Rufus Benajamin "Cow" Nalley (December 27, 1870 – November 28, 1902) was a three sport participant at 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 ...

(

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, and

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

), and a later head coach for Georgia Tech. He was described as being of average height and weighing around 200 pounds. Nalley is the only five-year letterman in the history of

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 ...

, lettering each year from 1892 to 1896. In Georgia's inaugural season in 1892, Nalley played tackle. During the next two seasons (1893 and 1894), Nalley played center. When Pop Warner came to coach Georgia football for the 1895 and 1896 seasons, Nalley was moved to halfback. Cow Nalley was the captain of the 1896 team, the first undefeated football team at Georgia. Nalley was a three-year letterman in baseball, earning letters in 1894, 1895 and 1896. He also threw the

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

and the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

when participating in track and field events at Georgia. After his playing career, Nalley joined Georgia as an assistant coach for the 1897 and 1898 seasons. Nalley was named as head coach for the Georgia Tech football team on September 18, 1899; however, the season was not a success and the team lost all six of its games. He did not return to coach the team the following year. Nalley died on November 28, 1902, in

Atlanta, Georgia 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 ...

, after a short, serious illness. According to some, the last thing that he heard before losing consciousness on November 27, 1902, was that Georgia had beaten its rival Auburn earlier that day, news that caused him to smile. It was the first victory for Georgia in the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry since the championship season of 1896 for which Nalley played.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* Reed, Thomas Walter (1949). Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. ''History of the University of Georgia; Chapter XVII: Athletics at the University from the Beginning Through 1947''
imprint pages 3429-3430, 3433, 3439, 3443-3444, 3471
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nalley, R. B. 1870 births 1902 deaths 19th-century players of American football American football centers American football halfbacks American football tackles American male hammer throwers American male shot putters Coaches of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia Bulldogs baseball players Georgia Bulldogs football players Georgia Bulldogs men's track and field athletes Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football coaches Players of American football from Villa Rica, Georgia Track and field athletes from Georgia (U.S. state) Baseball players from Cobb County, Georgia Baseball players from Douglas County, Georgia