William Thomas "Mother" Dunn (May 13, 1881 – November 17, 1962) was an American

college football College football (french: football universitaire) is gridiron football Gridiron football,

linebacker A linebacker (LB or backer) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards (4 m) behind the line of scrimmage and behind the defensive linemen. They re ...

and

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry) In geometry, a centre (or center) (from Ancient Greek language, Greek ''κέντρον'') of an object is a point in some sense in the middle of the object. According to the spe ...

for the

Penn State Nittany Lions football The Penn State Nittany Lions team represents the Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university ...

team of

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public In public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization An organization, or o ...

. Dunn captained the 1906 Nittany Lion, and that year became the first player outside of the

Ivy League The Ivy League (also known as The Ancient Eight) is an American collegiate athletic conference An athletic conference is a collection of sports team A sports team is a group of individuals who play sport Sport pertains to any form ...

to be selected as an

All-American An All-America team is a hypothetical American sports team composed of outstanding amateur players. These players are broadly considered by media and other relevant commentators as the best positional players in a particular sport, for a specific ...

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven ...

. He was also the first great linebacker in the history of Penn State's football program, a school that would eventually be nicknamed "Linebacker U" for its history of excellent play at the linebacker position. Dunn was featured on the official 2011 Nittany Lion football schedule poster as part of the celebration of 125 years of Penn State football.

External links

"The legacy of Linebacker U"
''

The Daily Collegian The ''Daily Collegian'' is a student-produced news outlet, with a newspaper and website, that is published independently at the Pennsylvania State University. The newspaper is printed twice a week during the fall and spring semesters, and once ...

'', September 2, 2000 1881 births 1962 deaths All-American college football players

American football linebackers See also: * :American football middle linebackers * :American football outside linebackers {{CatAutoTOC Gridiron football linebackers Players of American football by position, Linebackers ...

American football centers Penn State Nittany Lions football players Players of American football from Youngstown, Ohio {{linebacker-1880s-stub