John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a player and coach of American football, basketball, and baseball, as well as a sportswriter and actor.
He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College (1892, 1894), Buchtel College (now known as the University of Akron) (1893–1894), Auburn University (1895–1899), Clemson University (1900–1903), Georgia Tech (1904–1919), the University of Pennsylvania (1920–1922), Washington & Jefferson College (1923), and Rice University (1924–1927), compiling a career college football record of 186–70–18. His 1917 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado were recognized as the national champion.
Heisman was the head basketball coach at Georgia Tech (1908–1909, 1912–1914), tallying a mark of 9–14, and the head baseball coach at Buchtel (1894), Clemson (1899–1904), and Georgia Tech (1904–1917), amassing a career college baseball record of 219–119–7. He served as the athletic director at Georgia Tech from 1904 to 1919 and at Rice from 1924 to 1927. While at Georgia Tech, he also was president of the Atlanta Crackers baseball team.