Homer Paine (September 20, 1923 – July 5, 2010) 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 ...

tackle. 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

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...

for one season and at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

for three seasons. Paine was named to the All-

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

first team while at Tulsa, and he was twice named to all-conference first teams while at Oklahoma. After college, Paine played professional football for one season with the

Chicago Hornets The Chicago Rockets were an American football team that played in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) from 1946 to 1949. During the 1949 season, the team was known as the Chicago Hornets. Unlike the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, an ...

of the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

(AAFC). He was selected in the 14th round of the

1946 NFL Draft The 1946 National Football League Draft was held on January 14, 1946, at the Commodore Hotel in New York City, New York. The selections were initially withheld from the public out of fear that the newly formed All-America Football Conference wou ...

College career

He was born on September 20, 1923, in

Hennessey, Oklahoma Hennessey is a town in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,131 at the 2010 census, up from 2,058 in 2000. History Hennessey is named after Pat Hennessey, an Irish freighter who was killed at the present townsite in ...

.Homer Paine Statistics
Pro Football Reference, retrieved July 18, 2009. Paine attended

Enid High School Enid High School (EHS) is a public tertiary school in Enid, Oklahoma, U.S., operated by the Enid Public Schools school district. With a student body of about 2035 in grades 9-12, Enid High School has a matriculation rate of about 65 percent. Some ...

Enid, Oklahoma Enid ( ) is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,308. Enid was founded during the opening of the Cherokee Outlet in the Land Run of 1893, a ...

, where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

for the "Plainsmen". Paine initially attended college at the

where he played varsity football in 1942. During the regular season, the Golden Hurricane compiled a 10–0 record as the only undefeated team in the nation. Tulsa beat its five conference opponents to win the

championship, and the Hurricane was invited to the

1943 Sugar Bowl The 1943 Sugar Bowl featured the fourth ranked Tulsa, and the seventh ranked Tennessee. Tulsa took a 7–0 lead on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Glenn Dobbs Glenn Dobbs Jr. (July 12, 1920 – November 12, 2002) was a professional American f ...

. There, fourth-ranked Tulsa was finally defeated, 14–7, by the seventh-ranked favorites,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

under head coach

Robert Neyland Robert Reese Neyland (; February 17, 1892 – March 28, 1962) was an American football player and coach and officer in the United States Army, reaching the rank of brigadier general. He served three stints as the head football coach at the Univ ...

. That season, Paine was named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference first team. In 1946, the

hired a new head football coach,

Jim Tatum Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James (given name), James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy (given name), Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * Jim (comics), ...

. His recruiting strategy focused in part on luring to Oklahoma veterans who had played for the school's rivals before the war.Head Coaches
, University of Oklahoma, April 28, 2009. Instead of returning to Tulsa, Paine attended Oklahoma where he played for the Sooners from 1946 to 1948.All-Time Letterwinners
''2009 Oklahoma Football Media Guide'', p. 186, 2009. That made Paine part of Tatum's star-studded (and only) recruiting class at

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

, which included nine All-Americans.Gary King
The Forgotten Man of Oklahoma Football: Jim Tatum
, ''Sooner Magazine'', University of Oklahoma Foundation, Inc., Spring 2008. Despite not receiving All-American honors himself, Paine was later still considered one of the "top players" at Oklahoma. One author later described Paine's ability to "tell where the play was going from the pressure of the blocks, and he would try to get the jump on it, fight right into it." During the 1946 season, the Sooners compiled an 8–3 record and secured a share of the

Big Six Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

championship.Ray Dozier
''The Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia''
p. 91–94, Sports Publishing LLC, 2006, . Paine was named to that season's All-Big Six Conference first team. After the season, Jim Tatum left for Maryland and was replaced by

Bud Wilkinson Charles Burnham "Bud" Wilkinson (April 23, 1916 – February 9, 1994) was an American football player, coach, broadcaster, and politician. He served as the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1947 to 1963, compiling a record of ...

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

. In March 1948, Wilkinson accused a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

from the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

of the

of attempting to sign three of his players:

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

John Rapacz John Joseph Rapacz (April 25, 1924 – January 2, 1991) was an American football offensive lineman in the National Football League for the New York Giants. He also played in the All-America Football Conference for the Chicago Rockets/Horne ...

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

Buddy Burris Paul "Buddy" Burris (January 20, 1923 – November 26, 2007) was an American football player. He played college football for the Golden Hurricane at University of Tulsa, and after a hiatus to serve in the Second World War, for the Sooners at the ...

, and Paine. The scout denied the charge, and insisted his visit to Oklahoma was licit. The scout said he was there at the behest of Burris who wanted to discuss his potential for a future professional career. During the

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

season, Paine served as the

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 ...

on the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

championship team. After the 1948 season, he was named to the All-Big Seven Conference first team.All-Conference Honors
''2006 Oklahoma Football Media Guide'', p. 181, 2006. The

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.

also named Paine as the left tackle on its All-

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

team, across from fellow Sooner tackle

Wade Walker Wade Hampton Walker (November 29, 1923 – December 18, 2013) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football as a tackle at the University of Oklahoma under head coaches Jim Tatum and Bud ...

. In a pessimistic assessment of Oklahoma's 1949 prospects, coach Wilkinson feared the loss of Paine, among other veterans, to graduation "could easily prove disastrous." His brother, Charles W. Paine, played for Oklahoma in the 1949 season.

Professional career

Paine was selected by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

in the 14th round of the

as the 128th overall pick. He played for the

in the All-America Football Conference in 1949.Home Paine Past Stats
, retrieved July 18, 2009. Paine saw action in 12 games and started in ten. After his playing career, Paine moved back to Enid, Oklahoma, and became manager of the Johnston Grain Company terminal elevator.Keith, p. 53.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paine, Homer 1923 births 2010 deaths People from Kingfisher County, Oklahoma Sportspeople from Enid, Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma Enid High School alumni Tulsa Golden Hurricane football players Oklahoma Sooners football players Chicago Hornets players