Player - Pittspurgh, Chicago

1940-1947

Coach - Edmonton, Chicago, St. Louis, Houston

1954-1963

By TED SOUTAR

They say that legends never die. Well, one died last Saturday, but in an age when many people can't recite the current lineup without a program. It's hard to think back to a time when players -- and coaches -- were looked on as gods by hometown fans in the CFL. It was a time when leather helmets were the norm. It was arguably the most innovative time for the game of football, and spawned one of the most innovative men among a cluster of them to ever come along.

Former Edmonton coach Frank (Pop) Ivy, the American football import who led the Edmonton Eskimos to three consecutive Grey Cup championships in the 1950s, passed away Saturday, May 17 in Norman, Okla. He was 87.

Ivy was Arizona Cardinal Hall of Famer Larry Wilson's first head coach in 1960. Wilson reflects on his former mentor, saying, "Frank was an outstanding offensive mind. He was the first coach I knew to run a double-wing formation. I appreciated him as a coach and person. He was a hard-nosed guy, which I liked."

Born January 25, 1916, Mr. Ivy began his playing career at the University of Oklahoma, playing defensive end from 1937-39 where he was named all-American in 1939. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates of the NFL and played four games with them in 1940 before being traded in mid-October to the Chicago Cardinals, where he was a two-way end for six seasons from 1940-47. Nicknamed "Pop" because of his premature baldness, Ivy took a 2-year break to serve in the Army infantry in Europe during World War II. After the war he played another three seasons, winning the 1947 NFL title. His best years as a player were in 1942 -- when he was second in the NFL with 27 catches for 259 yards, and 1947, when the Cardinals won their only NFL title.

The following year, he returned to his alma mater to spend six years as an assistant coach. Under legendary coach Bud Wilkinson, Ivy helped the Sooners to an undefeated season and a national championship in 1950. Other future Eskimos on that team included the first man to win the Schenley Award for Most Outstanding Player, future Heisman Trophy winner (1952) Billy Vessels, and Claude Arnold.

In 1954, the Edmonton Eskimos hired Mr. Ivy as their head coach and he led the club to a string of three consecutive Grey Cup championships from 1954-56, all against Douglas "Peahead" Walker and the Montreal Alouettes. He stayed on through 1957 -- compiling a CFL coaching record of 50 wins and 14 losses. He was renowned as an offensive innovator, spreading the field with double-wing and triple-flanker formations, and coming up with the "lonesome quarterback" set, a forerunner of the shotgun.

Many people mistakenly believe Ivy was the innovator of the "Split-T" formation. At the time, most teams used a straight T-formation, whereby offensive linemen would crouch shoulder to shoulder. The Split-T called for the linemen to line up spaced about four feet apart, thus forcing the defensive line to space themselves accordingly.

In actual fact, another University of Oklahoma alumnus, Darrel Royal -- a former assistant under Sooners coach Bud Wilkinson, who installed the Split-T offense at Oklahoma -- introduced it to the Canadian game. (Wilkinson learned the innovative option offence from its inventor, Don Faurot, while an assistant at Iowa Pre-Flight. He refined the offence with principles of the Single Wing offence he had learned as a player in the mid-1930s. He also added his own tweaking with a no-huddle approach known as the "Go-Go." This dangerous offence, taught to perfection by Wilkinson, would dominate NCAA football for a decade. The Sooners compiled a record of 93 wins, 10 losses, and 2 ties. They set a NCAA record with 47 consecutive wins, and would go undefeated in Conference play until 1959. At the end of the 1950's Wilkinson's overall record would stand at an amazing 121-13-3! Better than a 91% average!.

But back to Ivy. It has been argued that he inherited the talent that would bring him such success. Partly true. The team had benefited from one season under Darrel Royal's new system, to be sure. However, in order to be most effective, the Split-T still needed a quarterback. That quarterback would be one of Ivy's best finds: University of Maryland All-American Bernie Faloney. Besides his strong arm, Faloney was able to utilize a whole phalanx of brilliantly executed fakes to perfection.

Not unlike Tom Higgins today, Ivy had another problem every coach dreams of; he had two superb fullbacks, both acquired from Calgary. One was Normie Kwong, the "China Clipper". The other was Drake University All-American Johnny Bright. Both men were the Thomas Haskins and Mike Pringle, respectively of their day. Ivy's solution to this "problem" was, rather than cut one of them, he found a way to play them both. Thus was born the twin-fullback formation. With halfbacks Rollie Miles and Jackie Parker running sweeps, counter plays and pass routes, Kwong and Bright would take turns over the next five years leading the league in rushing yards.

