Most influential people in high school football history: John McKissick, Emmitt Smith headline Nos. 76-100

High school football has been shaped by a diverse cast of influential figures — visionary coaches who build programs and character, sportswriters who craft the narratives that define local legends, state administrators who provide support and resources, parents who nurture young athletes and the players themselves, whose passion and dedication give the sport its heart. Together, they form the interconnected ecosystem that keeps Friday nights under the lights thriving across America.

MaxPreps has endeavored to determine the people who have had the most influence on high school football. The top 100 list includes coaches, players, innovators, creators, administrators, politicians, journalists and some every day people. They are the individuals who shaped the sport from its beginning in 1875 to the present day.

Some of the people on this list have influenced football in general, perhaps at the professional or college level, but the influence trickled down to the high school level. We have included them on this list because of their overall contribution to the sport.

The list is very subjective. The content and order of the list could very easily include many different people who have contributed to the sport in their own way. We have tried to create a balance so as to include the people who influenced the many different aspects of the sport and not just focus on coaches and players.

We start with the first 25. Enjoy! HSFB's top 100 most influential people

100. Mom and Dad
The No. 1 Fans
The influence of mom and dad on high school football could be ranked anywhere from No. 1 to No. 100 based on the experience of the players involved. Parents drive their kids to practice, cheer them on from the stands during the game and in some cases even act as the team's coach. They also provide the encouragement to participate in the sport and are, in most cases, an example of how the game should be played. An athlete's first thought about playing high school football is likely influenced by the parents.

99. Luke and Murphy Jensen
Invented the chest bump
It's a celebration that happens after every touchdown in a high school football game — the mid-air chest bump. A pair of brothers and tennis players, doubles partners Luke and Murphy Jensen, popularized the chest bump in the early 1990s. The form of celebration has evolved over the years and the mid-air chest bump was reportedly first used in a football game by Cincinnati Bengals receivers T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chad Johnson in 2004.

98. Clair Bee
Coach, writer of Chip Hilton Series
A legendary college basketball coach at Long Island University and also in the NBA with the Baltimore Bullets, Bee also wrote a popular sports series with the fictional Chip Hilton as the hero. Hilton excelled at football, basketball and baseball and the stories had a moral about fair play and good sportsmanship.

97. Charlie Hoeveler
Started first sports camps
Hoeveler developed US Sports Camps in 1975, which became one of the first organizations to put on camps for children to receive training in a specific sport. Teaming with adidas at first, US Sports Camps joined Nike in 1994 and developed the Nike Football Camps. US Sports Camps is the largest sports camp operator in the United States.

96. Skip Palrang
Boys Town coach
Founded by Father Edward Flanagan in 1917, Boys Town was a place for at-risk children to get a second chance. Palrang, as the head coach at Boys Town (Neb.), traveled across the country to find games for the Cowboys. In becoming one of the most popular teams in the country, Boys Town played in 21 different states as well as the District of Columbia during Palrang's tenure as coach in the 1950s.

95. Eric Sondheimer
Los Angeles Times prep sports columnist
The voice of high school sports in the Los Angeles area, Sondheimer has been honored for the best sports column seven times by the California Newspapers Publishers Association. He has covered sports in Los Angeles for over 40 years and has been with the Los Angeles Times for 28 years.

94. Don Hutson
NFL Hall of Fame receiver
An all-state player at Pine Bluff (Ark.), an All-American at Alabama and a Hall of Fame receiver with the Green Bay Packers, Hutson revolutionized the position of receiver at a time when passes were rarely thrown. He developed passing routes and techniques, like fakes, which have become popular among high school players today.

93. Shirley McCray
First female football coach
While there were female football coaches during World War II when high school staffs had a limited number of male faculty, McCray was the first to be hired as a full-time coach of an all-male football team when she coached the Chickasaw Junior High School team in 1975. She later coached junior varsity football at Booker T. Washington (Memphis, Tenn.), coaching for over 20 years before retiring in 1997.

92. Marcus Dupree
Highly-recruited player
As a senior at Philadelphia (Miss.) in 1981, Dupree might have been the most recruited high school football player ever. His high school coach was reportedly fielding 100 phone calls a day regarding his college choice. The National High School Football Hall of Fame Foundation has named its national player of the year award after Dupree.

91. Herman Boone
"Remember the Titans"
The coach at T.C. Williams (now Alexandria City) after the recently-integrated Alexandria schools consolidated into one school in 1971, he led the team to a 13-0 record and the No. 2 national ranking. He taught discipline, respect and overcoming racial prejudice. His story had even greater influence over high school sports when it became the inspirational movie "Remember the Titans" starring Denzel Washington as Boone.

90. Frankie Groves
First girl to play football in Texas
Playing for the Stinnett Rattlers (now West Texas) in 1947, Groves was the first girl to play high school football in Texas, suiting up in Stinnett's final game of the season against Groom. Her career lasted just nine minutes as the UIL banned participation of girls in football after the completion of the season.

89. John McKissick
Coach with 620 wins
McKissick began coaching high school football in 1953 at Summerville (S.C.) and by the time he retired in 2015 he had coached 63 years and won 620 games. He was nearly 80 wins ahead of the No. 2 coach on the list and he was known throughout the country as the winningest coach in high school football.

