Red Hickey, Who Introduced Shotgun to the N.F.L., Dies at 89
from the NY Times
Red Hickey, who introduced the spread offense known as the shotgun to the National Football League while coaching the San Francisco 49ers in the early 1960’s, died Thursday at a hospice in Aptos, Calif. He was 89. His death was announced by his son Jeffrey.
Coaching the 49ers from 1959 to early in the 1963 season, Hickey never made the playoffs, but he left a lasting imprint on strategy.
The 49ers, with a 4-4 record, were practicing at Georgetown University for their game against the two-time defending champion Baltimore Colts on Nov. 27, 1960, when Hickey called a meeting.
“I asked my players if any of them thought we could beat Baltimore with our regular offense, and not one hand went up,” Hickey told The San Francisco Chronicle in 2001.
Hoping to cope with a Colts rush led by linemen Art Donovan, Gino Marchetti and Big Daddy Lipscomb, Hickey scrapped the T formation.
He had his quarterback stand about 5 yards behind the line instead of taking the snap while under center, and he spread his backs to the sides. That alignment, drawing on the double wing and short punt formations previously used in college football, gave the offense an extra second or two to develop a play. The quarterback could run, hand off to a crisscrossing back or throw.
Their No. 3 quarterback, the rookie Bob Waters, engineered the winning touchdown on a late pass followed by a lateral after he replaced the injured John Brodie and Y. A. Tittle. The 49ers upset the Colts, 30-22.
In the locker room, Hickey told reporters that his offense was simply “spread right and spread left.”
But moments later, as he related it to The Chronicle in 2001, he came up with something more sprightly. “Well, I’m an old country boy, and I used to go hunting with a shotgun,” he said. “How about we call it the shotgun?”
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