Sam P. McBirney

Sam Pendleton McBirney (August 8, 1877 – January 20, 1936) was an American football coach and banker.

[2] One author has written that the McBirney brothers were brought to Tulsa as "ringers" for the city's baseball team.

"[1] In the late 1890s, the McBirney brothers began working as bookkeepers for the Tulsa Banking Company.

In 1908, McBirney volunteered to take time away from his duties at the bank to coach the school's football team.

Hamilton H. Conwell and Hugh J. Collins assuming the coaching responsibilities for the final game of the season against New Mexico A&M.

His 1913 Tulsa High School team completed an undefeated season, won a mythical Oklahoma state championship, and defeated Henry Kendall College 27 to 6.

"[3] In 1916, Kendall College's enrollment increased to 400 students,[3] and McBirney petitioned the school to hire a full-time physical education teacher and assistant football coach.

With McBirney as head coach and Schmidt as his assistant coach, the 1916 Tulsa team compiled an undefeated 10-0 record and outscored opponents 566 to 40 to become the highest scoring college football team during the 1916 college football season.

[10] Kendall's 1916 games included high-scoring wins against Missouri-Rolla (117–0), St. Gregory (82–0), Ozarks (81–0), and Haskell Institute (46–0).

The 1916 team gained renown for its short passing offense and for the deceptive and unique play calling of McBirney and Schmidt.

Ivan Grove threw a pass to Vergil Jones as he sat on the shoulders of Puny Blevins.

"[13] After the 1916 season, McBirney retired as Kendall's football coach to devote his full-time to the bank.

After two years of military service, Schmidt led the team to back-to-back undefeated seasons in 1919 and 1920 before moving on to a successful coaching career with Arkansas, TCU, and Ohio State.

When McBirney found out that his wife had decided to write a newspaper column, he reportedly said, "That crazy woman will start a run on the bank if people think she has to work!