Inside the life of Amos Alonzo Stagg, a man who not only witnessed great change, but was responsible for much of it in college football.
The arc of Amos Alonzo Stagg's life spanned the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. His career flourished on the Chicago Midway and found an encore on California's Pacific coast and in Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Valley. Stagg pioneered use of the tackling dummy, the huddle, the forward pass, the shift, the man-in-motion, the quick kick and the short punt. He developed the raw talent of young men with little or no athletic background long before the age of scholarship athletes, and his championship teams at the University of Chicago established the school's national reputation before it became famous for producing Nobel laureates. He helped shape the modern Olympic Games, and the coaching tree he nurtured continues to bear fruit in football programs across the country. Author Jennifer Taylor Hall traces the remarkable life of the Grand Old Man of Football.