Sanders, Red

Sons of Westwood: Bruin Legends

HENRY "RED" SANDERS

COACHING HIGHLIGHTS

• Head coach for the Bruins from 1949 to 1957. (He died suddenly of a heart attack prior to the 1958 season.)
• Arguably the best coach in school history, compiling a 66-19-1 (.773) record during his tenure.
• His 1954 team earned the National Championship. Three of the assistant coaches from this 1954 National Championship season went on to serve as head coaches for the Bruins: George Dickerson, Bill Barnes, and Tommy Prothro.
• Was instrumental in instituting the distinctive "powderkeg blue" uniforms.
• Prior to coaching at UCLA, he played and coached at Vanderbilt.

QUOTABLES

• Widely credited for coining the phrase "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing".
• Also credited for ""It's not a matter of life and death, it's more important than that!", when asked about the UCLA-USC rivalry.
• Also credited for "I'm for character all right, but first we've got to get a number of big, strong, phenomenal animals that can run fast."

ACCOLADES

• Coach of the Year in 1953,54, and 57.
• Charter member of the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame (1984).
• Inducted into College Football Hall of Fame in 1996.
• A bronze plaque in his honor was unveiled at the LA Coliseum in November 17, 1959.

WORTH READING

• A detailed chronicle of Red Sanders' years as head coach were produced by the LA84 Foundation website.
  • Red Sanders. Part I: The Vanderbilt Years
  • RED SANDERS PART II: U.C.L.A. 1949-1951
  • RED SANDERS PART III: U.C.L.A. 1952-1954
  • THE SANDERS ERA ENDS (UCLA 1955-1957)
• Sports Illustrated did a comprehensive piece on him prior to the 1956 Rose Bowl. Read "He Flies On One Wing" (December 26, 1955).
• Sports Illustrated also did a memorial piece a week after his death. Read "Red Sanders" (August 25, 1958).

FAN ANECDOTES

DocJock's recollections on the hiring of Red Sanders

The fear on the part of some was that a southern coach would no longer want to recruit African American players that became a fixture, if not the backbone of the UCLA football program. As it turned out, Red Sanders was color blind. He didn't recognize color other than blue and gold, and in fact preferred the light, or baby blue shade, which he called powder keg blue.

He had an abiding sense of loyalty for those that gave their all for him. A case in point was Harry Thompson who only blossomed as a starter during his senior year. Red personally saw to it that he received a NFL trial where he made the cut with the L.A. Rams.

Anyhow, the article [cited in the Sport Illustraded 1958 article] captured the essence of Red Sanders. You never really knew him, and couldn't be sure if he actually knew you. Although I put in a short stint on the red team and he asked me to contact a few recruits, thereafter requesting my input, I don't think he ever called me by name.

The "Red" had nothing to do with his hair which was brown, but rather from a red sweater he wore almost daily as a youngster.