"Better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football," warned strict coach John Heisman to players on his college squads. Offered is a 1917 Georgia Tech "Golden Tornado" postcard, with head coach Heisman. An inductee of the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach, Heisman was one of college football's greatest innovators. He started the practice of a quarterback shouting "hike" or "hep" when calling signals, and he was a proponent of legalizing the forward pass. He coached football at Oberlin, Buchtel College (now the University of Akron), Washington and Jefferson, Auburn, Clemson, Penn, and Georgia Tech. At Georgia Tech, from 1904-19, his teams went 102-29-7, with three undefeated teams. The pictured 1917 Georgia Tech team went 9-0 and became National Champions. The '17 squad outscored opponents 491-17: the Golden Tornado defeated Penn 40-0, Vanderbilt by 83-0, and Washington and Lee by 63-0. Heisman's 1916 Georgia Tech team created college football's most lopsided victory, a 222-0 slaughter of Cumberland. In the offered postcard, Heisman is pictured in the top row, fourth from the left. The offered postcard measures 3.5x5.5". The reverse side of the postcard is written in by a person signing as "Willie" in fountain ink and addressed to a Lieutenant F.R. Saunders at Camp See, Virginia. This was during World War I, and the personal message on the postcard concerns the writer stating he was, "So sorry I didn't get to see you before I left." The picture side of the postcard is in EXCELLENT condition, while the reverse side shows some fading of the original black or blue ink and a few small spots. The offered postcard has "Golden Tornado" on the front, along with Georgia Tech's 1917 game results. The postcard makes a great remembrance of one of college football's most famous coaches.