Red Hickey Howard Wayne " Red " Hickey ( February 14 , 1917 — March 30 , 2006 ) was an American football player and coach who played for two teams and served as head coach for the San Francisco 49ers , where he was most famous for creating the shotgun formation in 1960 . A native of Clarksville , Arkansas , he attended the University of Arkansas , competing as a member of the football and basketball teams , where he won All - Conference accolades in both sports . In 1941 , he was a forward on the Razorback team that reached the Final Four teams , even though the tournament format was different from today and didn ' t end in a four team final . NFL playing career . That fall , Hickey advanced to play in the NFL with both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Rams , then missed the next three years while serving as a U . S . Navy gunnery officer during World War II . Upon his return , he was part of the 1945 Rams championship squad , then shifted with the team to Los Angeles to play from 1946 to 1948 . During his first season back , he also married his high school sweetheart , Cecelia Surina . NFL coaching career . Despite having finished the 1948 NFL season as the team ' s second - leading receiver with 30 catches for 509 yards and seven touchdowns , Hickey retired and joined the Rams ' coaching ranks on April 20 , 1949 as wide receivers coach . He remained in that capacity with the team for six seasons until resigning on December 12 , 1954 along with his fellow assistants . The departure had been the end result of continued conflicts with head coach Hamp Pool . Just over two weeks after leaving the Rams , Hickey was hired as a 49ers assistant under new head coach Red Strader , but after the team struggled during the 1955 NFL season , Strader was replaced in favor of former 49er quarterback Frankie Albert . Hickey stayed as an assistant during the three years Albert handled sideline duties for the team , and in 1957 , helped quarterback Y . A . Tittle and wide receiver R . C . Owens develop what became known as the " Alley - Oop " pass . The play was designed to take advantage of Owens ' s phenomenal leaping abilities and proved to be a success . When Albert resigned following the 1958 NFL season , citing the constant fan abuse heaped on not only him , but his family , Hickey was promoted to head coach on December 16 and received a three - year contract . During that first season , they put up a stiff challenge to the defending champion Baltimore Colts , managing a tie for the Western Conference lead with two games to play . However , on December 5 , the Colts broke the deadlock with a 34 - 14 victory and went on to capture another NFL title . The following season saw the team battle inconsistency for the first two - thirds of the campaign until Hickey unveiled his innovative new offense on November 27 , with the 49ers were facing the favored Colts . Hickey sought to find a way to combat the Colts ' strong pass rush and reasoned that having a quarterback stand seven yards back from the line of scrimmage would give the signal caller more time to throw , as well as force adjustments by Baltimore . The end result was a shocking 30 - 22 upset , with third - string quarterback Bob Waters surprisingly using the formation to aid the team ' s running game . The team won three of its final four games to again finish 7 - 5 and seemed ready to challenge for greater things in 1961 , with Hickey in place for the expected surge with a new three - year contract . Hickey then made a dramatic change in the chemistry of the team during the offseason when he traded Tittle . The veteran ' s absence appeared to make no difference when the season began with the team using the quarterback trio of John Brodie , Waters and rookie Billy Kilmer . After winning four of their first five games , including shutout wins over the Rams and Detroit Lions , the magic disappeared on October 22 , when the Chicago Bears blanked the 49ers , 31 - 0 . The Bears had moved linebacker Bill George from his regular spot up to the line of scrimmage , where he and his teammates were able to develop a strong pass rush , essentially putting an end to the formation . The absence of a true leader behind center was magnified when Tittle led his new team , the New York Giants , to the first of three consecutive berths in the NFL Championship game . After the team ' s 7 - 6 - 1 campaign during the 1961 NFL season , the 49ers dropped slightly the following year , finishing 6 - 8 . When the team lost its first three games in 1963 , the last coming in a 45 - 14 thrashing by the Minnesota Vikings , Hickey resigned on September 30 , and two weeks later was hired as a Rams ' scout for the remainder of the year . Scouting and later life . On February 1 , 1964 , he joined the Cowboys as an assistant coach , serving for two years . He had been a strong candidate to become head coach of the expansion Atlanta Falcons , but the post was given to Green Bay assistant Norb Hecker on January 26 , 1966 . Just six weeks later , Hickey resigned his coaching position and asked to join the Cowboy scouting staff . Hickey spent the next two decades as a Cowboys scout and watched with pride when his team dusted off his old offense in 1975 , using it only in specific situations , but popularizing a strategy that remains to this day . On an individual level , he was elected to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1968 , while his son , Mike , followed him into the world of scouting , working for the New England Patriots and New York Jets .