Johnson Blair Cherry (August 7, 1901 – September 10, 1966) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

from 1947 to 1950, compiling a record of 32–10–1. His 1950 Texas Longhorns football team won the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

(SWC) championship and appeared in the 1951 Cotton Bowl Classic, losing to

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. Cherry was also the head baseball coach at Texas from 1943 to 1945, tallying a mark of 30–23 and winning SWC titles in 1943 and 1945. He attended

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private university, private research university in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison Clark, Addison and Randolph Clark as the AddRan Male & Female College. It i ...

(TCU), where he starred football as an

end End, END, Ending, or ENDS may refer to: End Mathematics *End (category theory) * End (topology) * End (graph theory) * End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) * End (endomorphism) Sports and games *End (gridiron football) *End, a division ...

and was captain of the 1923 TCU Horned Frogs football team. He also played baseball at TCU, as a

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

. Cherry began his coaching career at the high school level in Texas, making stops at Ranger High School, North Side High School in

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, and

Amarillo High School Amarillo High School is a school located in the city of Amarillo, Texas, United States and is one of four high schools in the Amarillo Independent School District and classified as a 5A school by the University Interscholastic League (UIL). In 20 ...

Early life

Cherry was born in

Kerens, Texas Kerens is a city in Navarro County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,505 at the 2020 census. History Kerens was established in 1881 when the St. Louis Southwestern Railway of Texas was built through the county, according to the Texas ...

, on August 7, 1901. He played his high school ball at Weatherford High School and later attended

in the early 1920s and was a three-sport star. Upon graduation in 1924, he had a brief professional baseball career but soon entered the coaching profession. In 1936, he married Florence Snodgrass of Amarillo, with whom he had two children.

Coaching career

High school

Cherry's first coaching position was at Ranger High School in

Ranger, Texas Ranger is a city in Eastland County, Texas, United States. Its population was 2,300 at the 2020 census. Ranger College, a community college, is the second-largest employer in the community. During the 1920s, Ranger, like nearby Cisco, Eastland ...

, where he spent three seasons, from 1926 to 1928. In 1929, Cherry coached for one season at North Side High School in Fort Worth. In 1930, Cherry was named head football coach at

. He compiled a record of 84–5 losses, with 45 of those wins by

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

. The average score in these games was 30–5. Amarillo High became the second school in Texas to win three straight state championships, in 1934, 1935, and 1936 (first was the Paul Tyson-coached Waco High in 1925, 1926, and 1927), allowing the opponent teams only a combined 13 points in these three championship games.

University of Texas

Football

Cherry was considered as a candidate for the head coach position at the

in 1937, but was passed over for the better-known Dana X. Bible. Bible offered Cherry a position as an assistant coach on his staff. Bible groomed Cherry to be his successor, and upon Bible's retirement in 1946, Cherry was appointed as head coach. As head coach, Cherry switched the Longhorns' offense from a

single-wing In American and Canadian football, a single-wing formation was a precursor to the modern shotgun formation. The term usually connotes formations in which the snap is tossed rather than handed. Formations with one wingback and a handed snap a ...

formation to the now-popular

T formation In American football, a T formation (frequently called the full house formation in modern usage, sometimes the Robust T) is a formation used by the offensive team in which three running backs line up in a row about five yards behind the quarter ...

, and found instant success. With

Bobby Layne Robert Lawrence Layne (December 19, 1926 – December 1, 1986) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Longhorns before ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

, Texas earned a 10–1 record in his first year, a final ranking of fifth, and a defeat of sixth-ranked

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

in the 1948 Sugar Bowl. In the 1948 season, his team compiled a 7–3–1 record and defeated eighth-ranked

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

. Following this season, Cherry was offered head coaching jobs by the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

and

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), but turned down these offers to remain the head coach at Texas. In 1949, Cherry's Longhorns compiled a 6–4 record. In 1950, the Longhorns won the

title with a 6–0 conference record, and earned a berth in the

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its Cotton Bowl (stadium), namesake ...

, as well as a #3 final national ranking. Mid-season, Cherry announced that he would be retiring from coaching, and his last game was a 20–14 defeat at the hands of

in the 1951 Cotton Bowl Classic. Cherry was suffering from

ulcers An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caused by sloughing ...

and

insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder where people have difficulty sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep for as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low ene ...

at the time of his retirement, and later hinted in the article "Why I Quit Coaching" that harsh criticism from fans and media, despite his 32–10–1 record and two top-five finishes, led to his decision to retire.

Baseball

Cherry also served as baseball coach from 1943 to 1945 during

Bibb Falk Bibb August Falk (January 27, 1899 – June 8, 1989) was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Chicago White Sox (1920–28) and Cleveland Indians (1929–31). Born in Austin, Texas, Falk played football and baseb ...

's absence. His teams compiled a 30–23 overall record, but won two conference titles with a 22–4 conference mark in three seasons. No SWC title was awarded in 1944.

Later life, death, and honors

After retiring from coaching, Cherry moved to

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

, to enter the oil business, partnering with his brother, A. W. Cherry. He died on September 10, 1966, from a coronary occultation, three weeks after undergoing a kidney operation and then returning to the hospital with chest pains. Blair was buried at Llano Cemetery in Amarillo. Cherry was inducted into the

Texas Sports Hall of Fame The Texas Sports Hall of Fame recognizes sportsperson, athletes, coach (sport), coaches, and administrators who have made "lasting fame and honor to Sports in Texas, Texas sports". It was established in 1951 by the Texas Sports Writers Association ...

shortly before his death in 1966 and posthumously inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 1968.

Head coaching record

College football

College baseball

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cherry, Blair 1901 births 1966 deaths American football ends Baseball outfielders TCU Horned Frogs football players Texas Longhorns baseball coaches Texas Longhorns football coaches High school football coaches in Texas People from Weatherford, Texas Coaches of American football from Texas Players of American football from Navarro County, Texas Baseball coaches from Texas Baseball players from Navarro County, Texas 20th-century American sportsmen