Henry Clifford "Doc" Carlson (July 4, 1894 – November 1, 1964) was an American basketball coach and football player.

His 1927–28 team finished the season with a 21–0 record[1] and was retroactively named the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll; Carlson's Panthers would receive retroactive recognition as the Helms national champion for the 1929–30 season as well.

During his undergraduate years at the University of Pittsburgh (1914–1918) he earned three letters in basketball, two in baseball, four in football.

After graduation in 1918,[5] Carlson completed his medical degree at Pitt in 1920,[6] but then joined the Cleveland Indians professional football team for one season.

(Both were selected as national champions, prior to the advent of NCAA Tournament, by the Helms Athletic Foundation.)

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.