Henry Clifford "Doc" Carlson (July 4, 1894 – November 1, 1964) was an American basketball coach and football player. He is a

Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

inductee as the men's college basketball coach of his alma mater, the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

, from 1922 to 1953. At Pitt he compiled a record of 367–247 record (.595). His 1927–28 team finished the season with a 21–0 record and was retroactively named the national champion by the

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...

and the

Premo-Porretta Power Poll The Premo-Porretta Power Poll is a retroactive end-of-year ranking for American college basketball teams competing in the 1895–96 through the 1947–48 seasons. The Premo-Porretta Polls are intended to serve collectively as a source of informa ...

; Carlson's Panthers would receive retroactive recognition as the Helms national champion for the 1929–30 season as well. Carlson also led Pitt to the

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

in 1941. As a student at the university, Carlson was also a First Team All-American end on Pitt's football team under coach "Pop" Warner. Carlson also lettered in basketball 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 ...

Biography

Carlson was born in Murray City, Ohio. He played high school football, basketball, and baseball (1910–1914) at Bellefonte Academy in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. During his undergraduate years at the University of Pittsburgh (1914–1918) he earned three letters in basketball, two in baseball, four in football. He played on the 1916 Pitt football team that is widely regarded as that season's national champion and was selected as an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

football player while playing for Pitt's undefeated 1917 team. After graduation in 1918, Carlson completed his medical degree at Pitt in 1920, but then joined the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

professional football team for one season. When in 1922 Andrew Kerr, who was Pitt's basketball coach and assistant football coach, left to become football head coach at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, Pitt hired "Doc" Carlson as its new basketball coach. Simultaneously he practiced as a physician for the Carnegie Steel Company. Carlson was famous for his Figure 8 offense, an innovation that many coaches copied. In 1928 Pittsburgh went a perfect 21–0 and the national championship. His Panthers won another national title in 1930. (Both were selected as national champions, prior to the advent of NCAA Tournament, by the Helms Athletic Foundation.) He also led the Panthers to Eastern Intercollegiate Conference championships in four out of the seven years of the conference's existence. In 1931 Carlson became the first Eastern coach to take a collegiate team westward, going on the road to beat the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

, the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

, Stanford, and the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. He also wrote the book ''You and Basketball''. Legend has it that Carlson offered

Stan Musial Stanley Frank Musial (; born Stanislaw Franciszek Musial; November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013), nicknamed "Stan the Man", was an American baseball outfielder and first baseman. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and most consistent ...

a basketball scholarship to Pitt, but Musial only wanted to play baseball, and had secretly signed a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals' Monessen, Pennsylvania, ball club of the Class D Pennsylvania State League Association. Carlson became Pitt's director of student health services in 1932 and held that position until his retirement in 1953. Apart from his brief stint in the NFL, he spent the first 43 years of his adult life at Pitt as a student and coach. He died November 1, 1964, at his home in

Ligonier, Pennsylvania Ligonier is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,513 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Ligonier was settled in the 1760s. The borough is well known for nearby Idl ...

. Carlson was inducted into the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame in 1949, the

in its inaugural class in 1959, and the

National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a hall of fame and museum dedicated to men's college basketball. The museum is an integral portion of the College Basketball Experience created by the Nation ...

in its inaugural class of 2006.

Head coaching record

* Eastern Intercollegiate Conference championships between teams with identical records were decided by a one–game playoff in these seasons (included in conference record totals).

References

External links

*
''Basketball, the American Game'' Manuscript
at Dartmouth College Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlson, Doc 1894 births 1964 deaths American football ends American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Baseball players from Pennsylvania Basketball coaches from Pennsylvania Basketball players from Pennsylvania Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees People from Hocking County, Ohio Pittsburgh Panthers baseball players Pittsburgh Panthers football players Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball coaches Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball players Players of American football from Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine alumni 20th-century American sportsmen

Biography

Head coaching record

See also

References

External links