1915 College Football All-Southern Team Explained

The 1915 College Football All-Southern Team consists of American football players selected to the College Football All-Southern Teams selected by various organizations in 1915. Josh Cody and Baby Taylor were selected third-team All-Americans by Walter Camp, and Bully Van de Graaff was selected for his second-team. Van de Graaff was Alabama's first ever All-American. Buck Mayer of the 8 - 1 Virginia Cavaliers was the south's first consensus All-American, selected first-team All-American by Frank G. Menke and Parke H. Davis. The "point-a-minute" Vanderbilt Commodores won the SIAA.

Composite eleven

The composite All-Southern team selected by ten sports writers and coaches included:

• Josh Cody, tackle for Vanderbilt, inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1970, only three-time All-American in Vanderbilt football history. Third-team Camp All-American. He was selected for the Associated Press Southeast Area All-Time football team 1869-1919 era.^[1] Later a prominent football coach at many institutions.
• Rabbit Curry, quarterback for Vanderbilt, unanimous selection. During the First World War, he was killed in aerial combat over France. He was a beloved player of Coach McGugin, described by one writer as "the player who has most appealed to the imagination, admiration, and affection of the entire university community through the years."^[2]
• Russ Cohen, end for Vanderbilt, later an assistant under Wallace Wade at Alabama and head coach at LSU and Cincinnati.
• Wooch Fielder, halfback for Georgia Tech, later an influential veteran of the Second World War.
• John G. Henderson, center for Georgia, the head of a group of three men, one behind the other with his hands upon the shoulders of the one in front, to counter Georgia Tech's jump shift offense utilized by John Heisman.^[3] The game ended 0 - 0. He also played baseball and was later Georgia baseball coach.
• Bob Lang, guard for Georgia Tech, the first guard selected for the Heisman era All-Era Tech football team.
• Walter Neville, fullback for Georgia, made All-Southern in his first year on the varsity.
• David Paddock, quarterback for Georgia, the only player in school history to have a petition circulated by the student body requesting that he play for the Bulldogs.
• Baby Taylor, guard for Auburn, unanimous selection. Weighing just under 200 pounds, Taylor would be a small player today, but he was then considered quite large, "worth three ordinary men."^[4] Miss Virginia Gilmer, an Auburn fan of some 13 years of age once told Taylor that “if she were a boy and as big as he and had any sense at all she would be an all-southern tackle.”^[5] Third-team Camp All-American
• Charlie Thompson, end for Georgia, captain-elect but ruled ineligible for next year.
• Bully Van de Graaff, tackle for Alabama, unanimous selection. He was selected for the Associated Press Southeast Area All-Time football team 1869-1919 era.^[1] Alabama's first All-American, and brother of the inventor of the Van de Graaff generator which produces high voltages. Second-team Camp All-American.

Composite overview

Bully Van de Graaff, Baby Taylor, and Rabbit Curry were unanimous selections.

Name	Position	School	First-team selections
		Alabama	10
			10
			10
	Tackle	Vanderbilt	8
	Quarterback	Georgia	7
		Georgia	6
		Georgia	4
	End	Vanderbilt	4
	End		3
	End		3
Bob Lang	Guard	Georgia Tech	3
Bob Taylor Dobbins	Guard	Sewanee	3
	Halfback	Georgia Tech	3
Froggie Morrison	Halfback	Georgia Tech	3
		Georgia	3
	Center	North Carolina	2
Everett Strupper	Halfback	Georgia Tech	2
Paul Squibb	Halfback	Chattanooga	2
Roy Homewood	End	North Carolina	1
Phillip Cooper	Tackle	LSU	1
Ted Shultz	Tackle	Washington & Lee	1
Tom Thrash	Tackle	Georgia	1
Pryor Williams	Guard	Vanderbilt	1
C. M. Hamilton	Guard	Vanderbilt	1
George Steed	Guard	Auburn	1
Carey Robinson	Center	Auburn	1
R. McArthur	Center	Mississippi A & M	1
Johnny Barrett	Halfback	Washington & Lee	1
Buck Mayer	Halfback	Virginia	1
Homer Prendergast	Halfback	Auburn	1
Charles C. Schrader	Fullback	Kentucky	1
Hal Hunter	Fullback	Transylvania	1
Pete Mailhes	Fullback	Tulane	1
Bedie Bidez	Fullback	Auburn	1

