Bill Spears

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Bill Spears
BillSpears.jpg
circa 1927
Vanderbilt Commodores
Position Quarterback
Career history
College Vanderbilt (1925–1927)
Personal information
Date of birth August 31, 1906 (1906-08-31)
Place of birth Jasper, Tennessee, U.S.
Date of death Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Place of death Tennessee, U.S.
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Career highlights and awards
All-Southern (1926, 1927)
All-American (1926, 1927)
Ranked by coach Dan McGugin as one of his six best players
College Football Hall of Fame (1962)

William Douglas "Bill" Spears (August 31, 1906 – December 31, 1992) known as "Bounding Bill Spears" was an American football player and stand-out quarterback for Dan McGugin's Vanderbilt Commodores football teams from 1925 to 1927. Spears was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1962.[1] Grantland Rice said of Spears that he was one of the fastest quarters he'd ever seen.[2]

Early years

High school

Spears attended The McCallie School.

Vanderbilt

Playing years

Known as "Bounding Bill;" "Spears can run a team like a playing coach, drop kick, boot from placement, and pass cooly and accurately in the teeth of a charging line."[3]

1925

Edwin Pope writes "In 1925 McGugin came up with his finest quarterback in Bill Spears. Spears learned much from his coach and in three seasons had an unbelievably low number of interceptions He led the Commodores three years in which they only lost to Georgia Tech and Auburn in '25, Alabama in '26. and Texas in '27."[4]

1926

The 1926 team suffered its only loss to national champion Alabama.

1927

One fellow wrote Vanderbilt produced "almost certainly the legit top Heisman candidate in Spears, if there had been a Heisman Trophy to award in 1927."[5] In a 32 to 0 victory over Tulane, Spears had touchdown runs of 88 and 77 yards.[6] Spears received the most votes for the 1927 All-Southern team,[7] and was selected the first-team All-American quarterback by the Associated Press.[8] The 1927 Vanderbilt Commodores included the nation's leading scorer in running back Jimmy Armistead. His understudy at quarterback was later coach Henry "Red" Sanders.[9][10]

Statistics
Year Carries Rushing
Yards		 Average Rushing TDs Completions Attempts Passing
Yards		 Passing TDs Interceptions Kickoff
returns		 Kickoff
yards		 Kickoff TDs Punt
returns		 Punt
return average		 Punt
returns TDs		 XP
1927 141 794 5.6 5 64 133 1207 9 4 5 177 1 30 5.9 7 16

[5]

Coaching years

1929

Spears was an assistant on the 1929 team.[11]

References

  1. ↑ College Football Hall of fame, Hall of Famers, Bill Spears Member Biography. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. open access publication - free to read
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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