David Fleming Paddock (June 9, 1892 – May 23, 1962) was a

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 ...

player.

Early years

David Paddock was born on June 9, 1892 in

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. About ...

to Smith Aaron Paddock and Jennie Fleming Cain. He grew up in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. Paddock attended the Peddie Institute of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

University of Georgia

He was a prominent

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

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

of 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 ...

from

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ...

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

, earning All-Southern honors in

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

, and 1915. Paddock is the only player in school history to have a petition circulated by the student body requesting that he play for the Bulldogs. He made an all-time Georgia Bulldogs football team picked in 1935. Davee Paddock (1914)

1912

Paddock went unnoticed his freshman year at halfback, until he was moved to the quarterback position in the game with

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 ...

and led the Bulldogs to a 20 to 0 victory.

1914

Paddock was

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the 1914 team, described as "the star offensive man of the team." He earned

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n honors in 1914. Paddock was the school's second ever All-American after

Bob McWhorter Robert Ligon McWhorter (June 4, 1891 – June 29, 1960) played football and baseball at the University of Georgia. Early years McWhorter attended Gordon Military College in Barnesville, Georgia. He played football and baseball there under coac ...

. Parke H. Davis in selecting Paddock All-American wrote, "Thus the greatest quarterback the south has known in years has figured little in the public prints of the north, yet here is a man who has played quarterback as steadily as Logan, as brilliantly as Barrett, and who has excelled each by combining the talents of both. This man is Paddock, of Georgia, to whom is given the position as quarterback upon this mythical all-American team."

Cornell University

Supposedly he spent one year at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, but was overlooked for its football team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paddock, David Georgia Bulldogs football players American football quarterbacks All-American college football players Place of birth missing Place of death missing 1892 births 1962 deaths Sportspeople from Brooklyn Players of American football from New York City All-Southern college football players People from Dallas County, Alabama Peddie School alumni