Willie Heston William Martin " Willie " Heston ( September 9 , 1878 – September 9 , 1963 ) was an American football player and coach . He played halfback at San Jose State University and the University of Michigan . Heston was the head football coach for Drake University in 1905 and North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts , now North Carolina State University , in 1906 . After he retired from coaching , he practiced law and served as a state court judge in Michigan . Heston was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954 . He was selected by the Football Writers Association of America as the halfback for its all - time team for the first 50 years of the sport . University of Michigan coach Fielding H . Yost rated him as the greatest player of all - time . Early years . Heston was born in Galesburg , Illinois in 1878 . His father , John William Heston , was a tenant farmer near Galesburg . At age four , Heston moved with his family to a river - bottom farm in Rippey , Iowa . Heston reportedly had two near - death experiences while living in Iowa , the first after contracting " whooping cough " and the second when he fell into the Raccoon River and had to be rescued by his sister . At age nine , Heston moved with his family to a ranch in southwestern Kansas , where Heston was taken out of school to help the family raise money herding cattle . In 1894 , Heston moved with his family to a farm in Grant ' s Pass , Oregon . As a teenager , he worked digging a ditch to supply water to a mine and chopping down and selling firewood . The local high school principal , Professor Champ Price , met Heston and suggested that he attend high school . Heston attended Grants Pass High School starting in 1895 , and it was there that his athletic ability as a runner was discovered . He graduated from high school in 1898 as the co - valedictorian of his class . Football player . San Jose State Normal School . In 1898 , Heston enrolled at San Jose State Normal School ( now San Jose State University ) in San Jose , California , with plans to become a school teacher . Heston was introduced to football while attending San Jose State . San Jose ' s football coach , Jesse Woods , put Heston at the halfback position where he scored more touchdowns in his first year of football than any of the regular players . A newspaper reported on Heston in 1898 : " A star run of left half Heston made 70 yards . . . Heston was easily the star of the game . No better performance than his has been witnessed in this state . " San Jose ' s 1899 football team , with Heston as the captain , lost only one game , that being against the University of California . During the 1900 season , San Jose was undefeated and played Chico State Normal School to a 6 - 6 tie in the championship game . The teams agreed to a rematch three weeks later , and Stanford ' s coach Fielding H . Yost agreed to coach the San Jose State team in the two weeks leading up to the rematch . With Yost ' s guidance , San Jose State beat Chico State 46 to 0 in the rematch . Heston received his teaching degree from San Jose State and accepted a teaching job in Oregon in 1901 . University of Michigan . In the summer of 1901 , Heston received a letter from coach Yost advising that he had been hired as the football coach at the University of Michigan and inviting Heston to continue his education at Michigan . Heston initially declined , but subsequently agreed and joined Yost at the University of Michigan in late summer of 1901 . Heston was enrolled in the law school . Statistics and awards . With Heston in the backfield , the Michigan Wolverines had four of the most successful seasons in the history of college football . The 1901 to 1904 teams became known as the " Point - a - Minute " teams because they averaged more than a point for every minute played . The 1901 team was 11 - 0 and outscored its opponents 555 to 0 . The 1902 team was 11 - 0 and outscored its opponents 644 to 12 . The 1903 team was 11 - 0 - 1 and outscored opponents 565 to 6 . And the 1904 team was 10 - 0 and outscored its opponents 577 to 22 . In Heston ' s four years as the starting left halfback , Michigan compiled an overall record of 43 - 0 - 1 and outscored its opponents 2 , 326 to 40 . During his four years at Michigan , Heston was known as a work - horse of the Wolverines ' offense . In a 1903 game against the Chicago Maroons , the Michigan team gained 267 yards rushing , and Heston accounted for 237 of them . Noting the frequency with which Heston carried the ball , Ring Lardner wrote , " Michigan called Heston ' s signal . Maybe it was the only one they had . " Heston later wrote that his first touchdown at Michigan was his greatest thrill in football . His first game for Michigan was a September 1901 match against Albion College . Heston was put into the game in the second half . While sitting on the bench , he noticed that Albion ' s quarterback made long lateral passes to the backs . Heston snuck through the line , grabbed the ball as the quarterback was trying to throw it to a back , and ran the ball back 30 yards for his first Michigan touchdown . In the inaugural Rose Bowl game played on January 1 , 1902 , Heston rushed for 170 yards on 18 carries , as Michigan defeated Stanford 49 to 0 . Heston held the record for most rushing yards in a Rose Bowl game for 59 years . Historic accounts differ on the number of touchdowns scored by Heston . In a letter to Grantland Rice in 1925 , Fielding H . Yost claimed that Heston had