I painted this old school gridiron grunt in the colors of my Alma mater, Susquehanna University. Stagg naturally came to mind because during my brief college football career as a freshman walk-on lineman there, I had the honor to practice and play (well, stand on the sideline mostly) on the fields where he coached from 1946 to 1953. The stadium is named for he and his son who was also a coach at SU. It was kind of a thrill for a history geek who loves football.

Ok, so what's the big deal about "Lonnie" Stagg anyway? He was born in 1862, right in the middle of the American Civil War, in West Orange New Jersey. This Jersey boy ended up going to Yale and becoming, well, an end. In those days there were no defensive or offensive ends. You just played end. He did it well enough to be on the very first All American Team in 1886. He could have played pro baseball for the NY Nationals but thought there was more honor in amateur athletics and really loved football anyway. He had a connection to basketball too. At what is now Springfield College, he coached John Naismith at football. It was Naismith who would invent the game of basketball.

By 1892 he was the head coach at the University of Chicago and led them to 7 Big Ten conference titles. Oh yeah, he also invented the Big Ten. In fact, he invented a lot of stuff. The tackling dummy, the huddle, the reverse and the "man in motion" were all his ideas. Stagg also created numbers and letters: Jersey numbers and that iconic American tradition, Varsity Letters. On baseball he bestowed the batting cage! He was also involved in setting up coaches associations and a rules committee.

Amos Alonzo Stagg coached football for 71 years, only retiring at the age of 98. He died in 1965 (same year I was born and the year of the first Super Bowl!) at 102. For his effort, he was showered with honors. A number of stadiums where named for him (including Susquehanna's) and the Division III championship is known as the Stagg Bowl. In 1951 he was inducted to College Football Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach. If that wasn't enough immortality, he got to play himself in Knute Rockne: All American.

Maybe Rockne himself summed it up best: "All Football comes from Stagg."

So, while you're enjoying your chicken wings, beer, fireworks and over the top half time show, remember it all started with "the grand old man of football" who devoted 71 years of his life to making boys into men on the football field. Wouldn't it be great to get just a little of that nobility back?

No one on Lonnie Stagg's teams ever did a touchdown dance....or even contemplated it for that matter!

Ok, on two......ready-hutt-hutt!