Robert Thomas "Trigger Tom" Jenkins (August 16, 1923 – November 23, 2001) 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 wi ...

halfback at

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

and the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

. While at Navy he was a consensus All-American in 1944

Early life

Jenkins was born in

Talladega, Alabama Talladega (, also ) is the county seat of Talladega County, Alabama, United States. It was incorporated in 1835. At the 2020 census, the population was 15,861. Talladega is approximately east of one of the state’s biggest cities, Birmingham. ...

on August 16, 1923 to William Thomas Jenkins and Pauline Odessa West Jenkins. He attended Talladega High School graduating as

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

in 1941. A gifted athlete Jenkins played high school football earning All-State and All-Southern in 1939 and 1940. During his final year he accounted for 24 touchdowns.

Playing career

Jenkins lettered in football at the University of Alabama under coach Frank Thomas in 1942. In 1943 he moved on to United States Naval Academy where he lettered in football during the 1943, 1944, and 1945 seasons. In 1944, as a 6-foot 1-inch, 195-pound halfback, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American, having received first-team honors from several publications and organizations including the

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

and ''Collier's Weekly'' (Grantland Rice).''2014 NCAA Football Records Book''
Award Winners
, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Indianapolis, Indiana, pp. 4 & 14 (2014). Retrieved August 20, 2014. The three other members of the 1944 consensus All-American

backfield The offensive backfield is the area of an American football field behind the line of scrimmage. The offensive backfield can also refer to members of offense who begin plays behind the line, typically including any backs on the field, such as the ...

were

Les Horvath Leslie Horvath (October 12, 1921 – November 14, 1995) was an American football quarterback and halfback who won the Heisman Trophy while playing for Ohio State University in 1944. Horvath was the first Ohio State player to win the Heisman, a ...

Doc Blanchard Felix Anthony "Doc" Blanchard (December 11, 1924 – April 19, 2009) was an American football player and serviceman who became the first junior to win the Heisman Trophy and Maxwell Award, and was the first football player to win the James E. S ...

, and Glen Davis, who all won the Heisman Trophy in 1944, 1945, and 1946 respectively. While at Navy the media heaped colorful praise of his playing ability by writing he was a “human dynamo,” “190 lbs fluid force,” and “the piston-legged personification of power.” A knee injury in 1945 ended his football playing career. Jenkins was selected as the sixth pick in the 17th round (170th overall) by the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

in the 1945

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

After football

Jenkins stayed in the Navy until he retired in 1950. He moved to

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

where he was a businessman and civic leader. In 1959, he founded machine tools business Birmingham called Modern Machinery Associates, Inc. He died on November 23, 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Bob 1923 births 2001 deaths Alabama Crimson Tide football players Navy Midshipmen football players All-American college football players People from Talladega, Alabama Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama