When the St. Thomas football team faces off with perennial-power Mount Union Friday night under the bright lights of Salem Stadium in Virginia, the Tommies and Purple Raiders will be competing in the 43rd annual Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.

The Stagg Bowl was established in 1973 and has been played in Salem, Virginia since 1993 after being previously held in Alabama, Ohio and Florida.

But just who was Amos Alonzo Stagg, and why is the game named after him? The simple answer: he was a titan in the early days of American football whose impact is still felt a half-century after his death.

An innovator of the early game, Stagg is credited with introducing the tackling dummy, huddles, the reverse, the use of motion on offensive plays and employment of uniform numbers.

When Yale coach Walter Camp – himself a legendary figure in the game of football – helped pick the first All-America team in 1889, a certain end from Yale was included on the team. The player was none other than Amos Alonzo Stagg. Also on the team was Yale guard William “Pudge” Heffelfinger, the great-grandfather of former Tommie linebacker Rutger Heffelfinger and the first professional football player.

Stagg’s greatness extended to the sidelines as well.

Stagg served as the coach of the University of Chicago from 1892 to 1932 and led his team to 242 wins and seven Big Ten titles in his tenure before going on to coach at Pacific University and serve as an assistant at Susquehanna University.

Stagg was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 as both a player and coach.

Tom Pitzen can be reached at pitz2014@stthomas.edu.