Paul Leighton Tyson (October 25, 1886 – September 9, 1950) 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. He was one of the most successful
high school football
High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...
coaches of all time, winning four Texas state championships and one
national championship
A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...
in the 1920s.
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 ...
called Tyson "one of the finest coaches I ever met, college or high school".
Career
A native of
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
, Tyson enrolled at Addison-Randolph College in
Waco, Texas
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 ...
, (later re-founded as
Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples ...
in
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
) in 1904, intending to become a doctor. He went to a football game, tried out for
the team the next week and made the starting line-up. He also lettered in
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 ...
. In 1908, Tyson graduated from Addison-Randolph, and went to
Pritzker School of Medicine
The Pritzker School of Medicine is the Doctor of Medicine, M.D.-granting unit of the Biological Sciences Division of the University of Chicago. It is located on the university's main campus in the historic Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighbo ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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to study medicine. While playing baseball there, he was reportedly offered a contract to pitch for a major league team, but turned it down.
Returning to Texas, Tyson taught biology in
Tyler Tyler may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Tyler (name), an English name; with lists of people with the surname or given name
* Tyler, the Creator (born 1991), American rap artist and producer
* John Tyler, 10th president of the United ...
to supplement his income while studying medicine. While at Tyler, the children recruited him as their "football supervisor". After teaching two more terms at
Denison High School
Denison High School is a public high school in Denison, Texas, United States and classified as a 5A school by the University Interscholastic League (UIL) . It is part of the Denison Independent School District located in north central Grayson Co ...
, Tyson finally decided to give up medicine for sports, when he became a biology teacher and football coach at
Waco High School
Waco High School is a public high school located in the city of Waco, Texas and classified as a 6A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Waco Independent School District located in central McLennan County. In 2015, the school was rated “Im ...
.
Though starting his career with a 1–3–2 season in 1913, Tyson's Waco teams did not have a losing season in the following 27 years under his guidance. Their dominance, however, truly began in the 1920s. Waco played six straight championship games between 1922 and 1927, losing only two. In 1927, after beating Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin School of
Chardon, Ohio
Chardon is a city in and the county seat of Geauga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,242 at the 2020 census.
In a time when most teams relied on a basic offense run out of a short punt formation, Tyson revolutionized offensive tactics, developing a series of plays out of the
single-wing formation
In American and Canadian football, a single-wing formation was a precursor to the modern spread or shotgun formation. The term usually connotes formations in which the snap is tossed rather than handed—formations with one wingback and a hand ...
, where one or both of the two backs receiving the snap would spin and cross paths with the remaining backs and ends. The so-called "spinner" was so effective, that Waco scored over a hundred points on nine occasions between 1922 1927. In 1927, the Tigers scored an average of 56 points per game—a record that stood until 1975 when Big Sandy High School scored 824 points for the season.
Tyson's teams were also known for their defense. Playing only a regular-season schedule, the 1921 team was the first of three squads to allow no points in a season. From 1921 to 1927, Waco had 58 shutouts. The 3–0 state title loss to Abilene High School in 1923 was Waco's only scoring blemish. Led by Boody Johnson, Tommy Glover,
Jack Sisco
Robert Dickey "Jack" Sisco (November 2, 1904 – December 18, 1983) was an American football player, coach, and official. He served as head football coach at the University of North Texas from 1929 to 1941. With a record of 74–37–10, Sisco is ...
and Sam Coates, Waco's defense gave up just 156 points in seven seasons.
Despite receiving several offers to coach college football teams, Tyson had no interest in leaving Waco. He attended and spoke at football clinics all over the country. Knute Rockne and
Pop Warner
Glenn Scobey Warner (April 5, 1871 – September 7, 1954), most commonly known as Pop Warner, was an American college football coach at various institutions who is responsible for several key aspects of the modern game. Included among his inn ...
routinely sought his opinions on offensive philosophy, and he was a favorite of reporters, who found him charismatic and humble and openly campaigned for major universities to hire him.
In spring 1942, the Waco school board suddenly and unanimously voted to fire Tyson after an 8–2 season, two removed from a year he took the Tigers to the state finals. Tyson, a lifelong bachelor who never dated, was rumored to be "too intimate" with his players.