Clifford Carlson

H. C. "Doc" Carlson
Sport(s)	Basketball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	University of Pittsburgh
Conference	Independent (1922-32) Eastern Intercollegiate Conference (1933-39) Independent (1940-53)
Biographical details
Born	July 4, 1894(1894-07-04) Murray City, Ohio
Died	November 1, 1964(1964-11-01) (aged 70) Ligonier, Pennsylvania
Playing career
1915–1917	Pitt basketball Pitt football Pitt baseball
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1922-1953	Pittsburgh
Head coaching record
Overall	367-247 (.595)
Tournaments	1-1
Accomplishments and honors
Championships Helms Athletic Foundation National Championship (1928, 1930) NCAA Final Four 1941 Eastern Intercollegiate Conference Championship (1933, 1934, 1935, 1937)
Awards NABC Most Contributions to the Game (1948)
Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 1959
College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2006

Henry Clifford "Doc" Carlson (July 4, 1894 – November 1, 1964) is a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee as the men's college basketball coach of his alma mater, the University of Pittsburgh, from 1922 to 1953. At Pitt he compiled a record of 367-247 record (.595) and led the Panthers to a 21-0 record and the Helms Athletic Foundation national championship in 1928, another Helms national championship in 1930, and the Final Four in 1941. As a student at the university, Carlson was also a First Team All-American end on Pitt's football team under coach "Pop" Warner. Carlson also lettered in basketball and baseball.

Life

Carlson was born in Murray City, Ohio. He played high school football, basketball, and baseball (1910–1914) at Bellefonte Academy in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. During his undergraduate years at the University of Pittsburgh (1914–1918) he earned three letters in basketball, two in baseball, four in football. He played on the 1916 Pitt football team that is widely regarded as that season's national champion and was selected as an All-American football player while playing for Pitt's undefeated 1917 team.

After graduation, Carlson completed his medical degree at Pitt, but then joined the Cleveland Indians professional football team for one season. When in 1922 Andrew Kerr, who was Pitt's basketball coach and assistant football coach, left to become football head coach at Stanford University, Pitt hired "Doc" Carlson as its new basketball coach. Simultaneously he practiced as a physician for the Carnegie Steel Company.

Carlson was famous for his Figure 8 offense, an innovation that many coaches copied. In 1928 Pittsburgh went a perfect 21-0 and the national championship. His Panthers won another national title in 1930. (Both were selected as national champions, prior to the advent of NCAA Tournament, by the Helms Athletic Foundation.) He also led the Panthers to Eastern Intercollegiate Conference championships in four out of the seven years of the conference's existence. In 1931 Carlson became the first Eastern coach to take a collegiate team westward, going on the road to beat the University of Kansas, the University of Colorado, Stanford, and the University of Southern California. He also wrote the book You and Basketball.

Legend has it that Carlson offered Stan Musial a basketball scholarship to Pitt, but Musial only wanted to play baseball, and had secretly signed a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals' Monessen, Pennsylvania ball club of the Class D Pennsylvania State League Association.

Carlson became Pitt's director of student health services in 1932 and held that position until his retirement in 1953. Apart from his brief stint in the NFL, he spent the first 43 years of his adult life at Pitt as a student and coach. He died November 1, 1964 at his home in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.

Carlson was inducted into the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame in 1949, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in its inaugural class in 1959, and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in its inaugural class of 2006.

References

• Sciullo, Sam, Jr. (2005). Pitt: 100 Years of Pitt Basketball. Champaign: Sports Publishing. ISBN 1-59670-081-5. 
• "2008-09 Pittsburgh Men's Basketball Media Guide". University of Pittsburgh. http://pittsburghpanthers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/0809mbbguide.html. Retrieved 2008-11-05. 

External links

• Basketball Hall of Fame profile

The undefeated 1927-28 Pitt National Championship team featured Naismith Hall of Fame inductee Charlie Hyatt