American football player and coach (1917?2006)
American football player
Red Hickey
![refer to caption](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Red_Hickey_1950_%28cropped%29.jpg/180px-Red_Hickey_1950_%28cropped%29.jpg) Hickey, circa 1950
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Position:
| End
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Born:
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1917-02-14
)
February 14, 1917
Clarksville, Arkansas
, U.S.
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Died:
| March 30, 2006
(2006-03-30)
(aged 89)
Aptos, California
, U.S.
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Height:
| 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
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Weight:
| 204 lb (93 kg)
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High school:
| Clarksville
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College:
| Arkansas
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NFL draft:
| 1941
/ Round: 6 / Pick: 41
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Regular season:
| 27?27?1 (.500)
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Player stats at
PFR
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Coaching stats at
PFR
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Howard Wayne "Red" Hickey
(February 14, 1917 ? March 30, 2006) was an
American football
player and coach. He played professionally in the
National Football League
(NFL) with the
Pittsburgh Steelers
in 1941 and the
Cleveland / Los Angeles Rams
from 1945 to 1948. Hickey served as head coach for the NFL's
San Francisco 49ers
from 1959 to 1963.
Hickey is credited for having devised the
shotgun formation
in 1960.
Early years and education
[
edit
]
A native of
Clarksville, Arkansas
, Hickey began playing football what a student at
Clarksville High School
in that community.
[1]
Hickey attended the
University of Arkansas
, competing as a member of the football and
basketball
teams, where he won All-Conference accolades in both sports. In 1941, he was a forward on the Razorback team that reached the
Final Four
teams, although the tournament format was different from today and did not end in a four team final. While at the University of Arkansas, Hickey was a member of Xi chapter of the
Kappa Sigma Fraternity
.
NFL playing career
[
edit
]
Hickey was drafted by the
Philadelphia Eagles
in the sixth round (41st overall) of the
1941 NFL Draft
.
[2]
His rights were transferred to the
Pittsburgh Steelers
due to the events later referred to as the
Pennsylvania Polka
.
[3]
He also played for the
Cleveland Rams
, then missed the next three years while serving as a
U.S. Navy
gunnery officer during World War II. Upon his return, he was part of the
1945 Rams championship squad
, then shifted with the team to Los Angeles to play from 1946 to 1948. During his first season back, he also married his high school sweetheart, Cecelia Surina.
NFL coaching career
[
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]
Despite having finished the
1948 NFL season
as the team's second-leading receiver with 30 catches for 509 yards and seven touchdowns, Hickey retired and joined the Rams' coaching ranks on April 20, 1949 as wide receivers coach. He remained in that capacity with the team for six seasons until resigning on December 12, 1954 along with his fellow assistants. The departure was the end result of continued conflicts with head coach
Hamp Pool
.
Just over two weeks after leaving the Rams, Hickey was hired as a 49ers assistant under new head coach
Red Strader
, but after the team struggled during the
1955 season
, Strader was replaced in favor of former 49er quarterback
Frankie Albert
. Hickey stayed as an assistant during the three years Albert handled sideline duties for the team, and in 1957, helped quarterback
Y. A. Tittle
and wide receiver
R.C. Owens
develop what became known as the "
Alley-Oop
" pass. The play was designed to take advantage of Owens's phenomenal leaping abilities and proved to be a success.
When Albert resigned following the
1958 season
, citing the constant fan abuse heaped on not only him, but his family, Hickey was promoted to head coach on December 16 and received a three-year contract.
During that first season, the 49ers put up a stiff challenge to the defending champion
Baltimore Colts
, managing a tie for the Western Conference lead with two games to play. However, on December 5, the Colts broke the deadlock with a 34?14 victory and went on to capture another NFL title.
The following season saw the team battle inconsistency for the first two-thirds of the campaign until Hickey unveiled his innovative new offense on November 27, when the 49ers faced the favored Colts. Hickey sought to find a way to combat the Colts' strong pass rush and reasoned that having the quarterback stand seven yards back behind the line of scrimmage in what he called the "
shotgun formation
" would give the signal caller more time to throw, as well as force adjustments by Baltimore's defense. The end result was a shocking 30?22 upset, with third-string quarterback
Bob Waters
surprisingly using the formation to aid the team's running game. The team won three of its final four games to again finish 7?5 and seemed ready to challenge for greater things in 1961, with Hickey in place for the expected surge with a new three-year contract.
Hickey then made a dramatic change in the chemistry of the team during the offseason when he traded Tittle. The veteran's absence appeared to make no difference when the season began with the team using the quarterback trio of
John Brodie
, Waters and rookie
Billy Kilmer
. After winning four of their first five games, including shutout wins over the Rams and
Detroit Lions
, the magic disappeared on October 22, when the
Chicago Bears
blanked the 49ers, 31?0.
The Bears had moved linebacker
Bill George
from his regular spot up to the line of scrimmage, where he and his teammates were able to develop a strong pass rush, essentially putting an end to the shotgun formation's effectiveness. The absence of a true leader behind center was magnified when Tittle led his new team, the
New York Giants
, to the first of three consecutive berths in the NFL Championship game.
After the team's 7?6?1 campaign in
1961
, the 49ers dropped slightly the following year, finishing 6?8. When the team lost its first three games in 1963, the last coming in a 45?14 thrashing by the
Minnesota Vikings
, Hickey resigned on September 30, and two weeks later was hired as a Rams' scout for the remainder of the year.
Scouting and later life
[
edit
]
On February 1, 1964, he joined the Cowboys as the offensive end coach, serving for two years under
Tom Landry
. He had been a strong candidate to become head coach of the expansion
Atlanta Falcons
, but the post was given to Green Bay assistant
Norb Hecker
on January 26, 1966. Just six weeks later, Hickey resigned his coaching position and asked to join the Cowboy scouting staff.
Hickey spent the next two decades as a Cowboys scout and watched with pride when his team dusted off his old offense in 1975, using it only in specific situations, but popularizing a strategy that remains to this day. He retired as a scout in 1982.
On an individual level, he was elected to the
Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame
in 1968, while his son, Mike, followed him into the world of scouting, working for the
New England Patriots
and
New York Jets
.
Head coaching record
[
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Team
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Year
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Regular season
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Won
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Lost
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Ties
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Win %
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Finish
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SF
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1959
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7
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5
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0
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.583
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3rd NFL Western
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SF
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1960
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7
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5
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0
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.583
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3rd NFL Western
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SF
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1961
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7
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6
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1
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.536
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5th NFL Western
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SF
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1962
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6
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8
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0
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.429
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5th NFL Western
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SF
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1963
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0
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3
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0
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.000
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Resigned mid-season
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SF total
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27
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27
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1
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.500
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Total
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27
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27
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1
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.500
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References
[
edit
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External links
[
edit
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# denotes interim head coach
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Red Hickey?championships, awards, and honors
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