James Russell Patton (born September 29, 1933 – December 22, 1972) 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 ...

defensive back in the

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 ...

(NFL) for the New York Giants. He was a five-time

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

selection and five-time first-team

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

. Patton played college football at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...

and was drafted in the eighth round of the

1955 NFL Draft The 1955 National Football League draft was held January 27–28, 1955 at the Warwick Hotel in New York City. This was the ninth year that the first overall pick was a bonus pick determined by lottery. With the previous eight winners ineligib ...

. On December 22, 1972, Patton was killed in an automobile accident near

Villa Rica, Georgia Villa Rica (Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese translation: Rich Village) is a city in Carroll and Douglas counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. Located roughly 30 miles west of Atlanta, a decision to develop housing on a large tract of land led ...

. He was driving alone in his car when he was struck by an oncoming vehicle while attempting to pass another car. He was driving to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

to see his sister who was dying of cancer as reported by his sons. Patton is second in Giants history for most interceptions. When he retired, he was one of only seven players with fifty career interceptions. He is one of nine defensive backs to have been named a First-team All-Pro in five seasons, however Patton is the only one to have not been inducted into the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

. The Professional Football Researchers Association named Patton to the "PRFA Hall of Very Good" class of 2010.

References

1933 births 1972 deaths American football defensive backs Ole Miss Rebels football players New York Giants players Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players Sportspeople from Greenville, Mississippi Road incident deaths in Georgia (U.S. state) {{defensiveback-1930s-stub