Baylor High School in Chattanooga made a very good decision in 1930. That’s the year they hired football coaching legend Humphrey B. Heywood, just out of the University of Chattanooga. In college, Heywood had lettered in football three times and during his final year was an all-conference guard, captain of the team, and winner of the Shyer Cup, given annually to the senior with the highest overall academic average. Baylor and Humphrey Heywood were the perfect match, and he would go on to spend forty-one years there. Twenty of those years, Heywood was head football coach, compiling a remarkable 160-19-9 record. As Rockne did for Notre Dame and Lombardi for Green Bay, “Humpy,” as he was known to all, used football to build a tradition at Baylor. One year there was “a Baylor boy” playing at every position in the backfield for one of Bobby Dodd’s great Georgia Tech teams. All-Americans Bill Healy, Eddie Prokop, Leon Hareman, Rufus Gutherie, Bill Johnson, and Joe Steffy all played at Baylor and loved and respected Heywood. “Coach was a great teacher and motivator, but still had a lot of compassion for his players and opponents,” said Gutherie. After his prestigious career at Baylor, Heywood went on to be the director of the Chattanooga YMCA, before retiring. “Humpy” passed away in 1995. Heywood Stadium at Baylor is testimony to the fact that he will never be forgotten.
