Amos Alonzo Stagg, known as the “Grand Old Man of Football,” was born on August 16, 1862 in West Orange, New Jersey. After graduating from Orange High School in New Jersey and Phillips Exeter Academy in Massachusetts, Stagg’s talent as a baseball pitcher and his desire to be a minister led him to Yale University in 1884. Stagg was named to Walter Camp's inaugural All-America football team in 1889 and was also offered several major league baseball contracts, which he turned down in order to continue his graduate studies at Yale’s Divinity School.

Shortly thereafter, Stagg withdrew from Yale and became a faculty member at the YMCA Training School (which became the International YMCA Training School in 1891 and is now Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1890-1891, Stagg completed the School’s special one-year course alongside classmate and colleague James Naismith, both of whom were students and instructors together. Stagg remained at Springfield the following year as an instructor. During his time in Springfield, Stagg formed and managed the school’s first football team, was a captain of the baseball team, and even played in the school’s earliest basketball games (a sport which was created by Naismith, Stagg’s contemporary at the YMCA Training School) of students versus faculty members. Stagg’s efforts to establish the school’s football team are evidenced by the correspondence with the few other football teams in the area (from schools like Amherst College, Yale University, and Harvard University). To honor Stagg’s 100th birthday, Springfield College hosted a dinner in his honor on August 16, 1962, and baseball legend Jackie Robinson was the keynote speaker.

In 1892, Stagg left Springfield for the newly-formed University of Chicago, where he continued to coach football. Throughout his long career at other institutions, Stagg remained a corporator for Springfield College. Stagg is credited with pioneering the huddle, the lateral pass, the reverse, the charging sled, the on-side kick, the Statue of Liberty play, the quick-kick, and many other innovations. He was also involved in the Olympic movement and became a life-member of the College Football Rules Committee. In addition to this, Stagg was the first to organize scrimmage games, and in order to decrease injuries during practice, he devised the tackling dummy. He also was the first to add numbers to the jerseys worn by his players. Stagg left Chicago after the 1932 football season and soon became a coach at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. In 1945, Stagg joined his son, Amos Alonzo, Jr., as a coach at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. In order to be near his ailing wife, Stagg began coaching punters at Stockton Junior College in 1953, and he finally retired in 1960 at age 98. Stagg's recognized career record at Springfield, Chicago, and the College of the Pacific is 314–199–35, and he had 21 additional victories as Susquehanna. Stagg died on March 17, 1965 in Stockton, California.