Eugene Noble "Buck" Mayer (February 14, 1892 – October 21, 1918) 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 ...

player. 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 ...

at the halfback position for the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

Cavaliers football team from 1912 to 1915. In 1915, he became the first football player from a Southern school to be recognized as a consensus first-team All-American. Mayer died during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

while serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. He was posthumously inducted into the

Virginia Sports Hall of Fame The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame honors athletes, coaches, administrators, journalists and other contributors to athletics. Many of the more than 350 inductees since 1972 were born in Virginia or enjoyed success in college, professional, amateur or ...

in 1980.

Early years

Mayer was born in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

, in 1892. His father, Eugene L. Mayer, was a Virginia native who worked in the mill supplies business and later as a merchant in the hardware business. Mayer had three brothers and four sisters.

University of Virginia

Football

Mayer attended the University of Virginia from 1911 to 1916. While there, he played at the halfback position for the

Virginia Cavaliers football The Virginia Cavaliers football team represents the University of Virginia (UVA) in the sport of American football. Established in 1887, Virginia plays its home games at Scott Stadium, capacity 61,500, featured directly on its campus near the ...

team from 1912 to 1915. He won a spot in the starting lineup and impressed sports writers in 1912. After indicating that he may not return to the University of Virginia in 1913, he was persuaded to do so in September 1913. Mayer and Bob McWhorter were deemed "the class of the backfield men of the south" during the 1913 season. In 1914, Mayer was one of the leading scorers in the country with 121 points scored (19 touchdowns and five extra points) and led the team to an 8–1 record with its only loss coming to

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

. On October 24, 1914, scored 26 points (four touchdowns and two extra points) in Virginia's 28–0 victory over Georgia. At the end of the 1914 season, he was named to the All-Southern team by Dick Jemison and W. A. Lambeth. In 1915, Mayer led Virginia to an 8–1 record, was one of the country's leading scorers with 105 points, and was selected as a first-team All-American by

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

sports editor Frank G. Menke and Eastern football expert Parke H. Davis. He was the first player from a Southern school to be a consensus first-team All-American. On October 9, 1915, he scored a school record 37 points five touchdowns and seven extra points in a 74–0 win over

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

. At the end of the 1915 season, ''The Washington Herald'' wrote:

Mayer is one of the greatest half backs the South has produced in years, and is universally recognized as such. He scored more touchdowns last year than any other player in the East and the second in the entire United States. His present season was not as rich in scoring as the one by some touchdowns, but in it he scored thirteen.

During Mayer's four years as a member, the football team compiled a record of 29–6. He set school records for most points scored in a game (36), most touchdowns in a season (21 in 1914), most career touchdowns (48), and career points scored (312).

Track and field

Mayer was also a member of the Virginia track and field team. He threw the 16-pound shot put 42 feet, 3 inches, ran the 100-yard dash in 10.1 seconds, and had a career best of 22 feet, 9 inches in the broad jump. In addition to athletics, Mayer was an excellent student who earned a

Rhodes scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Established in 1902, it is ...

. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1916 with a law degree.

Family and later years

Mayer was married at

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in West Virginia, most populous city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Kanawha County, West Virginia, Kanawha County and ...

, in March 1916 to Agnes Elizabeth Chilton (1896–1974). After receiving his bachelor of laws degree that year, Mayer began practicing law in Charleston. During

, Mayer served as either a private in the quartermaster's corps and/or in a machine gun company in the

. In October 1918, he died at age 26 at Camp Joseph E. Johnston in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

, a victim of the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, H1N1 subtype of the influenz ...

. He was survived by his wife and one child. In 1980, Mayer was posthumously inducted into the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayer, Eugene 1892 births 1918 deaths American football halfbacks Virginia Cavaliers football players Virginia Cavaliers men's track and field athletes All-American college football players All-Southern college football players United States Army personnel of World War I American Rhodes Scholars Sportspeople from Norfolk, Virginia Players of American football from Norfolk, Virginia Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in Florida American military personnel killed in World War I United States Army soldiers