Bill Hargiss Leaves Legacy of Originality
By Elon Torrence
Associated Press Writer
Kansas City Star
October 1978
     LAWRENCE, Kan.—A bright Kansas sports figure, credited by associates with being one of the truly original thinkers in the game of football, died here last Sunday 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 gold medals in the Olympic Games.
     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 at 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.
He said Hargiss had imagination and initiative in abundance.
     "He came up with strategy that other coaches hadn't thought about," Welch said. "He was creative. That is probably the biggest reason that Bill was such a successful coach."
     In 12 seasons, Hargiss coached Emporia State teams to a combined record of 62-23-11. Only one of those teams had a losing record.
     Following two undefeated, conference championship teams at Emporia in 1926 and 1927, Hargiss went to the University of Kansas to be head football coach.
     In his third year at KU, his team won the Big Six championship. It was the school's only football title in 23 years, from 1923 to 1946.