Stephen Douglas Wycoff (September 16, 1903 – October 27, 1981) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

Staten Island Stapletons The Staten Island Stapletons, also known as the Staten Island Stapes, were a professional American football team. Founded in 1915, they played in the National Football League (NFL) from 1929 in sports, 1929 to 1932 in sports, 1932. The team was ...

, and

Boston Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football franchise based in the Washington metropolitan area. They are members of the NFC East, East division in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL). ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), the

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American independent league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Bas ...

in the first American Football League (AFL), and the Boston Shamrocks in the second American Football League (AFL). He played

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 ...

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

, where he was a

and senior captain.

Georgia Tech

Wycoff prepped in

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

, and came to Tech as a package deal with

Ike Williams Isiah "Ike" Williams (August 2, 1923 – September 5, 1994) was an American professional boxer. He was a lightweight world boxing champion. He took the World Lightweight Championship in April 1945 and made eight successful defenses of the title a ...

. He was the school's first letterman in four sports.

Football

Wycoff was a prominent fullback for Bill Alexander's

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football program represents the Georgia Institute of Technology in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision in the sport of American football. The Yellow Jackets college football team competes in the Football Bowl Subd ...

team from

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

. He was elected captain of the 1925 team, having been "the outstanding back of the South for the past two years." Coach Alexander recalled "The work of Douglas Wycoff against Notre Dame two years in succession was brilliant in the extreme, as was his plunging against Penn. State when we defeated them twice." He was a consensus All-Southern choice each year he played. Lawrence Perry selected Wycoff 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 ...

n in 1924.

Morgan Blake William Morgan Blake (February, 1889 – July 26, 1953) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter in the South who in his 24 years on the job covered seven Rose Bowl games. He also taught the south's largest Sunday School class. Early ye ...

, sports writer for the ''

Atlanta Journal ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

'', said of an all-time All-Southern list: "It seems to us that one name is left out in this collection, who may have been the best all-around player the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

has had. "We have reference to Doug Wycoff of Tech who, for three straight years, was practically the unanimous all-Southern football choice, despite the fact that Georgia Tech had very lean years during his period of play at this institution. If Wycoff had been flanked by such a pair of halfbacks as

Red Barron David Irenus "Red" Barron (June 21, 1900 – October 4, 1982) was an American football and baseball player. Barron was a three-sport letterwinner at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In football, he was named second or third team All Americ ...

and

Buck Flowers Allen Ralph "Buck" Flowers, Jr. (March 26, 1899 – April 8, 1983) was an American college football player who was a Halfback (American football), halfback for the Davidson Wildcats football team of Davidson College in 1917 and for the Georgia ...

, or Thomason and Mizell while he was with the Jackets, he would have been an all-American. As it was he had to carry all of the offensive load and on the defense he was a wheelhorse. He was a great punter and passer. If Wycoff was not the best all-around player the South had produced then he was very close to the peak."

Professional football

Newark Bears

Wycoff played professional football with the 1926

in the first

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

(AFL), with several other former Georgia Tech players including Jimmy Brewster, Vaughan Connelly, and

. Wycoff scored the Bears only points in their short existence, having a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

run and kicking the

extra point Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * Extra (newspaper), ...

to tie the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

in both teams’ opening game of the season.

Miami Seahawks

He was one time part owner of the

Miami Seahawks The Miami Seahawks were a professional American football team based in Miami, Florida. They played in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in the league's inaugural season, 1946, before the team was relocated to Baltimore. They are notable ...

Wrestling

Wycoff also wrestled. He once beat former

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...

fullback

Bill Middlekauff Willis William Middlekauff (December 28, 1904 – September 1957) was an American college football player, attorney, boxer, and wrestler. University of Florida Middlekauff from 1922–25 and in 1927 was a member of the University of Florida sw ...

in a match, the main event at the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium for Georgia Championship Wrestling promoter Henry Weber.

Championships and accomplishments

*NWA Florida **

NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship The NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship was a major title in Championship Wrestling from Florida and is now the major title in NWA Florida Wrestling Alliance. It started in 1937 and was abandoned in 1949. It was picked back up in 1966 by CWF an ...

( 1 time)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wycoff, Doug 1903 births 1981 deaths American football running backs Boston Redskins players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players Newark Bears (AFL) players New York Giants players Staten Island Stapletons coaches Staten Island Stapletons players All-Southern college football players Players of American football from St. Louis American male sport wrestlers 20th-century male professional wrestlers 20th-century American professional wrestlers NWA Florida Heavyweight Champions Little Rock Central High School alumni