Jim Tatum
James M. "Big Jim" Tatum (July 22, 1913 – July 23, 1959) was an American football and baseball player and coach. Tatum served as the head football coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1942, 1956–1958), the University of Oklahoma (1946), and the University of Maryland, College Park (1947–1955), compiling a career college football record of 100–35–7. His 1953 Maryland team won a national title. As a head coach, he employed the split-T formation with great success, a system he had learned as an assistant under Don Faurot at the Iowa Pre-Flight School during World War II. Tatum was also the head baseball coach at Cornell University from 1937 to 1939, tallying a mark of 20–40–1. Tatum's career was cut short by his untimely death in 1959. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1984.
Maryland Terrapins football under Jim Tatum
Like the year prior, in 1953, a Maryland quarterback, Bernie Faloney, was in contention for the Heisman Trophy. Faloney finished fourth in the running and received 258 points, behind Notre Dame's John Lattner (1,850), Minnesota's Paul Giel (1,794), and UCLA's Paul Cameron (444). Stan Jones was selected as a consensus first-team All-American. Bernie Faloney was also named a first-team All-American. Chet Hanulak was named a second-team All-American. Four Terrapins were named to the All-ACC first-team: John Bowersox, Bernie Faloney, Chester Hanulak, and Stan Jones. Three were named to the All-ACC second-team: Ralph Felton, Bob Morgan, and Bill Walker.