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The Reader’s Notebook: John Heisman

John Heisman (born October 23, 1869, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.—died October 3, 1936, New York, New York) was an American collegiate gridiron football coach for 36 years and one of the greatest innovators of the game. He was responsible for legalizing the forward pass in 1906, and he originated the centre snap and the “hike,” or “hep,” count signals shouted by the quarterback in starting play. He was also the first coach to use the hidden ball play (later outlawed, it involved a player’s hiding the ball under his jersey), the double pass, interference on end runs, and the Heisman shift (a precursor of the T formation). He also promoted the division of game halves into quarters.

Britannica