Eugene Noble "Buck" Mayer (February 14, 1892 – October 21, 1918) 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 ...

player. He played

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 ...

at the halfback position for the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

Cavaliers football team from 1912 to 1915. In 1915, he became the first football player from a Southern school to be recognized as a consensus first-team All-American. Mayer died during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

while serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. He was posthumously inducted into the

Virginia Sports Hall of Fame The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame honors athletes, coaches, administrators, journalists and other contributors to athletics. Many of the more than 350 inductees since 1972 were born in Virginia or enjoyed success in college, professional, amateur or ...

in 1980.

Early years

Mayer was born in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

, in 1892. His father, Eugene L. Mayer, was a Virginia native who worked in the mill supplies business and later as a merchant in the hardware business. Mayer had three brothers and four sisters.

University of Virginia

Football

Mayer attended the University of Virginia from 1911 to 1916. While there, he played at the halfback position for the

Virginia Cavaliers football The Virginia Cavaliers football team represents the University of Virginia in the sport of American football. Established in 1888, Virginia plays its home games at Scott Stadium, capacity 61,500, featured directly on its campus near the Academi ...

team from 1912 to 1915. He won a spot in the starting lineup and impressed sports writers in 1912. After indicating that he may not return to the University of Virginia in 1913, he was persuaded to do so in September 1913. Mayer and

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 ...

were deemed "the class of the backfield men of the south" during the 1913 season. In 1914, Mayer was one of the leading scorers in the country with 121 points scored (19 touchdowns and five extra points) and led the team to an 8–1 record with its only loss coming to

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

. On October 24, 1914, scored 26 points (four touchdowns and two extra points) in Virginia's 28–0 victory over Georgia. At the end of the 1914 season, he was named to the All-Southern team by

Dick Jemison Richard Stubbs Jemison (September 19, 1886 – January 9, 1965) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter in the South who was for eleven years the sporting editor of the ''Atlanta Constitution''. He wrote extensively on baseball and f ...

and W. A. Lambeth. In 1915, Mayer led Virginia to an 8–1 record, was one of the country's leading scorers with 105 points, and was selected as a first-team All-American by

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

sports editor

Frank G. Menke Frank Grant Menke (October 10, 1885 – May 13, 1954) was an American newspaper reporter, author, and sports historian. He wrote for the Hearst Newspapers from 1912 to 1932 and his articles appeared daily in 300 newspapers across the country. He ...

and Eastern football expert Parke H. Davis. He was the first player from a Southern school to be a consensus first-team All-American. On October 9, 1915, he scored a school record 37 points five touchdowns and seven extra points in a 74–0 win over

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. At the end of the 1915 season, ''The Washington Herald'' wrote:

Mayer is one of the greatest half backs the South has produced in years, and is universally recognized as such. He scored more touchdowns last year than any other player in the East and the second in the entire United States. His present season was not as rich in scoring as the one by some touchdowns, but in it he scored thirteen.

During Mayer's four years as a member, the football team compiled a record of 29–6. He set school records for most points scored in a game (36), most touchdowns in a season (21 in 1914), most career touchdowns (48), and career points scored (312).

Track and field

Mayer was also a member of the Virginia track and field team. He threw the 16-pound shot put 42 feet, 3 inches, ran the 100-yard dash in 10.1 seconds, and had a career best of 22 feet, 9 inches in the broad jump. In addition to athletics, Mayer was an excellent student who earned a

Rhodes scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1916 with a law degree.

Family and later years

Mayer was married at

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...

, in March 1916 to Agnes Elizabeth Chilton (1896–1974). After receiving his bachelor of laws degree that year, Mayer began practicing law in Charleston. During

, Mayer served as either a private in the quartermaster's corps and/or in a machine gun company in the

. In October 1918, he died at age 26 at Camp Joseph E. Johnston in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

, a victim of the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

. He was survived by his wife and one child. He was buried at the Spring Hill Cemetery in Charleston. In 1980, Mayer was posthumously inducted into the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayer, Eugene 1892 births 1918 deaths American football halfbacks Virginia Cavaliers football players College men's track and field athletes in the United States All-American college football players All-Southern college football players United States Army personnel of World War I American Rhodes Scholars Sportspeople from Norfolk, Virginia Players of American football from Norfolk, Virginia Deaths from Spanish flu American military personnel killed in World War I United States Army soldiers