Glenn Scobey Warner Glenn Scobey Warner ( April 5 , 1871 – September 7 , 1954 ) , most commonly known as Pop Warner , was an American football player and coach . He served as the head coach at the University of Georgia ( 1895 – 1896 ) , Cornell University ( 1897 – 1898 , 1904 – 1906 ) , the Carlisle Indian Industrial School ( 1899 – 1903 , 1907 – 1914 ) , the University of Pittsburgh ( 1915 – 1923 ) , Stanford University ( 1924 – 1932 ) , and Temple University ( 1933 – 1938 ) , compiling a career college football record of 319 – 106 – 32 . Warner coached four teams to national championships : in 1915 , 1916 , and 1918 with Pittsburgh and in 1926 with Stanford . He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1951 . Warner also helped start the popular youth American football organization , Pop Warner Little Scholars . Early life and playing career . Warner was born in Springville , New York . He attended and played football for Cornell University . As captain of the Cornell football team , Warner obtained the nickname " Pop " because he was older than most of his teammates . After graduating from Cornell , he had a brief legal career in New York . Warner married Lorraine Tibb , 1888 graduate of Ten Broeck Academy in the Town of Franklinville . In 1902 , Warner played pro football for the Syracuse Athletic Club during the first World Series of Football , held at Madison Square Garden . It was during this event , that Warner played in the very first professional indoor football game as his Syracuse squad upset the heavily favored " New York " team . During the Series , Warner was cut badly on the side of his head . While he laughed it off at the time , he was replaced for the rest of the Series , by Blondy Wallace . Coaching career . Warner was hired by the University of Georgia as its new head football coach in 1895 at a salary of $ 34 per week . For the 1895 – 1896 academic year , Georgia ' s entire student body consisted of 126 students . This was Georgia ' s first year in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association , a conference that it founded along with Alabama , Auburn , Georgia Tech , North Carolina and Vanderbilt . Warner ' s first Georgia team had three wins against four losses . The following year , Georgia rehired Warner and the team had an undefeated season . While at Georgia , Warner also served as a co - coach at Iowa State . He coached teams from two schools simultaneously on three occasions : Iowa State and Georgia during the 1895 and 1896 seasons , Iowa State and Cornell in 1897 and 1898 , and Iowa State and Carlisle in 1899 . Warner ' s Iowa State record was 18 – 8 , bringing Warner ' s total lifetime record to 337 – 114 – 32 . After his stint in Georgia , Warner returned to Cornell to coach football for two seasons . He then coached at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania from 1899 to 1903 , returned to Cornell for three seasons , and returned again to Carlisle in 1907 . During his second tenure at Carlisle , Warner coached one of the most famous American athletes , Jim Thorpe . In 1914 , Warner was hired by the University of Pittsburgh , where he coached his teams to 33 straight major wins and has been credited with three national championships , in 1915 , 1916 and 1918 . He coached Pittsburgh from 1915 to 1923 , compiling a record of 60 – 12 – 4 . One of Warner ' s players , Jock Sutherland , would succeed him as the head coach at Pitt . The next team Warner coached was at Stanford University from 1924 to 1932 , where his teams played in three Rose Bowl games , including the classic 1925 Rose Bowl game against Knute Rockne and the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame . Warner added a fourth national championship in 1926 . Warner ' s final head coaching job was at Temple University where he coached for five years until retiring in 1938 . Following his retirement , he served as advisory football coach for the Spartans of San Jose State College . Warner brought many innovative playing mechanics to college football : Warner died of throat cancer in Palo Alto , California at the age of 83 .