George Herbert McCracken (June 20, 1899 – March 11, 1995) 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 ...

player and coach. McCracken played football as a running back at 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 1918 to 1920 under coach "Pop" Warner and was a member of Pittsburgh's 1918 national championship team. He served as the head coach at

Allegheny College Allegheny College is a private liberal arts college in Meadville, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1815, Allegheny is the oldest college in continuous existence under the same name west of the Allegheny Mountains. It is a member of the G ...

from 1921 to 1923 and at

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 18 ...

from 1924 to 1935, compiling a career

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

record of 75–48–7. His 1926 Lafayette Leopards team was recognized as a national champion by Parke H. Davis. That same year his former coach's Pop Warner's Stanford Indians were recognized as the national champions by a different publication. He was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

as a coach in 1973. Some, including Pop Warner, consider him to be the first to regularly implement the offensive team huddle, beginning its use in Lafayette in 1924 to hide his instructions from the opposing team. During his coaching days, McCracken was the cofounder of the very successful Scholastic Inc publishing concern, which he was associated with for 63 years. He was also a brother of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity while he was a student at the University of Pittsburgh.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* 1899 births 1995 deaths American football halfbacks Allegheny Gators football coaches Lafayette Leopards football coaches Pittsburgh Panthers football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pittsburgh {{1920s-collegefootball-coach-stub