Ed Cochems

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Ed Cochems

Ed B. Cochems was Clemson's sixth head coach, replacing Alonzo Sheck Shealy for a single season in 1905. The 2001 edition of the Clemson Football guide gives this succinct biography:

Ed Cochems lettered at the University of Wisconsin in 1899, 1900, and 1901. Cochems was described as a great halfback or end on the strong Wisconsin teams at the turn of the century, including the undefeated team of 1901. During his playing career, he had a 100-yard kickoff return in a 35-0 win over Chicago in 1901, and had four touchdowns in a game aginst Notre Dame in 1900. After his playing days, he immediately went into coaching. He was the head coach of North Dakota in 1902 and 1903 and served briefly as an assistant with former teammate, Art Curtis, at Wisconsin in 1904.

Cochems led Clemson to a 3-2-1 record overall and a .583 percentage, including wins over Georgia and Auburn. After his Clemson career, he was head coach and athletic director at St. Louis University in 1906. After the forward pass was legalized in 1906, Cochems did something with the pass at once in his first year at St. Louis, while other coaches stuck with the running game. He taught his players not to throw the ball end-over-end, but instead like a projectile - a spiral. He called this new weapon a projectile pass.

In 1906, St. Louis went undefeated, rolling up 407 points while allowing its opponents only 11.

Historians credit Cochems with being the first coach to use and perfect the first legal pass in a game. The first studied refinements in throwing the ball, which led to the spiral, occurred in 1906 under Cochems. Brad Robinson of St. Louis University threw the first forward pass to Jack Schneider in a game played September 5, 1906 in Waukesha against Carroll College.

Clemson's first forward pass takes place on November 29, 1906, during the game with Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Left End, Powell Lykes, drops back to kick, but lobs a 30-yard pass to George Warren instead. Clemson wins, 10-0.