scored 106 touchdowns at Michigan . The University of Michigan gives the total as 72 touchdowns , which it reports is still the school record . Other sources have variously reported that Heston scored 92 touchdowns , 93 touchdowns , and " more than 100 touchdowns . " In 2002 , the NCAA published " NCAA Football ' s Finest , " researched and compiled by the NCAA Statistics Service . The compilers were able to find rushing statistics for only 17 of Heston ' s games for Michigan and , subject to that caveat , published the following statistics : Walter Camp selected Heston as a third - team All - American in 1901 and 1902 and as a first - team All - American in both 1903 and 1904 . Although several sources cite Heston as the first player from outside the Ivy League to be picked as a first - team All - American , Clarence Herschberger of Chicago and William Cunningham of Michigan were the first , receiving the honor in 1898 from Camp and Casper Whitney respectively . Running style . At five feet eight inches and 185 pounds , Heston was described as being " compact and muscularly built . " He was known for his quick starting ability . Archie Hahn , the 1904 Olympic gold medalist in the 100 - meter run , was a classmate of Heston at the University of Michigan . Although Heston could not outrun Hahn at the 100 - yard distance , he was regularly able to beat Hahn in impromptu 40 - yard races . Walter Eckersall , who played against Heston and later became a football writer for the " Chicago Tribune " recalled that Heston " had an uncanny knack of gathering speed quickly and he frequently was penalized five yard for receiving the ball from the quarterback on a forward pass . " Heston also had what observers considered an uncanny ability to pivot and switch direction at full speed . Fielding Yost observed that " Heston could run full speed at a brick wall and , just before crashing into it , pivot and proceed alongside it with no diminishing of acceleration . " Eckersall described Heston as " a slashing , tearing back who drove off the tackles " who had " terrific driving power in his legs " and " a powerful stiff arm . " Heston developed a reputation as a " hard , crunching runner who smashed through opposition when he couldn ' t outspeed his rivals . " He was known as " a clever dodger in the open " who " used his hands with telling effect in warding off tacklers . " In 1929 , a newspaper reporter recalled Heston ' s running style as follows : " A strong arm helped Willie , Sr . , to move ' em . After cracking through that line the old arm would go out . You can still pick out men who used to play football against Michigan in ' 02 and ' 03 , they say , because their faces seem just a little out of kilter . The straight arm in the old days sometimes wasn ' t so straight . " Defensive player . Heston played in the era when players remained in the game on both offense and defense . In 1954 , the " Chicago Tribune " profiled Heston as one of the " Iron Men of Football ' s Glory Days . " After the 1904 season , the " Football Guide " described Heston as " practically unhurtable . " Though known primarily for his running and scoring , Fielding Yost said of Heston : " He was one of the greatest defensive backs , one of the hardest , surest tacklers that ever lived . " Chicago ' s Walter Eckersall recalled : " On defense , Heston was just as valuable to his team . He was a quick thinker , who anticipated opponents ' plays . . . He was always in the vicinity of the ball and never appeared to tire . " Innovations . Heston has been acknowledged as the first to play at what later was designated as the tailback position on offense . Prior to Heston , left halfbacks ran plays in one direction , and right halfbacks ran plays in the other direction . Because of Heston ' s speed and agility , Yost placed Heston in the tailback position so that he could carry the ball on plays to either side of the line . Heston ' s charging ability and open - field running have also been credited with leading to the origin of the " seven man line and a diamond on defense . " Minnesota ' s College Football Hall of Fame coaching staff of Henry L . Williams and Pudge Heffelfinger devised the strategy in 1903 to stop Heston . Minnesota had previously used the then - traditional nine - man line with the fullback backing up the line and a safety man down the field . Heffelfinger suggested that the halfbacks be pulled out of the line and stationed behind the tackles , thus requiring Heston to break through an initial seven - man line and a secondary line consisting of the fullback and two halfbacks . Known as the " Minnesota shift " , the formation became a standard practice . In 1936 , Arch Ward credited Heston with leading to one of the " noteworthy transitions " in football history . In 1943 , NEA sports editor Harry Grayson credited Heston as the impetus for " a turning point from old style football to the modern game . " Professional football . In late 1904 or 1905 , Heston reportedly sought to establish a bidding contest for his services among the professional football teams . The Massillon Tigers and the Akron East Ends were the leading professional teams at the time , and both teams were reported to be angling for Heston ' s services . Heston reportedly sent a telegram to the Massillon team advising that Akron had offered him $ 500 to play for them in a Thanksgiving Day game , and asking how much Massillon would be willing to pay . When Massillon learned the next day that Heston had sent a