Henderson Edmund "Harry" "Dutch" Van Surdam (September 28, 1881 – May 28, 1982) was an American football player, coach, and official, musician, composer, bandleader, and superintendent of the El Paso Military Institute.

Van Surdam then served as the head football coach at Marietta College in 1906 and 1907, at Sewanee in 1908, at the El Paso Military Institute from 1909 to 1912, and at the Texas School of Mines (now known as the University of Texas at El Paso) in 1920, compiling a career record of 22–8–3.

[1] After graduating from high school in 1898, Van Surdam attended the Michigan Military Academy on a music scholarship.

[2] He played football at Wesleyan under head coach Howard R. Reiter who has been credited by some with the development of the overhand spiral forward pass.

Van Surdam worked in 1906 as a metallurgical chemist for Westinghouse Laboratories in New York City and taught at the Choate School in Connecticut in 1907.

[8] Van Surdam was the head coach of the football team at Marietta College in Ohio for the 1906 and 1907 seasons.

The forward pass became legal in 1906, and Van Surdam was credited with being one of the first coaches to incorporate the new tactic during the 1906 season at Marietta.

[10][2] Van Surdam later described the play: The passer had to stand back five yards and you could only throw flat passes.

Sewanee was one of the major powers in the early years of Southern football, and Van Surdam's 1908 team defeated Georgia Tech (coached by John Heisman), played Vanderbilt (coached by Dan McGugin) to a 6–6 tie, and suffered its only loss in a close game with Auburn.

[8] Van Surdam later recalled that he had taken time off from the institute to pursue Pancho Villa after his 1913–1914 campaign into Ciudad Juárez, across the river from El Paso.

[15] Van Surdam also worked as a musician and composer for many years, beginning as a player in his father's band at age 12.