William Walter Heffelfinger was an American football player and coach. He was the first significant star of the collegiate game and the first professional football player.
Background
William Walter Heffelfinger was born on December 20, 1867 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. He was the son of Christopher Beistel and Mary Ellen Totten Heffelfinger.
His father, a tanner from Pennsylvania who had served with distinction as a major in the Union Army, moved to Minneapolis after the Civil War and formed a shoe manufacturing concern.
Education
Heffelfinger attended the local public schools. Nicknamed "Pudge" for his huge size, he played baseball for four years at Central High School and organized and served as captain of the first high school football team in Minneapolis. While still in high school he also occasionally played for the University of Minnesota baseball and football teams.
From 1888 to 1891 he attended Yale University; he earned the Bachelor of Arts degree from that institution's Sheffield Scientific School in 1891. At Yale Heffelfinger won renown for his spectacular football feats and was named to Walter Camp's All-American team three times.
In a day when the game had begun to depart sharply from its rugby and soccer antecedents, but had not yet adopted the forward pass, Heffelfinger dominated play on both offense and defense. Under his leadership Yale enjoyed undefeated seasons in both 1888 and 1891; the team lost only one game in each of the 1889 and 1890 seasons. The 1891 squad outscored its opponents 698 to 0. While at Yale, Heffelfinger also participated in boxing, track, crew, and baseball. In a time of gridiron violence, when the team captain or the players themselves made the major decisions, Heffelfinger (known as "Heff" at Yale) was noted for his ferocious style of tackling and for his resourcefulness in inventing new tactics.
While studying railroad economics and law at Yale in 1891-1892 he barnstormed with semiprofessional teams. For one game in 1892 he received the princely sum of $500.
Career
After working briefly for the Great Northern Railroad in the Cascade Mountains Heffelfinger became the head coach at the University of California for the 1893 season, introducing the Yale style of football to the Pacific Coast. He coached Lehigh University in 1894 and the University of Minnesota team the following year.
From 1896 to 1910 he assisted in coaching the Minnesota line and until 1917 he frequently returned to Yale to help prepare the team for its key contests with Harvard and Princeton. Part of the Heffelfinger legend arose from his continuing to play football long after his departure from Yale. While preparing the Yale eleven for its game with Harvard in 1916, he joined the scrubs in scrimmage. On the first play, it is alleged, he broke three ribs of the opposing guard, while in the following two plays he injured four more members of the varsity squad. The Yale coach then took Heffelfinger out of the scrimmage and asked him to confine his efforts to verbal instructions.
In 1922, at the age of 54, Heffelfinger agreed, to attract attention to a charity contest at Columbus, Ohio, to play on an all-star team against former Ohio State University players. He insisted on playing almost the entire game with players less than half his age. According to reports his performance equaled or surpassed that of the younger players.
In the mid-1930s he founded Heffelfinger Publications, which produced booklets on football and baseball for use in sales promotion by manufacturers and dealers. In his book, This Was Football (1954), as told to John McCallum, Heffelfinger recounted stories of past great players and teams that he had seen and the changes in tactics that had occurred since the 1890s. Highly critical of modern offensive and defensive line play, he believed linemen should assume an upright rather than a crouching stance so that they could see the progress of the play and respond accordingly. Coaches, Heffelfinger argued, should be relegated to the press boxes and team captains should make all field decisions.
While playing, coaching, and promoting football, Heffelfinger became a highly successful Minneapolis business and political leader. He entered his father's shoe business in 1894, becoming vice president and general manager of the concern in 1904. The company was liquidated as a result of the Panic of 1907, but Heffelfinger subsequently became a builder in Minneapolis, constructing several major office buildings.
Heffelfinger died on the family ranch near Blessing, Texas.
Long active in politics, Heffelfinger attended the Republican National Conventions of 1904 and 1908. In 1924 he was elected commissioner of Hennepin County; he was reelected four times and served until 1948. Known as a proponent of strict fiscal responsibility, Heffelfinger was credited with a major role in eliminating the county debt.
In 1930 he was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Congress.
Personality
Standing well over 6 feet tall and weighing just over 200 pounds, Heffelfinger was among the largest and fastest players of his era.
Unlike modern defensive linesmen, he stood in an upright position, with knees slightly bent, from which he attacked the ball carrier directly. He was especially noted for breaking the famous Princeton wedge or V formation by crashing over or under the lead blockers in the wedge, scattering the offensive team's interference so that his teammates could easily tackle the runner. The wedge and Heffelfinger's defense against it caused so many injuries to both sides that the rules of the game were altered.
Connections
Heffelfinger was survived by his wife, Grace Harriet Pierce of Blessing, whom he married on December 4, 1901, and by their three children.