George McAfee

March 13, 1918 – Corbin, Kentucky – George McAfee, Duke University’s play-making halfback from 1937 to 1939, was born. The footballfoundation.org website states that George struck fear into opposing defenses because they had to respect his sudden burst and quickness, which could catch them off guard and turn into a long gain on any play.

A sportswriter referred to George as “One Play McAfee” because he had the potential for a big play available constantly. Besides his speed and agility, the southpaw was also deadly with a halfback pass that he employed from time to time to burn defenses with. McAfee made up half of a formidable backfield tandem along with fellow Hall of Famer Eric Tipton, forming a significant one-two punch of the great Duke teams of the late 1930s. When we say great teams, we have to mention the 1938 Blue Devils, who went undefeated, untied, and unscored upon in the regular season, easily took the Southern Conference crown, only to be knocked off in the Rose Bowl by USC 7-3 in a heartbreaker. The streak of being unscored upon lasted for 58 minutes into the GrandDaddy of them all, too. After a scoreless first half, according to the golden rankings site, the Blue Devils finally caught the break they’d been waiting for in the form of a midfield INT late in 3rd quarter. Eric Tipton then fired a high, arching pass to George McAfee, who hauled it in to put the ball on the Trojan 24. Roger Robertson and Tipton punched their way to the 16. On fourth-and-2, third-string G Tony Ruffa booted a FG from the 24 on the second play of the last period. It looked like that might be the ticket to complete perfection for Duke, but that was until Southern Cal’s fourth-string quarterback Doyle Nave drove his team down the field for a game-winning touchdown in the game’s final seconds. The National Football Foundation selected George McAfee to join other gridiron legends in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1961.

George ended up being the second overall pick in the 1940 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears, and even the wise Coach George Halas was unsure if he had made a mistake because McAfee was a bit smaller than the prototypical NFL size for a durable back. One-Play-McAfee did not disappoint, though, as in 8 seasons, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, George scored 253 points and gained 5313 total yards in the NFL.

The two-way player also picked off 25 passes and led the League in punt returns in 1948, finishing his career with an average of 12.78 yards per punt return. As a side note, he was also the player who made the trend of wearing low-cut shoes popular in the NFL.

At a small ceremony in Canton, Ohio, in 1966, the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrined George McAfee.