Homer Woodson "Bill" Hargiss (September 1, 1887 – October 15, 1978) was an American athlete and coach. He played

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 ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and also competed in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

events. Additionally, Hargis coached athletics in

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

and

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. As an American football coach during the sport's early years, Hargis was an innovator. He was among few coaches in using the

forward pass In several forms of football, a forward pass is the throwing of the ball in the direction in which the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line. The forward pass is one of the main distinguishers between gridiron ...

and the

huddle In sport, a huddle is the action of a team gathering together, usually in a tight circle, to strategize, motivate or celebrate. It is a popular strategy for keeping opponents insulated from sensitive information, and acts as a form of insulation ...

, now staple features of the game.

Playing career

Hargiss participated in sports at Kansas Normal College, now

Emporia State University Emporia State University (Emporia State or ESU) is a public university in Emporia, Kansas, United States. Established in March 1863 as the Kansas State Normal School, Emporia State is the third-oldest public university in the state of Kansas. Em ...

. He was a standout at the college in football, baseball, basketball, gymnastics, boxing, and track and field. Emporia State honored him in 1982 by inducting him into their "Athletic Hall of Honor"—the first year the honor was available, as a distinguished alumni in 1970, and for the all-Centennial Team in 1997.

Coaching career

College of Emporia

Hargiss' first coaching job came as the head coach of the

College of Emporia The College of Emporia was a private college in Emporia, Kansas from 1882 to 1974, and was associated with the Presbyterian church. When founded, it was one of two higher education institutions in the city of Emporia, the other at that time was t ...

(C of E) in

Emporia, Kansas Emporia is a city in and the county seat of Lyon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 24,139. Emporia lies between Topeka and Wichita at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 with Interstates 335 ...

. The school had a well-developed rivalry with Kansas State Normal School, where Hargiss played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

the previous year, and would later coach. At C of E, Hargiss developed plays using talented quarterback

Arthur Schabinger Arthur August Schabinger (August 6, 1889 – October 13, 1972) was an American football and basketball coach and college athletics administrator. Schabinger is credited (although disputed) with throwing the first forward pass in college football h ...

that most had never seen before, namely the forward pass and the option pass.

Forward pass

In the team's 1910 game at

Washburn Washburn (alternatively Wasseburne, Wasseborne, Wasshebourne, Wassheborne, Washbourne, Washburne, Washborne, Washborn, Wasborn, Washbon) is a toponymic surname, probably of Old English origin, with likely Anglo-Norman and Norman-French influen ...

, Arthur Schabinger has been credited by some to have thrown the first legal forward pass in college football history. While this claim is widely disputed by other colleges (there are multiple claims dating back to 1906), 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. The school was using the forward pass as a regular play three years before

Knute Rockne Knut (Norwegian and Swedish), Knud (Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used whi ...

and Notre Dame. 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.

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.

Oregon State

Hargiss was the head football, basketball, and track coach at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

from 1918 to 1919. During his tenure there, he compiled a 6–8–1 record. From 1918–1920 he also coached the

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for c ...

basketball team.

Emporia State

Hargiss was the ninth and twelfth head football coach for Emporia State University (called Kansas Normal School at the time) in

and he held that position for twelve seasons, from 1914 until 1917 and then returning from 1920 until 1927. His overall coaching record at Emporia State was 61–23–11. This ranks him third at Emporia State in terms of total wins and first at Emporia State in terms of winning percentage. In the 1920 game against

Washburn University Washburn University (WU) is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,100 u ...

under coach Dwight Ream, Emporia State fullback Jack Reeves sustained a neck injury that resulted in his death. The 1922 season also saw the loss of player Don Davis (it is not known if Davis died from play or natural causes). 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.

Kansas

From 1928 to 1932, Hargiss served as the head football coach at

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

, compiling a record of 18–16–2. He was fired as football coach on October 10, 1932, two days after the Jawhawks lost at home to

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, 21–6. Hargiss was succeeded by assistant coach

Adrian Lindsey Adrian Hobart "Ad" Lindsey (August 15, 1895 – October 2, 1980) was an American football player and coach of football and baseball. He served as the head football coach at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas from 1922 to 1926, at the Universit ...

Football developments

Use of the huddle

Oregon State was one of the first schools nationally to use the

formation in a game. It happened against the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

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 ...

in 1918. 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. 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.

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

began to regularly call the play.

Honors and legacy

* Charter Inductee

Kansas Sports Hall of Fame The Kansas Sports Hall of Fame is a museum located in Wichita, dedicated to preserving the history of sports in the state of Kansas. The museum provides exhibits, archives, facilities, services, and activities to honor those individuals and te ...

1961.Kansas Sports Hall of Fame
/ref> * Inducted into the NAIA Track and Field Hall of Fame. * One of the first coaches to use

, unbalanced line, and huddle. * Head football and

coach at KU for 5 and 10 years respectively. Football conference champions in 1930. * Coached five world record holders in track: John Kuck,

Glenn Cunningham Glenn Cunningham may refer to: *Glenn Cunningham (athlete) (1909–1988), American runner, Olympic Games medalist * Glenn Cunningham (Nebraska politician) (1912–2003), American politician, mayor of Omaha, and congressman for Nebraska * Glenn Cunn ...

, Jim Bausch, Clyde Coffman and

Peter Mehringer Peter Joseph Mehringer (July 15, 1910 – August 27, 1987) was an Olympic Gold Medal-winning freestyle wrestler from Kinsley, Kansas. Mehringer was nicknamed the "Kansas Whirlwind". After learning how to wrestle from a correspondence c ...

. * His 1926 football team at

was undefeated and allowed only 3 points. * Earned 16 college athletic

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

at Kansas State Normal (Emporia State) participating in football, basketball, track and field,

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

and was named

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

five times. * He was a three-sport standout at Beulah High School in

Beulah, Kansas Beulah is an unincorporated community in Crawford County, Kansas, United States. History Beulah was founded in 1874 by a colony of Methodists. The Methodist church was completed in 1881. A post office was opened in Beulah on December 31, 1874, ...

. * Was collegiate track coach of

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...

* Was one of the first coaches to gather within hours after the reported death of coaching great

Personal life

Hargiss graduated from Kansas Normal School in Emporia, Kansas. His brother, Floyd Daniel Hargiss was a football coach at

Ottawa University Ottawa University (OU) is a private Baptist university with its main campus in Ottawa, Kansas, a second residential campus in Surprise, Arizona, and adult campuses in the Kansas City, Phoenix and Milwaukee metropolitan areas. It was founded in ...

Ottawa, Kansas Ottawa (pronounced ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Franklin County, Kansas, United States. It is located on both banks of the Marais des Cygnes River near the center of Franklin County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the c ...

.Ancestry.com
Floyd Daniel Hargiss

Head coaching record

Football

Notes

References

External links

The Life and Legacy of H. W. "Bill" Hargiss
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hargiss, Homer Woodson 1887 births 1978 deaths American men's basketball players College of Emporia Fighting Presbies football coaches Emporia State Hornets athletic directors Emporia State Hornets baseball players Emporia State Hornets basketball coaches Emporia State Hornets basketball players Emporia State Hornets football coaches Emporia State Hornets football players Kansas Jayhawks football coaches Oregon State Beavers football coaches Oregon State Beavers men's basketball coaches Oregon State Beavers track and field coaches College men's track and field athletes in the United States People from Cherokee County, Kansas Basketball coaches from Kansas Basketball players from Kansas