Eck Curtis (August 8, 1902 – June 28, 1978) 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 ...

coach. After a 20-year coaching career he became an assistant at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, and is credited for introducing the

T formation In American football, a T formation (frequently called the full house formation in modern usage, sometimes the Robust T) is a formation used by the offensive team in which three running backs line up in a row about five yards behind the quarterba ...

to Longhorns football.The "T" Comes To Texas
/ref> Curtis prepped at Vernon High School and went on to attend

Abilene Christian University Abilene Christian University (ACU) is a Private university, private Churches of Christ, Christian university in Abilene, Texas. It was founded in 1906 as ''Childers Classical Institute''. ACU is one of the largest private universities in the Sout ...

, where he played quarterback for coach

Victor Payne Victor Duane Payne Jr. (July 3, 1899 – October 26, 1981) was an American college basketball and college football coach. He was the head football coach at Abilene Christian College and Simmons University. Payne was also the basketball head coach ...

. In 1925 he got his first head coaching job at Anson High School, where he remained for three seasons. He then spent six seasons at

Ranger High School Ranger High School is a public high school located in Ranger, Texas, United States and classified as a 1A school by the UIL. It is part of the Ranger Independent School District located in eastern Eastland County. In 2011, the school was rated " ...

and single season at

Electra High School Electra High School is a public high school in Electra, Texas. It is part of the Electra Independent School District located in western Wichita County. In 2013, Electra High School was rated " Improvement Required" by the Texas Education Agency. ...

, before he became head coach at

Breckenridge High School Breckenridge High School is a public high school located in the city of Breckenridge, Texas and classified as a 3A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Breckenridge Independent School District located in Stephens County. In 2013, the sch ...

, which had been a powerhouse in

West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio. No consensus exists on the boundary betwee ...

under P. E. Shotwell. Curtis' 1942 Breckenridge squad made the state semifinals. His overall record with the Buckaroos was 83–22–6. In 1945, Curtis succeeded Rusty Russell as head coach at Highland Park High School in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

. He guided the Scots to a 12–0–2 record and the state co-championship with

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

. The 7–7 tie in the finals attracted a then record high school crowd of 45,790 into the Cotton Bowl. After the season, Curtis was hired by Texas assistant Blair Cherry to coach the freshmen varsity. There he introduced the T formation to Texas Longhorn football, which was later adopted when Cherry took over as Longhorns head coach. Cherry assigned Curtis to be his offensive backfield coach, a position in which Curtis remained until 1954. In 1985, Curtis was inducted to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.Texas Sports Hall of Fame
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis, Eck 1902 births 1978 deaths American football quarterbacks Abilene Christian Wildcats football players Texas Longhorns football coaches High school football coaches in Texas Players of American football from Texas