call the play. [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Forward%20Pass/547/Emporia%20Gazette.htm Emporia Gazzette, 1910 Forward Pass] ] [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Forward%20Pass/First%20use%20forward%20pass.htm Definitive use of forward pass and the option pass in 1910 by Bill Hargiss ] ]

Honors & legacy

*Charter Inductee Kansas Sports Hall of Fame 1961. [http://www.kshof.org/hof-profiles.cfm?record_id=19 Kansas Sports Hall of Fame ] ]
*Inducted into the NAIA Track and Field Hall of Fame. [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/NAIA%20Hall%20of%20Fame/NAIA%20Track%20HOF.htm NAIA Hall Fame ] ]
*One of first coaches to use forward pass, unbalanced line, and huddle. [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/index.htm Home page for H. W. " Bill" Hargiss ] ]
*Head football and track and field coach at KU for 5 and 10 years respectively. Football conference champions in 1930. [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/1928%20KU/KU%201928.htm Bill Hargiss at KU 1928 ] ]
*Coached five world record holders in track: John Kuck [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Hargiss'%20athletes/Kuck/Kuck%20letter.htm John Kuck ] ] , Glenn Cunningham [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Hargiss'%20athletes/Cunningham/Glenn%20Cunningham.htm Glenn Cunningham ] ] , Jim Bausch [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Hargiss'%20athletes/Bausch/Jim%20Bausch.htm Jim Bausch ] ] , Clyde Coffman [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Hargiss'%20athletes/Coffman/Coffman%20letter.htm Clyde Coffman ] ] and Peter Mehringer.
*His 1926 football team at Emporia State University was undefeated and allowed only 3 points. [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Undefeated%201926%20season/Undefeated%201926%20season.htm 1926 ESU football ] ]
*Earned 16 college athletic letters at Kansas State Normal (Emporia State) participating in football, basketball, track and field, baseball, gymnastics and boxing and was named captain five times. [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/1905%20College/College%20man.htm College 1905 ] ]
*He was a three-sport standout at Beulah High School. [ [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/1887%20Youth/His%20youth.htm Bill Hargiss' youth, 1887 ] ]
*Was collegiate track coach of Senator Bob Dole [ [http://www.kuconnection.org/archive/2003/08/news_3.asp Recovered letters describe Dole's life at KU and in WWII ] ]
*Was one of the first coaches to gather within hours after the reported death of coaching great Knute Rockne [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_20010328/ai_n11761689 Crash of Notre Dame legend left its mark in Kansas | Topeka Capital-Journal, The | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ]

Personal life

Hargiss graduated from Kansas Normal School in Emporia, Kansas. His brother, Floyd Daniel Hargiss was a football coach at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas. [ [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rayholt/RobertsFamily/p27.htm Ancestry.com] Floyd Daniel Hargiss]

References

External links

* [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/ Coach Hargiss Biography]
* [http://www.c-of-e.org/ College of Emporia Alumni Association website]