Late KU coach Hargiss called football innovator
Lawrence Journal World
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

     A bright Kansas sports figure, credited by associates with being one of the truly original thinkers in the game of football, died Sunday at Lawrence at the age of 91.
     He was Homer Woodson Hargiss, better known to friends, players and sports fans as "Bill."
     Among the innovations credited to Hargiss is the method commonly used by football teams today for calling signals.
    "He was the very first coach to use a huddle," said Pierce "Buck" Astle, who played under Hargiss and later was a major sports officiating figure in this area.
     "Credit is given to coaches in the East, but investigation will prove that Bill was first. He was also the first to run his guards in the interference ahead of the runner.
     "Many think the T-formation is of recent vintage, but Bill used it for many years. We had a full complement of plays on it in 1921. He was a great one."
     Hargiss had great moments as an athlete at Emporia State College, now Emporia State University, and as a football coach at Emporia and the University of Kansas.
     But perhaps his brightest achievements came as a track coach at the two schools.
     While at Emporia State, he coached John Kuck, who set a world record in the shot put and won national titles in the shot put and javelin throw, and Earl McKown, a two-time national collegiate champion in the pole vault.
     At Kansas, Hargiss coached such world-prominent athletes as Glenn Cunningham, who set a world record in the mile run, and Jim Bausch, football player and a world record holder in the decathlon.
     Both Kuck and Bausch won Olympic Games titles.
     A 1909 graduate of Emporia, Hargiss competed in football, basketball, track and baseball.
     He also sang in the glee club, was in the debating society and took a course in water colors. Besides this he waited tables for $2.25 a week to pay for his meals and had a laundry route.
     Alfred Hill, who later became a prominent newspaperman, was in Emporia High School while Hargiss was in Emporia State.
     "Bill Hargiss stood out, and still does, in my opinion, as the greatest of all Emporia State athletes," Hill said a few years ago.

Former Coach at KU Dies

     H. W. "Bill" Hargiss, former Kansas University football and track coach and a charter member of the Kansas All-Sports Hall of Fame, died Sunday at Lawrence Memorial Hospital after a recent illness. He was 91.
     Graveside services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Maple Wood Cemetery in Emporia. Friends may call at the Rumsey Funeral Home here tonight, on Tuesday and up to 10 a.m. Wednesday.
     Survivors include two daughters, Genevieve F. Hargiss of the home at 2503 Mo., and Mrs. Shirley Oberheide, St. Louis; a son, Willard Clark Hargiss of Pittsburgh, Pa.; a brother, Meade T. Hargiss of Sun City, Calif.; a sister, Mrs. Vetra Beringer, Salina, and six grandchildren. Daughter Genevieve Hargiss, a professor of music education at KU, said "while the graveside service will be a simple family affair Wednesday, we invite all of dad's former athletes and friends who wish to attend."
     Mr. Hargiss was a native of rural Cherokee County, Kan., and was an all-sports star at Emporia State College in the early 1900s. He later attended the Harvard Graduate School of Physical Education and held a full professorship in that field.
     He had been athletic director at Emporia State and at Oregon State University when he came to KU in 1928 as football coach. During his 1928-32 football coaching career here, he had a record of 18-16-2. His best season was 6-2 in 1930, including a 14-0 victory over Kansas State, and 13-0 victory over Oklahoma and a 32-0 win over Missouri.
     Mr. Hargiss was KU track coach from 1933 to 1943, also serving as Kansas Relays director, and during World War II helped train military athletes.  Following retirement from coaching, he lived in Topeka for a number of years, then moved to Lawrence with his daughter in 1966.
     When the Kansas All-Sports Hall of Fame was established (now located at the Watkins Community Museum in Lawrence), Mr. Hargiss was one of the first selections.
     Despite his age, Mr. Hargiss remained active in recent years, still driving his own auto. His most recent public speaking appearance was during KU's Jayhawk Celebrity Golf Classic the past spring at Lawrence Country Club.