Emory Bellard, the man largely credited with the creation of the wishbone offense, lost his lengthy battle with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and passed away earlier today, multiple media outlets are reporting.
He was 83 years old.
Bellard was the head coach at Texas A&M from 1972-78 and Mississippi State from 1979-85. He compiled a 48-27 record at the former school, 37-42 at the latter.
As part of his extensive legacy, he was the first A&M coach to recruit multiple African-American players as part of his classes.
Before taking over the Aggies, Bellard was an assistant for five seasons at Texas. It was during his four years as offensive coordinator of the Longhorns that he “created” the wishbone formation, which he began developing as a high school coach -- thanks to the influence of a couple of other Texas high school coaches -- before moving on to Austin.