96 2008 TCU Football

TODAY’S GAME

Horned Frog legend: Dutch Meyerby Andy Anderson, TCU Assistant Director, Media Relations

“Fight ‘em until hell freezes over, and then fight ‘em on the ice.”The quote evokes images of a tough-as-nails, no-nonsense type of

individual. When coming from a football coach, one can only imagine players being expected to run through walls and give every ounce of effort while on the field.

Former TCU head coach Leo R. (Dutch) Meyer was certainly on par with his famous statement in that regard.

Meyer, appointed the 20th Horned Frog head coach in 1934, built a foundation of excellence over his 19-year tenure that included a school record for wins that still stands to this day.

On his way to building a 109-79-13 ledger, he guided the Frogs to two national championships and three Southwest Conference titles. Meyer’s squad churned out a bevy of individual standouts, including Sammy Baugh, Heisman Trophy winner Davey O’Brien, Ki Aldrich, Darrell Lester and many others.

TCU’s offense for the time was a radical concept. Meyer helped mold the passing game for modern times by employing what would become known as the “Meyer Spread.” The scheme featured many of the same principles that numerous teams today feature in their own spread offensive attacks.

Meyer’s offense featured a wingback and ends spread out much more than usual. The quarterback, which he refered to as a tailback, took direct snaps from what would eventually be coined the shotgun formation. The quarterback called his own plays and could run or pass.

“He ran reverses, all kinds of different things,” said Dick Lowe, a former Frog who played for Meyer in 1947 and 1949 through 1950. “He had outside traps where he would put someone out, like an H-back, outside the tight end. He would trap the on-side guard on the same side from the outside instead of the inside. That was a great play.”

Meyer’s offense was so successful that other coaches and media attended TCU practices to get a first-hand look at it, and he even penned a book on the subject, entitled Spread Formation.

“Dutch Meyer taught us,” Baugh once said about Meyer. “All the

coaches I had in the pros, I didn’t learn a darn thing from any of `em compared with what Dutch Meyer taught me.”

Meyer’s tendancy toward innovation did not stop on the offensive side of the ball. In TCU’s 1949 matchup at 13th-ranked Texas, the Horned

Frog defense came out in a 9-2 front in order to help neutralize the Longhorns’ powerful running game. The unit stayed in the look the entire game while the team posted a 14-13 win.

In addition to the brilliant football mind, there’s that nickname that stands out today. Just how does one go about earning the surname “Old Iron Pants,” anyway?

“On the field he was tough as heck,” said Lowe. “But he was also a very compassionate man. He cared about his players. He wanted you to be a great football player, but he was more interested in you becoming a good man.”

Meyer had a big impact on Lowe’s life in part because of several instances of tough love.

As a sophomore following his father’s death, Lowe said that a

meeting with Meyer helped him put the event behind him.“You’ve been a kid as long as you are going to be,” Meyer told Lowe.

“From now on, you are a man because your mother needs you.”The talk with Meyer helped Lowe

put his own situation in perspective, but it was not the only way in which the coach affected the player.

Once following a poor semester in the classroom, Meyer took Lowe off scholarship as a way to teach responsibility for what he viewed as lackluster effort—despite that fact that Lowe was never academically ineligible. The grades improved and Lowe eventually earned back his scholarship and returned to the field.

What Meyer had done is what Lowe perceived as helping take the place of his missing father.

When Meyer retired from coaching in 1953, his backfield as sis tant, Othol (Abe) Mar tin, took over the coach ing reins. With his days as football coach behind him, Meyer spent several years at TCU’s athletics director before his retirement in 1963.

““As far as I am concerned, he is one of the greatest men who ever lived,” said Lowe. “What he did for me was great. The longer I live, the more I realize what kind of effect he had on my life.”

Dutch Meyer led TCU to two national championships in the decade of the 1930s.

Dutch Meyer (right) and Abe Martin (left) rank 1-2 in all-time victories at TCU.