 Feathers from 1933 Volunteer | |||||||||||||||||
| No. 48, 44, 3 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Halfback | ||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
| Born: | August 20, 1909 Bristol, Virginia, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||
| Died: | March 11, 1979 (aged 69) Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 185 lb (84 kg) | ||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||
| High school: | Virginia (Bristol, Virginia) | ||||||||||||||||
| College: | Tennessee | ||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||
| As a player: | |||||||||||||||||
| As a coach: | |||||||||||||||||
Football
Baseball
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||||
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| Head coaching record | |||||||||||||||||
| Career: | 42–40–4 (football) 79–135–1 (baseball) | ||||||||||||||||
| Player stats at PFR | |||||||||||||||||
William Beattie "Big Chief" Feathers (August 20, 1909 – March 11, 1979) was an American football player and coach of football and baseball. He played college football and college basketball at the University of Tennessee.
Feathers attended Virginia High School, in Bristol, Virginia, and led the school to its first state championship as team captain before going on to the University of Tennessee.
He starred as a halfback from 1931 to 1933 for the Tennessee Volunteers football team led by head coach Robert Neyland. Feathers was a consensus selection to the 1933 College Football All-America Team. In December 2008, Sports Illustrated undertook to identify the individuals who would have been awarded the Heisman Trophy in college football's early years, before the trophy was established in 1935. Feathers was selected as the would-be Heisman winner for the 1933 season.[1]
Feathers played professional football in the National Football League (NFL) with the Chicago Bears, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Green Bay Packers from 1934 to 1940. In his rookie season of 1934 he became the first player in NFL history to rush for over 1,000 yards in one season.[2] His average of 8.44 yards per attempt that same year remains an NFL record (minimum 100 carries). He also, as of 2024, is the only NFL player to have outran the passing leader in a single season(He outran passing leader Arnie Herber by 205 yards that season) As of 2019, his 91.3 yards per game is also a Bears rookie franchise record. Feathers is one of ten players named to the National Football League 1930s All-Decade Team who have not been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
After his career in the NFL, Feathers coached college football and college baseball. He served as the head football coach at Appalachian State Teachers College—now known as Appalachian State University—in 1942 and at North Carolina State University from 1944 to 1951, compiling a career college football coaching record of 42–40–4. Feathers was the head baseball coach at NC State in 1945, at Texas Tech University from 1954 to 1960,[3] and at Wake Forest University from 1972 to 1975, tallying a career college baseball coaching mark of 79–135–1.
Feathers was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1955. He was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1981. He stood 5'10" and 180 pounds.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | AP# | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appalachian State Mountaineers (North State Conference) (1942) | |||||||||
| 1942 | Appalachian State | 5–2–1 | 2–2 | 2nd | |||||
| Appalachian State: | 5–2–1 | 2–2 | |||||||
| NC State Wolfpack (Southern Conference) (1944–1951) | |||||||||
| 1944 | NC State | 7–2 | 3–1 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1945 | NC State | 3–6 | 2–4 | 8th | |||||
| 1946 | NC State | 8–3 | 6–1 | 3rd | L Gator | 18 | |||
| 1947 | NC State | 5–3–1 | 3–2–1 | T–6th | 17 | ||||
| 1948 | NC State | 3–6–1 | 1–4–1 | 14th | |||||
| 1949 | NC State | 3–7 | 3–6 | 13th | |||||
| 1950 | NC State | 5–4–1 | 4–4–1 | T–9th | |||||
| 1951 | NC State | 3–7 | 2–6 | T–12th | |||||
| NC State: | 37–38–3 | 24–28–3 | |||||||
| Total: | 42–40–4 | ||||||||
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