John Ryland "Twenty Percent" Davis (June 12, 1882 – August 16, 1947) 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. Davis was known as "Twenty percent" because he was considered twenty percent of the team's worth.

Georgia Tech

Davis was a tackle and halfback for

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 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, ...

. He was inducted into the Tech Athletic Hall of Fame in 1958. The large Davis carried the bass drum on his back in a parade through

Griffin, Georgia Griffin is a city in and the county seat of Spalding County, Georgia, Spalding County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a po ...

for the Georgia Tech Glee Club. In 1915,

selected his 30 greatest Southern football players, and mentioned Davis 20th.

1908

Davis was selected All-Southern in 1908. Vanderbilt coach

Dan McGugin Daniel Earle McGugin (July 29, 1879 – January 23, 1936) was an American college football player and coach, as well as a lawyer. He served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee from 1904 to 1917 and a ...

wrote, "He has one glaring fault—a tendency to tackle around the eyebrows. Otherwise he is a splendid foot ball man. He weighs two hundred pounds, is never hurt, never fumbles, bucks a line hard and furnishes excellent interference. He was the strength and stay of Tech."

1909

He was captain of the 1909 team.

References

American football tackles American football halfbacks Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players All-Southern college football players 1882 births 1947 deaths Sportspeople from Williamsburg, Virginia Players of American football from Virginia {{collegefootball-player-stub