Hall of Fame
Henry "Red" Sanders was an all-around athlete at Vanderbilt.
He lettered three years in football, played basketball and
captained the baseball team. His first coaching job was on the
Clemson staff 1927-29. For the period 1931-37 he was head coach
at Columbia Military Academy, then Riverside Military Academy.
His teams had a 55-4-2 record. Next came assistant jobs with
Florida 1938 and Louisiana State 1939. He had two terms as
Vanderbilt head coach, 1940-42 and 1946-48. In between he had
three years in the Navy as a lieutenant commander. His
Vanderbilt record was 36-22-2. He was UCLA head coach 1949-57
with a 66-19-1 record. In 1954 his UCLA team was 9-0, averaged
41 points a game, and held opponents to an average of four
points a game. UCLA was national champion, and Sanders was
Coach of the Year. He started the 1954 season with just 37
players on the varsity squad, 20 on the junior varsity.
Sanders seldom scrimmaged, used classroom instruction and
worked on a strict time schedule. He once said his players
"spend only about seven hours a week on the practice field."
But they performed expertly. He stayed with the single-wing
formation until the very end, while other coaches went to
the T. His overall record was 102-41-3. Sanders was born
May 7, 1905 in Asheville, NC. He died August 14, 1958.
