Ashel Monroe "Bum" Day (August 3, 1898 – January 30, 1988), was an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

player who was a center for both the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets of the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

and the

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The offic ...

of the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

. He was the first Southern player ever selected first-team

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

by Walter Camp, who had historically selected college players from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and other Northeastern colleges.

Gordon

He was captain of the 1917 Gordon College football team.

Georgia Tech

As the

did not have a football team, Day enrolled at Georgia Tech in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, where he played center for coach

John Heisman John William Heisman ( ; October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a player and coach of American football, baseball, and basketball, as well as a sportswriter and actor. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College, Buchtel College ...

's Georgia Tech Golden Tornado in

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

.
2013 Georgia Tech Football Information Guide
', Georgia Tech Athletic Association, Atlanta, Georgia, pp. 170, 178, 180 (2013). Retrieved August 20, 2014. He was a key two-way lineman during the team's 1918 season when the Yellow Jackets finished first in the

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conferen ...

(SIAA) with a win–loss record of 6–1. Day was recognized as a consensus first-team

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

following the 1918 season, when he was a first-team selection by Walter Camp.''2014 NCAA Football Records Book''
Award Winners
, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Indianapolis, Indiana, pp. 2, 4, 14 (2014). Retrieved August 20, 2014. Day's selection by Walter Camp as a first-team All-American was a historic first; he was the first Southerner to be chosen for Camp's annual All-America first team, which had been historically loaded with college players from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and other Northeastern colleges. Day was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1984.

University of Georgia

Day did not complete his college football career at Georgia Tech, however. He later enrolled at the

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, where he played for coach Herman Stegeman's

Georgia Bulldogs football The Georgia Bulldogs football program represents the University of Georgia in the sport of American football. The Georgia Bulldogs, Bulldogs compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) a ...

team in 1920 and 1921. He played in every minute of 1921. At Georgia his jersey number was 1. Day was recognized as a first-team All-Southern selection by the ''Atlanta Constitution'' and several other major newspapers following his 1920 and 1921 seasons playing for the Georgia Bulldogs. He made an all-time Georgia Bulldogs football team picked in 1935. He was nominated, though not selected, for an ''Associated Press'' All-Time Southeast 1869–1919 era team. Buck Cheves said "I never saw a better center than Bum Day...He would snap the ball and then make the tackle on kicks".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Bum 1898 births 1988 deaths All-American college football players American football centers Georgia Bulldogs football players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players People from Berrien County, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) All-Southern college football players

Gordon

Georgia Tech

University of Georgia

See also

References