Henry Russell Sanders
Encyclopedia
Henry Russell "Red" Sanders (May 7, 1905 – August 14, 1958) was an American
college football
player and coach. He served as the head coach at Vanderbilt University
(1940–1942, 1946–1948) and the University of California at Los Angeles (1949–1957), compiling a career college football
record of 102–41–3. Sanders' 1954 UCLA team was named national champions
by the Coaches' Poll and the Football Writers Association of America. Sanders was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
as a coach in 1996.
Known for being witty and hard driving, Sanders used the single-wing formation at Vanderbilt and UCLA. He is widely credited with coining the saying, "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing". When asked about the UCLA–USC rivalry, Sanders said "it's not a matter of life and death, it's more important than that!"
, where he attended Duncan Preparatory School for Boys. One of his best boyhood friends and fellow classmate at Duncan was renowned sports writer Fred Russell
, with whom he would remain close friends his entire life.
. He was a four-year letterman both in football and baseball
. He was captain of the baseball team in his senior year. He was the quarterback
on the football team. His football coach, Dan McGugin
, said of him, "Red Sanders has one of the best football minds I have ever known."
He also had a successful stint as head coach at Vanderbilt compiling a 36–22–2 (.617) record there, the best mark by a coach while the school has been a member of the Southeastern Conference
.
Highlights included
(PCC) titles, two Rose Bowls
('53 and '55 seasons) and to a 6–3 record over arch-rival USC.
Sanders instituted the distinctive football uniforms worn by the Bruins when he replaced the navy blue jerseys with "powderkeg blue," added the shoulder stripe to give the impression of motion, and changed the number style from block to clarendon. Sanders said these changes were made to make it easier to see his Bruins on the grainy black and white game films of the time.
The 1954 Bruins compiled a 9–0 record and climbed to the top of the Coaches' Poll, sharing the national championship with Ohio State
, winner of the AP Poll
's title. Due to the PCC's early "no repeat" rule, the undefeated Bruins were unable to compete in the Rose Bowl that season despite being the PCC champion. Second-place USC , who the Bruins defeated 34–0, played in the 1955 Rose Bowl
instead and lost to Big Ten Conference
champion and eventual co-national champion Ohio State, 20–7.
Sanders died suddenly of a heart attack
on August 14, 1958, just before the 1958 season. His assistant coach George W. Dickerson
rushed in on an interim basis to take his place for the first three games, suffered a nervous breakdown, and was replaced by William F. Barnes
.
article preceding the 1956 Rose Bowl
, he was quoted as saying "Sure, winning isn't every thing, It's the only thing." The quote has since been erroneously attributed to Vince Lombardi as the originator.
, "Beating 'SC is not a matter of life or death, it's more important than that."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
college football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player and coach. He served as the head coach at Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
(1940–1942, 1946–1948) and the University of California at Los Angeles (1949–1957), compiling a career college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
record of 102–41–3. Sanders' 1954 UCLA team was named national champions
NCAA Division I FBS National Football Championship
A college football national championship in the highest level of collegiate play in the United States, currently the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , is a designation awarded annually by various third-party organizations to their selection of the best...
by the Coaches' Poll and the Football Writers Association of America. Sanders was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
as a coach in 1996.
Known for being witty and hard driving, Sanders used the single-wing formation at Vanderbilt and UCLA. He is widely credited with coining the saying, "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing". When asked about the UCLA–USC rivalry, Sanders said "it's not a matter of life and death, it's more important than that!"
Childhood
Sanders spent most of his youth in Nashville, TennesseeNashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, where he attended Duncan Preparatory School for Boys. One of his best boyhood friends and fellow classmate at Duncan was renowned sports writer Fred Russell
Fred Russell
Fred Russell was an American sports writer prominent in the Golden Era of Sports in the 20th century...
, with whom he would remain close friends his entire life.
Vanderbilt
Sanders attended college at Vanderbilt UniversityVanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
. He was a four-year letterman both in football and baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
. He was captain of the baseball team in his senior year. He was the quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
on the football team. His football coach, Dan McGugin
Dan McGugin
Daniel Earle McGugin was an American football player, coach, and lawyer. He served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee from 1904 to 1917 and again from 1919 to 1934, compiling a record of 197–55–19. He played college football at the University...
, said of him, "Red Sanders has one of the best football minds I have ever known."
He also had a successful stint as head coach at Vanderbilt compiling a 36–22–2 (.617) record there, the best mark by a coach while the school has been a member of the Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
.
Highlights included
- A stunning upset of #7 ranked Alabama on November 22, 1941, in a driving rainstorm in Nashville; up to that time, only the second time in Commodore history where they defeated a ranked team.
- The first top-20 ranking in the school history in 1947, where the team was ranked #10 after opening the season with two wins. The team defended its ranking with a defeat of #18 Mississippi, the first time Vanderbilt played a ranked school while ranked.
