Today's Tidbit... 100 Years of Football: 1940-1946

This is the thirteenth in a series looking back at “100 Years of Football,” syndicated cartoons published by Jerry Brondfield and Charles Beck in 1969. Today's version covers the period from 1940-1946.

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We featured a picture of Tom Harmon a few days ago in the story about tearaway jerseys, but he found plenty of other ways to keep out of defenders’ grasps. Another triple threat who was bigger than the average Wolverine, Harmon would have starred in any era.

(Brondfield & Beck, '100 Years Of Football,' Courier-News (Bridgewater, NJ), December 9, 1969.)

After some success coaching at Tulane, Clark Shaughnessy took over at Chicago following Stagg’s retirement. The school was already deemphasizing sports, but Shaughnessy’s teams performed better than expected thanks to Jay Berwanger, the first Heisman winner. His adaptation of the T formation placed the QB at the center of the offense and was the most important offensive innovation in the game’s history, not resulting from a rule change. The second most important came the next year, with Don Faurot’s option play out of the Split T.