Paul Leighton Tyson (October 25, 1886 – September 9, 1950) 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 ...
coach. He was one of the most successful
high school football
High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...
coaches of all time, winning four Texas state championships and one
national championship
A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...
in the 1920s.
Knute Rockne
Knute Kenneth Rockne (; March 4, 1888 – March 31, 1931) was an American football player and coach at the University of Notre Dame. Leading Notre Dame for 13 seasons, Rockne accumulated over 100 wins and three national championships.
Rockne is ...
called Tyson "one of the finest coaches I ever met, college or high school".
Career
A native of
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
, Tyson enrolled at Addison-Randolph College in
Waco, Texas
Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...
, (later re-founded as
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 ...
in
Fort Worth, Texas
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 ...
) in 1904, intending to become a doctor. He went to a football game, tried out for
the team the next week and made the starting line-up. He also lettered in
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 ...
. In 1908, Tyson graduated from Addison-Randolph, and went to
Pritzker School of Medicine
The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine is the M.D.-granting unit under the Biological Sciences Division of the University of Chicago. It is located on the university's main campus in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago and mat ...
in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
to study medicine. While playing baseball there, he was reportedly offered a contract to pitch for a major league team, but turned it down.
Returning to Texas, Tyson taught biology in Tyler to supplement his income while studying medicine. While at Tyler, the children recruited him as their "football supervisor". After teaching two more terms at
Denison High School
Denison High School is a public high school in Denison, Texas, United States and classified as a 5A school by the University Interscholastic League (UIL). It is part of the Denison Independent School District located in north central Grayson Co ...
, Tyson finally decided to give up medicine for sports, when he became a biology teacher and football coach at
Waco High School
Waco High School is a public high school located in the city of Waco, Texas and classified as a 6A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Waco Independent School District located in central McLennan County. In 2015, the school was rated “ ...
.
Though starting his career with a 1–3–2 season in 1913, Tyson's Waco teams did not have a losing season in the following 27 years under his guidance. Their dominance, however, truly began in the 1920s. Waco played six straight championship games between 1922 and 1927, losing only two. In 1927, after beating
Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin School
Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin is a coeducational, Catholic college-preparatory school in Chardon, Ohio, sponsored by the Sisters of Notre Dame..
Background
The school began as Notre Dame Academy, an all-girls school founded in 1878. The school ...
of
Chardon, Ohio
Chardon is a city in Geauga County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 5,242 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census.
In a time when most teams relied on a basic offense run out of a short punt formation, Tyson revolutionized offensive tactics, developing a series of plays out of the
single-wing formation
In American football, 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 (football), snap is tossed rather than handed. Formations with ...
, where one or both of the two backs receiving the snap would spin and cross paths with the remaining backs and ends. The so-called "spinner" was so effective, that Waco scored over a hundred points on nine occasions between 1922 1927. In 1927, the Tigers scored an average of 56 points per game—a record that stood until 1975 when Big Sandy High School scored 824 points for the season.
Tyson's teams were also known for their defense. Playing only a regular-season schedule, the 1921 team was the first of three squads to allow no points in a season. From 1921 to 1927, Waco had 58 shutouts. The 3–0 state title loss to Abilene High School in 1923 was Waco's only scoring blemish. Led by Boody Johnson, Tommy Glover,
Jack Sisco
Robert Dickey "Jack" Sisco (November 2, 1904 – December 18, 1983) was an American football player, coach, and official. He served as head football coach at the University of North Texas from 1929 to 1941. With a record of 74–37–10, Sisco i ...
and Sam Coates, Waco's defense gave up just 156 points in seven seasons.
Despite receiving several offers to coach college football teams, Tyson had no interest in leaving Waco. He attended and spoke at football clinics all over the country. Knute Rockne and
Pop Warner
Glenn Scobey Warner (April 5, 1871 – September 7, 1954), most commonly known as Pop Warner, was an American college football coach at various institutions who is responsible for several key aspects of the modern game. Included among his inn ...
routinely sought his opinions on offensive philosophy, and he was a favorite of reporters, who found him charismatic and humble and openly campaigned for major universities to hire him.
In spring 1942, the Waco school board suddenly and unanimously voted to fire Tyson after an 8–2 season, two removed from a year he took the Tigers to the state finals. Tyson, a lifelong bachelor who never dated, was rumored to be "too intimate" with his players.