James Douglas Elmore (December 15, 1939 – June 28, 2002) 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 wit ...

punter 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 ma ...

(NFL) for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

and in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

(CFL) for the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third ...

. He played college football and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

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. ...

Early life

Elmore attended and played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partl ...

a
Pickens County High School
in

Reform, Alabama Reform is a city in Pickens County, Alabama, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 1,702, down from 1,978 in 2000. It is located approximately halfway between Columbus, Mississippi and Tuscaloosa on U.S. Route 82. History Sparsely ...

. He received Alabama All-State and Class A "Back of the Year" honors in 1956 when he served as the team's captain. Elmore earned three

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

in football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, and

College career

Football

Elmore attended and played college football at the

, during which the Rebels posted a 29-3-1 record. He was also a member of Rebels when they won a share of the national championship in 1959 and 1960 and played in two

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 on ...

s (

1960 It is also known as the " Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * J ...

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

) and one

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium in ...

(

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wo ...

). During his senior year in 1961, Elmore completed 50-of-84 passes (59.5 percent) for 741 yards and six touchdowns, and ranked second on team in rushing with 345 yards on 77 carries (4.5 average) with three touchdowns. He also recorded two pass interceptions for 76 yards, averaged 32.3 yards on 24 punts, returned one kickoff for 18 yards and averaged 6.5 yards on four punt returns. In 1961, Elmore helped lead Ole Miss to a 9-2 record that season and was an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

first-team selection. He received All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

second-team honors from

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

and

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the ...

, and also earned Academic All-America and Academic All-SEC accolades in 1961. Following the season, Elmore played in the 1962 Coaches Association All-America Bowl. For his career, Elmore completed 82-of-139 passes for 1,216 yards and 11 touchdowns, and his 59.0 completion percentage still ranks fourth best in Ole Miss history. He had 1,827 career total offense yards (611 rushing, 1,216 passing) on 275 plays, averaging 6.64 yards per play. The 6.64 yard-per-play average still ranks fourth best all-time at Ole Miss. Elmore also accounted for 22 touchdowns.

Baseball

Elmore also played baseball for the Rebels as a

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

and helped Ole Miss win 1960 Southeastern Conference championship. He earned All-SEC and All-SEC Western Division baseball honors in 1961.

Professional career

Elmore was drafted in the thirteenth round of the

1961 NFL Draft The 1961 National Football League draft took place at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia on December 27–28, 1960. The league would later hold an expansion draft for the Minnesota Vikings expansion franchise. This draft was also the first reg ...

by the

. He was also selected in the 31st round of the

1961 AFL Draft Because another league was in competition for the class of 1961 college stars, the American Football League draft for 1961 graduates was held in 1960, with a six-round telephone draft on November 21 and 22, that saw the Buffalo Bills select Auburn ...

by the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

. He played for the Redskins during the 1962 season and in the CFL for the

during the 1963 season.

After football

Elmore was an assistant coach for one year at

Southeastern Louisiana University Southeastern Louisiana University (Southeastern) is a public university in Hammond, Louisiana. It was founded in 1925 by Linus A. Sims as Hammond Junior College. Sims succeeded in getting the campus moved to north Hammond in 1928, when it became ...

, then was the vice president o
Boyles Moak Brickell Marchetti Insurance, Inc.
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Personal

Elmore had a wife, Linda; a son, Jimmy; a daughter, Sharon Duncan; and three grandchildren.

References

External links

*
D. Elmore, 63; Ole Miss Football Star
from

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elmore, Doug 1939 births 2002 deaths American football punters American football quarterbacks Ole Miss Rebels football players People from Reform, Alabama Washington Redskins players