dwmyers
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I was talking with Chris Brown of Smart Football and began to realize that most folks hadn't bothered to get their hands on an old pre T formation football book and memorize big chunks of it the way I did. My dad had a copy of Dana Bible's 1947 text "Championship Football" and I grew up with it..
In short, there are four basic formations in that era, single wing, double wing, short punt and long punt.
By by predate the 'T' I mean the 1940 era Clark Shaughnessy T, the one that changed everything..
The Single wing was *not* a passing formation. With all the back to one side of the tailback, it was a lousy formation to pass block from. People that associate the shotgun with a single wing never read Dana's book..
The two passing formations of the era were the double wing and the short punt..
Short punt, if you've never seen one, looked like this. It has a balanced line and backs on both sides of the tailback. Benny Friedman used a short punt a lot in his career, and it was the base offense for the New York Giants in 1931.
The article, collectively, is here: http://codeandfootball.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/4-basic-formations-that-predate-the-t/
In short, there are four basic formations in that era, single wing, double wing, short punt and long punt.
By by predate the 'T' I mean the 1940 era Clark Shaughnessy T, the one that changed everything..
The Single wing was *not* a passing formation. With all the back to one side of the tailback, it was a lousy formation to pass block from. People that associate the shotgun with a single wing never read Dana's book..
The two passing formations of the era were the double wing and the short punt..
Short punt, if you've never seen one, looked like this. It has a balanced line and backs on both sides of the tailback. Benny Friedman used a short punt a lot in his career, and it was the base offense for the New York Giants in 1931.
The article, collectively, is here: http://codeandfootball.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/4-basic-formations-that-predate-the-t/