College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1968 (profile)
Clark Daniel Shaughnessy (born Clark Daniel O'Shaughnessy; March 6, 1892 – May 15, 1970) was an American football coach and innovator. He is sometimes called the "father of the T formation" and the original founder of the forward pass, although that system had previously been used as early as the 1880s. Shaughnessy did, however, modernize the obsolescent T formation to make it once again relevant in the sport, particularly for the quarterback and the receiver positions. He employed his innovations most famously on offense, but on the defensive side of the ball as well, and he earned a reputation as a ceaseless experimenter.
Shaughnessy held head coaching positions at Tulane University, Loyola University New Orleans, the University of Chicago, Stanford University, the University of Maryland, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Hawaii, and in the National Football League with the Los Angeles Rams. Shaughnessy also served in advisory capacities with the Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins.
He reached the height of his success in 1940, in his first season at Stanford, where he led the Indians to an undefeated season that culminated with a Rose Bowl victory. That year, he also helped prepare the Chicago Bears for the 1940 NFL Championship Game, in which they routed Washington, 73–0. Shaughnessy's successes showcased the effectiveness of the T formation and encouraged its widespread adoption. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968. Shaughnessy also coached college basketball at Tulane University. He played college football at the University of Minnesota.
In 2021, the Professional Football Researchers Association named Shaughnessy to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2021.[1]
^Ken Crippen. "PFRA's Hall of Very Good Class of 2021". Retrieved November 21, 2021.
Clark Daniel Shaughnessy (born Clark Daniel O'Shaughnessy; March 6, 1892 – May 15, 1970) was an American football coach and innovator. He is sometimes...
Chicago coach ClarkShaughnessy, University of Texas coach Dana X. Bible, and Notre Dame coach Frank Leahy were advocates. Shaughnessy was an advisor...
Charles Shaughnessy (born 1955), English television, theatre and film actor ClarkShaughnessy (1892–1970), American Football coach Conor Shaughnessy (born...
decades under seven different coaches: Claude E. Thornhill in 1934, ClarkShaughnessy in 1940, Chuck Taylor in 1951, John Ralston in 1970 and 1971, Bill...
game. Seven coaches have led the team to conference championships: ClarkShaughnessy (1 SIAA and 1 SoCon), Bernie Bierman (3 SoCon), Ted Cox (1 SEC), Red...
Washington Redskins. In 1939, University of Chicago head football coach ClarkShaughnessy made modifications to the T-formation, a formation that put the quarterback...
Lewis # (1938) Dutch Clark (1939–1942) No team (1943) Aldo Donelli (1944) Adam Walsh (1945–1946) Bob Snyder (1947) ClarkShaughnessy (1948–1949) Joe Stydahar...
elsewhere: Frank Dobson, a former assistant coach under John Heisman; ClarkShaughnessy, architect of Stanford's undefeated 1940 turnaround; and Paul "Bear"...
Tulane Green Wave athletic directors Appleton A. Mason (1910–1913) ClarkShaughnessy (1915–1920) Germany Schulz (1920–1921) Wilbur C. Smith (1922–1945)...
Edwin Thomas "Ed" Shaughnessy (January 29, 1929 – May 24, 2013) was a swing music and jazz drummer long associated with Doc Severinsen and a member of...
(PCC) during the 1940 college football season. First-year head coach ClarkShaughnessy inherited a team that finished with a 1–7–1 record the previous season...
musician, singer-songwriter Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek ClarkShaughnessy, American football coach and innovator of the T formation Tamara Toumanova...
Lewis # (1938) Dutch Clark (1939–1942) No team (1943) Aldo Donelli (1944) Adam Walsh (1945–1946) Bob Snyder (1947) ClarkShaughnessy (1948–1949) Joe Stydahar...
went 3–4–1 (1–4), and then coached at the University of the Pacific. ClarkShaughnessy took over as the Maroons football coach in 1933. In his seven seasons...
Lewis # (1938) Dutch Clark (1939–1942) No team (1943) Aldo Donelli (1944) Adam Walsh (1945–1946) Bob Snyder (1947) ClarkShaughnessy (1948–1949) Joe Stydahar...
Shaughnessy) and William Kreutzmann Sr. His father was of German descent. His maternal grandfather was football coach and innovator ClarkShaughnessy...
upset win over undefeated Fordham in 1941. Bowser was replaced by ClarkShaughnessy in 1943; and in 1945, with new university chancellor Rufus Fitzgerald...
Chicago Maroons head football coaches Amos Alonzo Stagg (1892–1932) ClarkShaughnessy (1933–1939) No team (1940–1962) Walter Hass (1963–1975) Bob Lombardi...
season and replacing him with newly minted advisor ClarkShaughnessy. For the next three seasons, Shaughnessy and his successor Joe Stydahar, who was previously...
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