MsippiRattler
August 27th, 2010, 12:11 PM
Jerry Rice's Hall of Fame Career a Tale of Stolen Magnolias
Denny Dressman
Award winning author
Posted: August 25, 2010 11:41 AM
Watching Jerry Rice's induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame reminded me of a story about the fabled passing attack that enabled him to catch more passes, for more yards and more touchdowns, than any pass receiver in the history of the National Football League.
I heard it from W.C. Gorden, the retired Jackson State football coach who is, himself, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, while sitting in his kitchen in Jackson, Mississippi, late one afternoon in November, 2008.......
....."The NFL started a program where they invited the coaching staffs from African American schools to spend a week at a pro camp.," Gorden continued "In 1980, I had been to San Francisco and spent time with the 49ers. Bill Walsh was such a personable person. We developed a good relationship."
"As a result," Gorden continued, "we continued to communicate after that week. A few years later, he called me about Jerry Rice. He said, 'W.C., do you have any film on Mississippi Valley that you could exchange with me?'".....
...."In the process of watching that film," W.C. recalled, "he got interested in the formations and the plays that were being utilized in Valley's offense. He calls me and says, 'W.C., I like what I see in Jerry Rice. But I really like this offense that Valley is using. Could you get me some more film on it?' So I did.".......
....."Valley would use a no-back offense," Gorden explained. "They would stack the receivers 1-2-3 behind each other. The first two would go out and run roll blocks, and Jerry Rice would break off of that. Bill Walsh put these formations and some of Valley's plays into the 49ers offense."
Research "West Coast Offense" and you'll find several differing accounts of its origin. San Diego's famous "Air Coryell" attack featuring quarterback Dan Fouts was the West Coast Offense by another name in the 1970s; it really originated in college, at Brigham Young University or the University of Washington, also in the '70s; or Walsh conceived it while he was an assistant coach with the Cincinnati Bengals under Paul Brown.
Here is Gorden's version:
The media got interested after San Francisco won another Super Bowl with it. They said, 'This is kind of a new offense, and we have just nicknamed it the West Coast Offense because that's where it originated. You were the first to use it, Bill. What do you call it?' And Bill said, 'That's the Magnolia Offense.' The media, of course, wanted to know what he meant by that. So he said, 'When I was scouting Jerry Rice and watching film from Mississippi Valley, I copied a lot of formations and instituted it.'
He said, 'I call it the Magnolia Offense because I stole it out of Mississippi.'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/denny-..._b_690677.html
Denny Dressman
Award winning author
Posted: August 25, 2010 11:41 AM
Watching Jerry Rice's induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame reminded me of a story about the fabled passing attack that enabled him to catch more passes, for more yards and more touchdowns, than any pass receiver in the history of the National Football League.
I heard it from W.C. Gorden, the retired Jackson State football coach who is, himself, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, while sitting in his kitchen in Jackson, Mississippi, late one afternoon in November, 2008.......
....."The NFL started a program where they invited the coaching staffs from African American schools to spend a week at a pro camp.," Gorden continued "In 1980, I had been to San Francisco and spent time with the 49ers. Bill Walsh was such a personable person. We developed a good relationship."
"As a result," Gorden continued, "we continued to communicate after that week. A few years later, he called me about Jerry Rice. He said, 'W.C., do you have any film on Mississippi Valley that you could exchange with me?'".....
...."In the process of watching that film," W.C. recalled, "he got interested in the formations and the plays that were being utilized in Valley's offense. He calls me and says, 'W.C., I like what I see in Jerry Rice. But I really like this offense that Valley is using. Could you get me some more film on it?' So I did.".......
....."Valley would use a no-back offense," Gorden explained. "They would stack the receivers 1-2-3 behind each other. The first two would go out and run roll blocks, and Jerry Rice would break off of that. Bill Walsh put these formations and some of Valley's plays into the 49ers offense."
Research "West Coast Offense" and you'll find several differing accounts of its origin. San Diego's famous "Air Coryell" attack featuring quarterback Dan Fouts was the West Coast Offense by another name in the 1970s; it really originated in college, at Brigham Young University or the University of Washington, also in the '70s; or Walsh conceived it while he was an assistant coach with the Cincinnati Bengals under Paul Brown.
Here is Gorden's version:
The media got interested after San Francisco won another Super Bowl with it. They said, 'This is kind of a new offense, and we have just nicknamed it the West Coast Offense because that's where it originated. You were the first to use it, Bill. What do you call it?' And Bill said, 'That's the Magnolia Offense.' The media, of course, wanted to know what he meant by that. So he said, 'When I was scouting Jerry Rice and watching film from Mississippi Valley, I copied a lot of formations and instituted it.'
He said, 'I call it the Magnolia Offense because I stole it out of Mississippi.'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/denny-..._b_690677.html