James Branch Bocock (March 10, 1884 – May 25, 1946) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

(1908), Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute (VPI)—now known as

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

(1909–1910, 1912–1915), the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

(1911),

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

(1920–1921), the University of South Carolina (1925–1926), and

The College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...

(1928–1930, 1936–1938), compiling a career

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

record of 98–55–9. Bocock was also the head basketball coach at VPI (1909–1911, 1913–1915), LSU (1920–1921), and South Carolina (1924–1927), tallying a career

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

mark of 109–33, and the head baseball coach at VPI (1910–1911, 1914), LSU (1922–1923), and South Carolina (1925–1927), amassing a career

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

record of 70–54–2.

Early years

Bocock was a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Georgetown Hoyas The Georgetown Hoyas are the collegiate athletics teams that officially represent Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C. Georgetown's athletics department fields 23 men's and women's varsity level teams and competes at the National C ...

Coaching career

Although official records give Bocock credit only for coaching the

Georgia Bulldogs football team The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Football Program represents the Georgia Institute of Technology in the NCAA Division 1 Collegiate Competitors in the sport of American football. The Yellow Jackets college football team competes in the Football ...

in 1908, he also coached the last three games of Georgia's 1907 season. In 1907, Georgia head football coach Bull Whitney was caught in a controversy over the revelation that there were at least four paid professionals on the Georgia and

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

teams during the game played that year. As a result, Georgia removed all known ringers from its team and Whitney was forced to resign, handing the coaching duties over to Bocock for the last three games. Georgia was 2–1 in those three games. At VPI, Bocock was the team's first true professional coach and the first head football coach to receive a full-time salary.

Later life

Bocock died at the age of 62 on May 25, 1946 at his home in

Blackstone, Virginia Blackstone, formerly named Blacks and Whites, and then Bellefonte, is a town in Nottoway County, Virginia, Nottoway County in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 3,621 at the 2010 census. History The settlement was founded as the vill ...

Head coaching record

Football

Basketball

Baseball

References

Additional sources

* Reed, Thomas Walter (1949). Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. ''History of the University of Georgia; Chapter XVII: Athletics at the University from the Beginning Through 1947'
imprint pages 3493

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bocock, Branch 1884 births 1946 deaths American football quarterbacks Baseball coaches from Virginia Basketball coaches from Virginia College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Georgetown Hoyas football players Georgia Bulldogs football coaches LSU Tigers baseball coaches LSU Tigers basketball coaches LSU Tigers football coaches South Carolina Gamecocks athletic directors South Carolina Gamecocks baseball coaches South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball coaches Virginia Tech Hokies athletic directors Virginia Tech Hokies baseball coaches Virginia Tech Hokies football coaches Virginia Tech Hokies men's basketball coaches William & Mary Tribe football coaches People from Shenandoah, Virginia Players of American football from Virginia People from Blackstone, Virginia