similar telegram to the Akron club , both clubs refused to do business with him . The Canton Bulldogs offered him $ 500 a game in August 1905 , but Heston instead accepted a coaching position at Drake University for the 1905 season . One football writer has cited Heston as " pro football ' s first holdout . " In 1906 , Heston signed to play for the Canton Bulldogs , reportedly for $ 600 and expenses . He next organized a team called " Willie Heston ' s All - Stars " to play a game against the Massillon Tigers at Chicago ' s Comiskey Park on Thanksgiving Day 1906 . Early in the game , Heston broke a bone in his leg , ending his professional football career . Football coach . Drake University . Heston was the eighth head football coach for Drake University located in Des Moines , Iowa . He held that position for the 1905 season . His coaching record at Drake was 4 wins , 4 losses , and 0 ties . Heston ' s Drake team lost to Michigan 48 to 0 , but responded the following week with a " Point - a - Minute " win against Simpson College by a score of 75 to 0 . North Carolina State University . In 1906 , Heston served as the head coach for North Carolina State University . While posting a record of 3 wins , 1 loss , and 4 ties , Heston ' s team outscored its opponents 100 to 10 . The team played scoreless ties against Virginia , Clemson and Richmond . The one loss was to Virginia Tech by a score of 6 – 0 . The three wins were all dominating shutouts , including a 40 to 0 win against William & Mary and a 17 to 0 win over VMI . Legal career . Heston received his law degree from the University of Michigan in 1904 . In 1908 , he established a law practice in Detroit , Michigan . He served as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Wayne County from 1911 to 1916 . He became a judge on the Detroit Recorders criminal court bench in 1916 and continued in that capacity through 1923 . Family and later years . Heston was married twice . His first wife died , and he was married in 1956 at age 77 to the former Sarah E . Williams of Bay City , Michigan . He had two sons , John Heston and William M . Heston , Jr . , and a daughter , Frances . Both of his sons played varsity football for the University of Michigan . In the 1930s , Heston went into the real estate business in Detroit . He also established a cemetery in Flat Rock , Michigan . Heston ran a half - mile every morning until he was age 75 , and remained vigorous and active into his eighties . A short time before his death at age 85 , Heston told a reporter , " I don ' t run the half mile any more and I ' ve quit going to dances , but I smoke seven cigars a day and I ' m having a lot of fun loafing and living . " Heston died on his 85th birthday in 1963 . He suffered from a kidney ailment while staying at his summer home in Lake Manistee , Michigan , and had been hospitalized for four weeks at a hospital in Traverse City . The pallbearers at Heston ' s funeral were former Michigan Wolverines football All - Americans Ernie Vick , Jack Blott , Bennie Oosterbaan , Francis Wistert , Harry Newman and Otto Pommerening . Historical honors and recognition . In the first half of the 20th century , Heston was ranked as one of the greatest players in football history . Knute Rockne named Heston as the greatest back of all time : " Willie Heston gets my vote as the greatest back of all time . Since those days many wonderful backs have flashed on the gridiron , including Red Grange and my own Four Horsemen of 1924 , and my choice is still Heston . " International News Service sports editor Frank G . Menke proclaimed Heston " the greatest halfback that America ever produced " and explained : " Heston was the irresistible force - - the human juggernaut . He hurled his compact , marvelous body into the most powerful human walls that were ever produced - - and split them asunder . Every team that played Michigan during the regime of Heston had orders to ' get Heston ! ' And none succeeded . Four men , six men , eight men , oftentimes threw themselves into the pathway of the charging Wolverine . And he crashed into - - and through - - those defenses as a bowling pin tips through the ten pins . " Fielding Yost argued that Heston was the greatest player of all - time . When some in the 1920s suggested that Red Grange may have surpassed Heston as the greatest back , Yost provided sports writer Grantland Rice with an eight - point argument as to why Heston was the greatest . Yost ' s points included the following : " 1 . He was the fastest starting back that ever lived . Heston could beat Archie Hahn every time at fifty yards , and Hahn was good for 9 4 - 5 , then world ' s champion . < br > 2 . Heston was the quickest back for a shift or a thrust or a sidestep I ever saw . He was like lightning . < br > 3 . Heston was the most powerful runner of them all . Weighing 185 pounds , he was compactly built and struck with such terrific force that few could stand up before him . . . . < br > 5 . He was never hurt . < br > 6 . He was equally great at ripping open a line or shooting through a broken field . < br > 7 . He made 106 touchdowns in four years . This would be equal to 636 points today . . . . He gained over 500 yards from scrimmage in any number of single contests . " In 1953 , Heston was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame . And in 1974 , the Football Writers Association of America selected Heston as the halfback for the all - time team for the period 1869 - 1919 ( football ' s first half century ) .