AP Article, 1927
from: http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/CFHSN/CFHSNv11/CFHSNv11n2c.pdf

The Editor speaks: To make matters worse, I’m doing microfilm research at the library one day recently, and in the news of Oct 2, 1927, I came across an Associated Press article about another huddle-originator claimant, excerpts as follows:

“H. W. (Bill) Hargiss, veteran mentor of the Emporia Teachers College (Kansas), is generally credited with being the first to use the huddle system in football.  A high school quarterback at McMinnville, Oregon gave Hargiss the idea.  Hargiss recently told the story: ‘While coach of the Oregon Aggies in Corvallis in 1919 (note - Hargiss was head coach at what is now Oregon State for the seasons of 1918-19), I refereed a high school game.  For three periods the game was scoreless.  Near the end of the last quarter the McMinnville team started a drive and carried the ball to their opponents’ 10-yard line. All this time the cheering was deafening.  The quarterback . . . unable to make himself heard above the din, pulled off his headgear, threw it on the ground and yelled ‘Come back here, you guys, and I’ll tell you what the play is.’ . . . This gave me an idea.  In the spring of 1920, during the few weeks practice for the next fall, I tried it out at the Aggie school.  At first it was awkward, but eventually it became better and I have been using it ever since.  Investigations in recent years have convinced Hargiss that no coach was using the system before he tried it on the west coast.  Now the huddle is universally used.”