- An eight game winning string to end the 1948 season, including a ranking in the final poll and a defeat of arch rival Tennessee. This still stands as the second longest single-season win streak in Vanderbilt football history.
UCLA
Sanders coached the Bruins from 1949 to 1957. He was arguably the best coach in school history, having compiled a record of 66–19–1 (.773) at UCLA and earning the school its only national championship in football. As head coach of the Bruins, Sanders led them to three Pacific Coast ConferencePacific Coast Conference
The Pacific Coast Conference was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pacific-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, the older league had a completely different charter and was disbanded in 1959 due to a major crisis...
(PCC) titles, two Rose Bowls
Rose Bowl Game
The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...
('53 and '55 seasons) and to a 6–3 record over arch-rival USC.
Sanders instituted the distinctive football uniforms worn by the Bruins when he replaced the navy blue jerseys with "powderkeg blue," added the shoulder stripe to give the impression of motion, and changed the number style from block to clarendon. Sanders said these changes were made to make it easier to see his Bruins on the grainy black and white game films of the time.
The 1954 Bruins compiled a 9–0 record and climbed to the top of the Coaches' Poll, sharing the national championship with Ohio State
1954 Ohio State Buckeyes football team
The 1954 Ohio State Buckeyes football team was led by QB Dave Leggett and captains John Borton and Dick Brubaker. They were the second national title team in Ohio State football history. They were coached by Hall of Fame coach Woody Hayes...
, winner of the AP Poll
AP Poll
The Associated Press College Poll refers to weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling sportswriters across the nation...
's title. Due to the PCC's early "no repeat" rule, the undefeated Bruins were unable to compete in the Rose Bowl that season despite being the PCC champion. Second-place USC , who the Bruins defeated 34–0, played in the 1955 Rose Bowl
1955 Rose Bowl
The 1955 Rose Bowl was a college football game played between the University of Southern California and the Ohio State University. Ohio State won the game, 20–7....
instead and lost to Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
champion and eventual co-national champion Ohio State, 20–7.
Sanders died suddenly of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
on August 14, 1958, just before the 1958 season. His assistant coach George W. Dickerson
George W. Dickerson
-References:Bibliography* UCLA Football Media Guide...
rushed in on an interim basis to take his place for the first three games, suffered a nervous breakdown, and was replaced by William F. Barnes
William F. Barnes
-Post coaching:He resigned after the 1964 season after learning that Athletic Director J.D. Morgan was not going to renew his contract. After leaving UCLA, he became an NFL scout. He later became a Real Estate developer.-Death:...
.
Winning isn't every thing, it's the only thing
Sanders actually spoke two different versions of the quote. In 1950, at a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo physical education workshop, Sanders told his group: "Men, I'll be honest. Winning isn't everything. (Long pause.) Men, it's the only thing!" In 1955, in a Sports IllustratedSports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
article preceding the 1956 Rose Bowl
1956 Rose Bowl
The 1956 Rose Bowl game, played on January 2, 1956 was the 42nd Rose Bowl game. The Michigan State Spartans defeated the UCLA Bruins, 17–14. Michigan State halfback Walt Kowalczyk was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game. The game was played on January 2, because New Year's Day was a Sunday...
, he was quoted as saying "Sure, winning isn't every thing, It's the only thing." The quote has since been erroneously attributed to Vince Lombardi as the originator.
Beating 'SC is not a matter of life or death, It's more important than that
While at UCLA, another famous quote was attributed to Sanders regarding the UCLA-USC rivalryUCLA-USC rivalry
The UCLA–USC rivalry is the American college rivalry between the UCLA Bruins sports teams of the University of California, Los Angeles and the USC Trojans sports teams of the University of Southern California ....
, "Beating 'SC is not a matter of life or death, it's more important than that."
Personal awards
- 1946 Blue-Gray Game, Montgomery, Alabama, Coach
- 1951 East-West Shrine GameEast-West Shrine GameThe East–West Shrine Game is an annual post-season college football all-star game played each January since 1925. The game is sponsored by the fraternal group Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and the net proceeds are earmarked to some of the Shrine's charitable works, most notably the Shriners...
, San Francisco, California, Coach - 1952 College All-Star GameCollege All-Star GameThe Chicago Charities College All-Star Game was a preseason American football game played annually from 1934 to 1976 between the National Football League champions and a team of star college seniors from the previous year...
, Chicago, Illinois, Coach - 1952 North-South Shrine Game, Miami, Florida, Coach
- 1953, 1954, and 1957 Football Coach of the Year - Los Angeles Times National Sports Awards Dinner
- 1954 Coach of the Year - National Collegiate Football Coaches' Association and the Touchdown Club of Washington, D.C.
- 1984 UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame (Charter Member)
- 1996 College Football Hall of Fame