88. Tom Nugent
Created the I Formation
A former coach at Hopewell (Va.), Nugent developed the I formation while at the Virginia Military Institute in order to combat his opponent's strong defensive line and linebackers. The I formation allows for a strong, downhill running attack, but it also provides for play-action passes. The offense became popular in high school and college, especially under USC coach John McKay who used it to win the national championship in 1962.

87. Glenn "Tiger" Ellison
Created Run and Shoot offense
Ellison tried a number of different formations during his time at Middletown (Ohio), including the "lonesome polecat" in which all of the receivers and running backs lined up on one side of the field and all the linemen on the other with just the quarterback in shotgun behind the center. He also developed the "run and shoot" in the late 1950s as a variation of the spread offense. Every play had a pass option with receivers split wide, running backs on the flanks and the quarterback rolling out with the option to run or pass (shoot).

86. Rodney Lundquist
Invented football mouthguard
While British dentist Wolf Krause and his son Phillip invented mouth pieces to be used in boxing in the early 20th century, Rodney Lundquist, also a dentist, developed the first mouthguard using acrylic resin that allowed to mold to the upper and lower teeth in the 1940s. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Frankie Albert was the first to wear Lundquist's mouthguard and by 1962, high school players were required to wear a mouthpiece.

85. Ray Guy, Chris Sailer, Jamie Kohl
Kicking/Punting camps
A Hall of Fame punter with the Oakland Raiders, Guy influenced a number of high school punters over the years by showing that punters could also be great athletes. He also developed young punters with his punting camps and the Ray Guy Award recognizes the top college punter in the nation. Sailer was a record-setting kicker at Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) and played in college at UCLA. He opened the first Chris Sailer kicking camp in 1999 and has been influential in developing high school kickers and punters ever since. Kohl opened his first camp in 2000 and has also been hugely influential in the improvement of high school, college and professional kickers.

84. Dick Olin
Started 7-on-7 passing leagues
Generally recognized as the originator of 7-on-7 tournaments in Texas while a coach at Lee (Baytown, Texas), Olin saw the event evolve from a way to get some passing reps during the summertime to structured off-season leagues all over the country with postseason play and championship trophies. The popularity of the 7-on-7 leagues has likely also resulted in high school football becoming a more wide-open sport with more passing in the offense.

83. Herschel Walker
Greatest college player ever?
Walker was one of the first players to go from high school to the college level and make an immediate impact. As a freshman, he nearly won the Heisman Trophy after leading Georgia to a No. 1 national ranking. Won the Heisman Trophy as a junior before joining the USFL and later the NFL. Gained over 3,000 yards rushing at Johnson County (Wrightsville, Ga.) and graduated as the state's all-time leading high school rusher.

82. Emmitt Smith
NFL's all-time leading rusher
The NFL's all-time leading rusher, Smith was a national sensation in high school as he threatened Ken Hall's career rushing record his senior year at Escambia (Pensacola, Fla.). Although an injury limited his ability to break the record, he continued to be an inspiration in college and during his lengthy NFL career.

81. Nick Bolletieri
Founded IMG Academy
Now known as one of the premier high school football powerhouses in the nation, IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) got its start in 1978 as a tennis academy under Nick Bolletieri. It served as a launching pad for great young tennis players, but ultimately developed into a place where athletes for many different sports could develop and hone their skills against top-notch competition.

80. Joe Lee Smith
Texas high school football historian
Safe to say that no sports historian has spent more time researching high school football than Smith. Inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame in 2007, Smith has compiled scores and statistics for the 1,100 teams in Texas for over 60 years. He helped in the compilation of the state record books published by Bill McMurray and Dave Campbell.

79. Wright Bazemore
Coached Valdosta, "Title Town, USA"
Bazemore set the stage for Valdosta (Ga.) to become the winningest high school football team in the country during his run as head coach from 1941 to 1971. His teams won 14 state championships in his 28 years as head coach. When he retired, he was the winningest coach in Georgia history with 267 wins.

78. Dick Butkus
Hall of Fame linebacker
An All-American player at Chicago Vocational (Ill.) in 1960, Butkus epitomized toughness and was an example of how the position of linebacker should be played. He also took a tough stance against steroid use through the "I Play Clean" campaign. The Butkus Award annually recognizes the top high school linebacker in the country.

77. Rae Crowther
Invented the blocking sled
An All-NFL player for the NFL champion Frankford Yellowjackets in 1926, Crowther is known for inventing the blocking sled in 1932 during his time as a line coach at Drexel. The Rae Crowther Company still sells sleds, which have been a useful practice tool for high school football teams across the country.

76. Allen Wallace
SuperPrep founder
A lawyer by trade, Wallace developed SuperPrep magazine as a recruiting service to promote high school football players. According to the Boston Globe, it quickly developed into a trusted source of information. SuperPrep eventually became The Insiders which eventually became Scout.com.

Next on the list: 51-75
Where do Jim Brown, Bo Jackson and Vince Lombardi fit into the mix? Find out Tuesday.