Buck Flowers

Allen Ralph "Buck" Flowers, Jr. (March 26, 1899 – April 8, 1983) was an American college football player who was a halfback for the Davidson Wildcats football team of Davidson College in 1917 and for the Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football team of the Georgia School of Technology in 1918, 1919 and 1920.

A triple threat, Flowers also handled punting and drop kicks. Coach William Alexander said Flowers was the best punter Tech ever had and the best back he ever coached, calling him "pound for pound, my greatest player". As a safety on defense, no player ever got past Flowers for a touchdown.

In 1955, he became the first Georgia Tech football player to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Flowers was also selected as a halfback on an Associated Press Southeast Area All-Time football team 1869–1919 era.

Flowers was born in Sumter, South Carolina, in 1899, the son of Allen Ralph Flowers, Sr. and M. Bettie (Cain) Flowers. He attended Sumter High School. As a senior in 1916, Flowers played for a Sumter team that lost only one game. He later recalled, "I only weighed 115 pounds when I was in high school. I did all of the kicking but didn't run very much because I was so small". He is considered the greatest athlete to come out of Sumter, at least before Freddie Solomon.

Flowers enrolled at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina on a scholarship arranged by his Presbyterian minister. At just 17 years of age he played for the Davidson Wildcats football team. In 1917 Flowers participated in one of the great upsets in Southern football history as the Wildcats bested the Auburn Tigers 21–7. In the victory over Auburn, Flowers returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown, caught a pass for a second touchdown, set up a third touchdown with an 85-yard return to Auburn's two-yard line, and kicked all three extra points for the Wildcats. He also prevented Auburn from scoring with a tackle at the goal line. Flowers also had a 68-yard run against Navy in 1917.

Davidson scored the most on the 1917 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado, for many years considered the greatest football team the South ever produced, in a 32–10 loss. Flowers made a field goal that game. Some would call Davidson the second best southern team that year. One description of Flowers's play reads: "Against the previously impenetrable Tech defense of 1917 Buck was the Houdini-like escape artist – the will-o'-the-wisp of twisting, tantalizing runs, one of which set the stage for the Davidson touchdown and another of which brought them within range for a Flowers drop-kick of three points. Tech's renowned backfield of Albert Hill, Everett Strupper, Joe Guyon, and freshman Judy Harlan, had all but Harlan make the composite All-Southern team. The spot remaining went to Flowers.

In 1918, Flowers enrolled at Georgia Tech where he played for the 1918, 1919, and 1920 teams coached by John Heisman and Bill Alexander. In his first season of 1918, Flowers had grown to a weight of 150 pounds and was a backup halfback until Heisman discovered Flowers' ability as an open-field runner on punt returns: "Heisman's eyes bulged. And bulged again. On the first punt, Buck ran through the entire first team. Same thing again..and again. Heisman had uncovered one of the greatest broken-field runners." Tech went on to win the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) in 1918.

Heisman resigned after the 1919 season. In a 28–0 victory over Clemson, Flowers had a 26-yard touchdown run around left end. Flowers "sidestepped, ducked, twisted and turned until he had again crossed the field almost to the opposite side and then stiff-arming the last man in his way, crossed the goal for a touchdown." A 15-yard pass from Flowers to Bill Fincher netted the third touchdown. Flowers had a 78-yard touchdown against Vanderbilt in the mud.