Clifford Douglas "Pop" Bliss (July 16, 1870 – March 26, 1948) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Stanford University, Haverford College, and the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

, compiling a career coaching record of 15–6–1. Bliss played football at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

as a halfback alongside his brother, Laurie Bliss, who went on to coach at the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

and

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epi ...

Playing career

Bliss was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and attended

, where he played halfback. With his brother, Laurie Bliss, in the same backfield, he led Yale to back-to-back

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or 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 best team, indi ...

and undefeated seasons in 1891 and 1892. Coached by

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

, Yale did not allow opposing teams to score a single point in those two seasons.

Coaching career

In 1893, Bliss was named head football coach at Stanford University. Bliss, who had graduated from Yale the year before, was filling in for

, who was the school's first coach in 1892 and returned in 1894. Bliss' team was undefeated with one tie. In 1894, Bliss coached Haverford College but the team did not win a single game. In 1895, Bliss became the fifth head coach for the University of Missouri–Columbia Tigers located in Columbia, Missouri where his team record was 7–1.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* 1870 births 1948 deaths 19th-century players of American football American football halfbacks Haverford Fords football coaches Missouri Tigers football coaches Stanford Cardinal football coaches Yale Bulldogs football players Players of American football from New York City Coaches of American football from New York (state) {{1890s-collegefootball-coach-stub