Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

We have been used to seeing left hand quarterbacks such as Ken Stabler, Steve Young, and Micheal Vick.  The first was Frankie Albert.  At Stanford, Albert played for Clark Shaughnessy, who originated the T formation and forward pass.  Albert played for the San Francisco Forty Niners for seven years, four in the All America Conference (1946-1949)  and three in the NFL (1950-1952).

He led the AAFC in touchdown passes with 29 in 1948 and 27 in 1949.  Albert made it to the Pro Bowl in 1950, his team's first year in the NFL.  For his career, Albert completed 831 passes for a 53.1% rate; 10,975 yards; 115 touchdowns; and 98 interceptions.  These were the days before specialization and Frankie Albert was also the 49ers punter.  Albert punted 299 times for 12,866 yards and a 43 yard average.

Later the 49ers Head Coach, Frankie Albert has a place in NFL history.

Since Albert was the first modern T-formation QB, he kinda had to be the first southpaw

LeonardRachiele wrote:...Clark Shaughnessy, who originated the T formation and forward pass.

I had to read this a few times, but I think get it. The T was used prior to '06 when the forward pass was illegal. I would guess though that teams were passing out of the T when the pass first became legal though. I understand the single-wing would become the dominant formation for a while, but it wouldn't have been adopted by every team immediately, definitely not in '06 since I believe Warner is credited with its invention in '07 with Carlisle.

rhickok1109 wrote:Since Albert was the first modern T-formation QB, he kinda had to be the first southpaw

Was Albert first? I think Halas had Luckman running the T in the early '40s.

Southpaw Allie Sherman began his career as a backup QB with the Eagles in 1943.Eagles started running the T under Greasy Neale in '41.

TanksAndSpartans wrote:

LeonardRachiele wrote:...Clark Shaughnessy, who originated the T formation and forward pass.

I had to read this a few times, but I think get it. The T was used prior to '06 when the forward pass was illegal. I would guess though that teams were passing out of the T when the pass first became legal though. I understand the single-wing would become the dominant formation for a while, but it wouldn't have been adopted by every team immediately, definitely not in '06 since I believe Warner is credited with its invention in '07 with Carlisle.

rhickok1109 wrote:Since Albert was the first modern T-formation QB, he kinda had to be the first southpaw

Was Albert first? I think Halas had Luckman running the T in the early '40s.

Albert was the QB at Stanford when Shaughnessy created the modern T-formation in 1940.

The Bears used a version of the T-formation throughout their history because that was what Halas learned playing under Bob Zuppke at the University of Illinois.

Thats the question ... Did Shaughnessy at Stanford truly create the modern T-Formation, add wrinkles to it or simply popularize it from previous styles of employment?

He stole it from Walter Camp's laptop.

I thought Walter Camp used stone tablets ? I still feel Curley Lambeau doesnt get enough credit for opening up the passing game ...

Brian wolf wrote:Thats the question ... Did Shaughnessy at Stanford truly create the modern T-Formation, add wrinkles to it or simply popularize it from previous styles of employment?

Pupularizied can be a fair word but others would know tons more about it. Ralph Hickock points out it was around a long time, Bears used it from the beginning...but with so little film available it is hard to know and how much.

By 1939 it was their base offense, their go-to. And this includes the motioning of a back into the flat. A couple of years earlier Halas told the media that they used it 50% of the time. He also said he'd perfected it the early 1930s . . .metnioned Beattie Feathers and Nagurski.

The question is how much Shaughnessy had to do with the Bears use of motion, which was a wrinkle probably not used in the early T. I cannot verify this through film, but maybe someone has seen more stuff from the 1920s and mid-1930s but Bob Oates told me that motion was the thing Shaughnessy brought to the T. Before him motion was not a big part of football according to Oates.

At the University of Chicago in the 1930s he had to have been putting his mark on the T and then took it to Stanford in 1940. With college football being more popular than pro, perhaps that is why he gets the name "Father of the Modern T" but seems to me Halas is just as if not more? responsible for its development of it.

While in Chicago he and Halas were friends and probably shared ideas on that and other things. The earliest University of Chicago film I have seen is 1937 and they did the T with motion but they, Columbia, Notre Dame, and a couple of others used it in the early 1930s.

So while the T goes back to before the 1900s . . . it seems the motion came along later . . . and maybe Oates is right about motion but maybe not. Maybe Shaughnessy learned more from Halas than the other way around.

I also asked Oates if he ever saw Red Grange play. He said yes. In college. That man saw a lot.