All-Southerns of 1915

Ends

• Charlie Thompson, Georgia
• Russ Cohen, Vanderbilt
• Neil Edmond, Sewanee
• Jim Senter, Georgia Tech
• Roy Homewood, North Carolina

Tackles

• Bully Van de Graaff†, Alabama
• Josh Cody, Vanderbilt (College Football Hall of Fame)
• Phillip Cooper, LSU
• Ted Shultz, Washington & Lee
• Tom Thrash, Georgia

Guards

• G. E. "Baby" Taylor†, Auburn
• Bob Lang, Georgia Tech
• Bob Taylor Dobbins, Sewanee
• Pryor Williams, Vanderbilt
• C. M. Hamilton, Vanderbilt
• George Steed, Auburn
• Kirby Lee Spurlock, Mississippi A&M

Centers

• John Henderson, Georgia
• Yank Tandy, North Carolina
• Carey Robinson, Auburn

Quarterbacks

• Rabbit Curry†, Vanderbilt
• David Paddock, Georgia

Halfbacks

• Wooch Fielder, Georgia Tech
• Froggie Morrison, Georgia Tech
• Everett Strupper, Georgia Tech (College Football Hall of Fame)
• Paul Squibb, Chattanooga
• Johnny Barrett, Washington & Lee
• Buck Mayer*, Virginia
• Homer Prendergast, Auburn
• Clyde Littlefield, Texas

Fullbacks

• Walter Neville, Georgia
• Charles C. Schrader, Kentucky
• Hal Hunter, Transylvania
• Pete Mailhes, Tulane
• Bedie Bidez, Auburn
• Hubert Wiggs, Vanderbilt

Key

Bold = Composite selection

* = Consensus All-American

† = Unanimous selection

C = received votes for a composite All-Southern eleven selected by ten sports writers and coaches, including those from Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chattanooga, and New Orleans.^[6] Votes for multiple positions are combined.

TC = Another composite, using eleven sportswriters, published by the Tennessean.^[7]

H = selected by John Heisman, published in Fuzzy Woodruff's A History of Southern Football.

DJ = selected by Dick Jemison in the Atlanta Constitution.^[8]

NT = selected by the Nashville Tennessean.^[9]

SP = selected by the Sewanee student newspaper, the Sewanee Purple.^[10]

See also

• 1915 College Football All-America Team

Notes and References

1. News: All-Time Football Team Lists Greats Of Past, Present. Gadsden Times. July 27, 1969.
2. Book: History of Vanderbilt University. 285. Edwin Mims. 1946.
3. Book: Alabama vs. Tulane. 5; 11. November 6, 1937.
4. A Lip-Reading Football Star. The Volta Review . 102–105 . 1925 . Volta Bureau .
5. Web site: To the eternal glory of Miss Virginia Gilmer, maybe the biggest Auburn fan ever . Jeremy Henderson . May 21, 2014.
6. News: Atlanta Constitution. Composite All-Southern Of Ten Of The Dopesters. Dick Jemison. Dick Jemison. November 30, 1915. March 5, 2015. 10. Newspapers.com.
7. News: Composite All-Southern Shows Wide Range of Opinion and Place. Blinkey Horn. Blinkey Horn. 10. September 21, 2015. Newspapers.com. The Tennessean.
8. News: All-Southern Pick. Atlanta Constitution. November 21, 1915. March 4, 2015. Dick Jemison. Dick Jemison. Newspapers.com.
9. News: Three Commodores Are Given Places On All-Southern. Blinkey Horn. Blinkey Horn. 42. November 28, 1915. The Tennessean. September 21, 2015. Newspapers.com.
10. News: The Purple's Pick For An All-Southern Team. December 2, 1915. The Sewanee Purple.