The National Forgotten League

By Dan Daly

Excerpted by permission from The National Forgotten League: Entertaining Stories and Observations from Pro Football’s First Fifty Years by Dan Daly. Copyright (c) 2012 by Dan Daly. Published by University of Nebraska Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Available wherever books are sold or via University of Nebraska Press (1-800-848-6224).

George Halas – Papa Bear – is the man most closely associated with the T formation, but it’s coaching legend Amos Alonzo Stagg who’s credited with inventing it (at Yale in the 1880’s). Everybody used the T in the early days; there was no other offense. In the original formation, the quarterback was positioned a yard back of center, and the fullback and two halfbacks lined up in a straight line behind him, forming a T.

The T’s limitations became clear as it evolved over the next forty years. It was an adequate, if predictable, offense for running between the tackles. It also took the thrill out of the snap, particularly in wet weather, since the ball was handed directly

To the quarterback. Finally, it made the center a more effective blocker because he could keep his head up at all times (instead of having to peek through his legs at his intended target before hiking the ball).

But the T wasn’t so great for passing or running outside. The single-and double-wing formations that Pop Warner dreamed up later at Cornell and Carlisle proved more effective – and certainly more exciting. The unbalance line (four linemen to one side of the , tow to the other) gave them more power at the point of attack, and the wingback – stationed just outside the end – could be used for reverses and could get out quickly for passes.

When the NFL was formed in 1920, the Bears were the only club that used the T formation. All the others embraced the Warner system or its cousin, Knute Rockne’s Notre Dame Box. But Halas had played the T all his life – at the University of Illinois, at Great Lakes Naval Training Station during World War I – and believed in it. Besides, it was all he knew.