American football player (1905–1979)
Austin J. Downes (August 20, 1905 – May 25, 1979) was a college football player. He later worked for the US government in Phoenix, Arizona.[1]
Early years
Downes came from an Irish family in Chicago.[2][3] Downes was to play for Knute Rockne's Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, but transferred to the University of Georgia under Rockne's protege coach Harry Mehre.[4]
University of Georgia
Downes was a prominent quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs of the University of Georgia from 1929 to 1931. He was twice All-Southern.[2][5] He led the team in 1930 to wins over Eastern powers NYU and Yale.[6] The Georgia tradition of rubbing the head of Harry "Squab" Jones to some degree starts with Downes, who refused to rub it. After finally doing so, Downes returned the opening kickoff in the Yale Bowl 70+ yards for a touchdown, catching it off a bounce on the grass.[7][8][9] The 1931 team of which he was captain[3][10][11] suffered just two losses, one to national champion USC, and the other to the team USC beat in the Rose Bowl, Southern champion Tulane.
References
- ^ "The Red and Black (Athens, Ga.) 1893-current, November 04, 1938, Image 7 « Georgia Historic Newspapers".
- ^ a b "All-Southern Team". The Monroe News-Star. December 2, 1931. p. 6. Retrieved September 21, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Dillon Graham (August 26, 1931). "Line Has Edge On Backfielders". The Monroe News-Star. p. 7. Retrieved September 22, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sperber, Murray A. (October 21, 2002). Shake Down the Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253215684 – via Google Books.
- ^ Dillon Graham (December 2, 1931). "Three Tulane Stars Picked for All-Southern Team". Fitchburg Sentinel.
- ^ Patrick Garbin (2008). About Them Dawgs!: Georgia Football's Memorable Teams and Players. Scarecrow Press. pp. 21, 29. ISBN 9780810860407.
- ^ Austin Wilson (December 29, 1982). ""Squab" part of Georgia football". Gettysburg Times.
- ^ "Jones' Head Good Luck Charm For Georgia". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. December 29, 1982.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Pack of Veterans Carry on Georgia's Grid Wars". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. October 12, 1931.
- ^ "Team Captains". Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