"Nobody could stop it,'' said former Eskimo Bob Dean. "It set the league on fire. And he came up with a new defence that nobody had ever seen before either. Pop Ivy revolutionized Canadian football."

Initially, Kwong said no one would have dreamed that some football genius was taking over the team that Darryl Royal had coached the year before.

"First impressions were that he wasn't a very bright coach,'' said Kwong. "But after you worked with him ...The quick snap was his idea. The short kickoff. I can't remember half of them. Every Canadian rule you could take advantage of, Pop Ivy took advantage of. More than his record and anything else, Pop should be remembered as a major, major innovator in Canadian football.''

"When we got Johnny Bright from Calgary that first year, he was pretty banged up. I was the main fullback. But the next year Johnny was his old self and Pop had come in as coach ...''

The rest, as they say, is history.

Ivy may have meant the most to Quarterback Don Getty.

"When I came in as a rookie in 1955, the Eskimos had already won a Grey Cup the year before. Pop promised he'd give me a shot at quarterback, not defensive back. And he did. He was good to his word. He watched me and told me, 'I've never had a college quarterback throw like that. You can throw as good as the guys in the NFL.' That did amazing things for my confidence."

"When the season started he kept just Jackie and me and didn't hesitate to switch. Jackie got sick and I started and won a game in Regina. He didn't send in a play.''

In 1956, Ivy, ever the wily innovator, experimented yet again. He elevated Western Mustang alumnus Getty to quarterback for the Western Final and the Grey Cup game, moving Jackie Parker to halfback. In the two most important games of the season, Getty responded on the scoreboard, as the Esks first beat Saskatchewan 51-7 in the third game of the Western Finals -- then a best-of-three affair -- and then Montreal 50-27 in the Grey Cup game.

"Pop put in a new timing offence in three days before the 1956 Grey Cup game. It blew them out,'' he said of the 50-27 win over Montreal.

"I think we set a record for number of plays. He played me at quarterback so he could use Jackie Parker at halfback with Rollie Miles. He put in triple lateral plays for them.''

It wasn't just about Xs and Os with Ivy.

"When we beat Regina to get to that Grey Cup, Pop sensed guys were getting satisfied. We were in London, Ontario preparing for that Grey Cup and I think Pop read his team. I think it was a big reason he put in all that new stuff. He gave us something to concentrate on, something to work on.''

"He was a coach who had the confidence in himself and enough confidence in me to let a Canadian kid play quarterback,'' said Getty.

"I loved him.''

"Pop Ivy started the Eskimo tradition that exists today. That team won three straight Grey Cups because of Pop Ivy. He established a sense of class about the Eskimos a level above everybody else in the league, which exists to this day.''

Former player (and later assistant coach) under Ivy, Eagle Keys had this to say about his former mentor:

"You have to look at his success in terms of the time. When he coached in Edmonton he had one assistant coach, so he had to know both offence and defence. He had to coach, not just delegate to a pile of assistants. There was no exchange of film and no playbooks. He did it on the blackboard. He got along well with his players. He was a great coach."

And this from Jackie Parker:

"Pop Ivy was largely responsible for me being however good it was that I turned out to be. He was a great football coach. He meant a lot to me.''

Ivy returned to Chicago in 1958, spending four seasons as head coach of the NFL Cardinals before moving on to the Houston Oilers of the American Football League. Ivy was 17-31-2 with the Cardinals during that four-year period in which the franchise relocated in St. Louis. He coached the Houston Oilers of the AFL from 1962-63, posting a 17-12 record, and leading the 1962 Oilers to an 11-3 record before losing the AFL Championship 17-14 in double overtime to the Dallas Texans.

He later worked as an assistant coach and scout with the New York Giants before retiring in 1984. He finished his coaching career with an 82-56 record over nine seasons.

Frank Ivy is the only man to serve as head coach in the NFL, AFL and CFL.

Height: 6' 3"

Weight: 208 lbs

Born: January 25th, 1916

Sources:

- SLAM! Sports

- Canadian Press

- Edmonton Eskimos Football Club

- "Legends of Autumn" by Denny Boyd & Brian Scrivener, 1997, Greystone Books

- Arizona Cardinals Official web site: http://www.azcardinals.com

- http://www.pro-football-reference.com

- http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/players.nsf/ID/02160001

- TSN

- CBC

- USA Today

- Houston Chronicle

- Boston Globe