National Football Foundation

Born in Philadelphia, Dr. Ellwood A. Geiges graduated from Temple University and served as the Owls’ basketball coach in 1916 and 1917. He served as coach, physical education director and principal in Philadelphia high schools between 1918 and 1945. He officiated football and basketball games on the high school and college levels. Geiges was also head football coach at Hartford College (Conn.) from 1929-34.

Geiges played a major role as a member of the NCAA’s Football Rules Committee, inventing the hand signals referees use to indicate penalties. During a Syracuse-Cornell game in the late 1920s, Geiges was asked by a radio broadcaster if there were a better way to keep the booth better informed. The hand signals for offsides, holding, illegal shift and timeout that Geiges came up with are still in use today. He died in 1977 at the age of 82.