Bruce Carman Shorts (January 15, 1878 – March 29, 1945) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He played as a tackle at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1900 to 1901. Shorts served as the head football coach at the Nevada State University—now known as the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...

—in 1904 and at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

in 1905.

Biography

Athlete

Shorts attended high school at

Mount Pleasant, Michigan Mount Pleasant is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in Central Michigan, the city is the county seat of Isabella County, Michigan, Isabella County. The population was 21,688 as of the 2020 United States census. It is surrounded by Unio ...

before enrolling at the

. Shorts played for

Fielding H. Yost Fielding Harris Yost (; April 30, 1871 – August 20, 1946) was an American football player, coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at: Ohio Wesleyan University, the University of Nebraska, the University ...

's first Michigan Wolverines football team. The 1901 team compiled a record of 11–0 and outscored its opponents 550–0. He was regarded as one of the best tackles in the Western Conference. He was six feet one inch tall and weighed close to 190 pounds while playing at Michigan. He played in 1901 despite being sick. Coach Yost later recalled Shorts' efforts in playing through sickness as follows:

Well do I remember how dangerously near Bruce Shorts, star right tackle, came to being lost to the 1901 Michigan football team. He was very sick all season with an attack of appendicitis. His enforced withdrawal from the team would have greatly weakened it. In an evenly matched game one can visualize what his absence from the lineup would have meant. Shorts played through the season, but this nearly cost him his life, for he was a short time later so sick that it was reported he had died. However, he pulled through.

Prior to the

1902 Rose Bowl Originally titled the "Tournament East–West football game," what is now known as the Rose Bowl Game was first played on January 1, 1902, at Tournament Park in Pasadena, California, starting the tradition of New Year's Day bowl games. The inaugu ...

, the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' wrote a profile about the stars of the Michigan football team. About Shorts, the ''Times'' wrote: "Bruce Shorts, who is the newly chosen team captain of 1902 is 6 feet in height and weighs 190 pounds. For his two years he has played right tackle and his weight makes him one of the strongest men on the team. He is the best ground gainer of the line men." In addition to football, Shorts also competed in the "weight" events for the Michigan track and field team. He won the Western intercollegiate championship in the

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...

and was "also recognized as a very good shot-putter."

Coach and lawyer

Shorts graduated from the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a Public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of C ...

. After practicing law for several months, Shorts was hired in September 1904 as the head football coach at the

. He replaced another former Michigan football player, Allen Steckle, as Nevada's coach. A Reno newspaper reported on Shorts' hiring as follows:

Bruce Shorts, captain of the famous Michigan football team of 1901, arrived in Reno yesterday to enter upon his duties as coach of the University of Nevada team. Mr. Shorts is undoubtedly one of the best posted as well as one of the best football players in the country. ... He is looked upon as the best coach west of the Mississippi River, and his work this year will undoubtedly result in maintaining, if not surpassing, the record made by Coach Steckle last year.

The Nevada Sagebrush compiled a 3–3 record in Shorts' one year as head coach. In 1905, Shorts was hired by the

.McCann, Michael C. (1995). Oregon Ducks Football: 100 Years of Glory. Eugene, OR: McCann Communications Corp. The ''

Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the declin ...

'' reported on Shorts' hiring at Oregon as follows: "This year the Oregonians are coached by Bruce Shorts, the great Michigan captain of 1902. Shorts coached Nevada last season and has a record for turning out fast players. Fred Staiwer is manager of the Oregon eleven." Shorts later became a successful corporate lawyer in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shorts, Bruce 1878 births 1945 deaths American football tackles Canadian players of American football Lawyers from Seattle Michigan Wolverines football players Nevada Wolf Pack football coaches Oregon Ducks football coaches People from Mount Pleasant, Michigan Coaches of American football from Michigan Players of American football from Michigan Coaches of American football from Washington (state) Players of American football from Seattle Sportspeople from Belleville, Ontario University of Michigan Law School alumni Washington (state) lawyers