Tom Davies

Thomas J. Davies (October 14, 1896 – February 29, 1972) was an American football player and coach. He played as a halfback at the University of Pittsburgh and was a consensus All-American in 1918 and 1920. After retiring as a player, Davies worked as a football coach for the next 26 years, including stints at the University of Pennsylvania, Geneva College, Allegheny College, the University of Rochester, the Carnegie Institute of Technology, the University of Scranton, and Western Reserve University. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1970.

Playing career Davies was a native of Gas City, Indiana. He moved to Washington, Pennsylvania when he was 11 years old. Pitt's Tommy Davies runs against undefeated and unscored upon Georgia Tech in a 1918 game at Forbes Field. Pitt won the game 32–0 and is considered by many to be that season's national champion. Davies helped Pitt to an undefeated season and a national championship in 1918, as he led the team in rushing, passing and receiving. After watching Davies run back a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown in 1918, one writer noted:"When Brother Tom Davies caught the kickoff on the ten-yard line at Franklin Field in Philadelphia one Saturday in November, we saw the prettiest piece of open field work not off at an angle, Tommie ran the length since the days of Jim Thorpe. On a bee line of the gridiron, and in so doing he personally took care of seven men! Then just for fun he added two more. The papers said, 'Tom Davies Beats Penn.' It has been the same against Syracuse, Lafayette and Georgia Tech. And now Pitt is counting on another All-American."

As a junior in 1920, Davies led Pitt to another big win over the University of Pennsylvania. In what some called Davies' finest game, he threw a touchdown pass, ran 80 yards for a touchdown, returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown and returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown. Also in 1920, he led Pitt to a 35–0 win over Syracuse, as he rushed for 255 yards and scored 16 points in only three quarters of play. Davies was selected as team captain at a team banquet at which the entire team gave Davies "a thunderous cheer." The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Davies was so affected by the demonstration that he stammered only a few words of appreciation and left the hall saying, "I'm going to phone my mother and tell her all about it."

Davies continues to rank among Pitt's all-time leaders in scoring with 181 points and all-purpose yards with 3,931 yards.

Davies received his first head coaching job in 1923 when he was hired as the head football coach for the Geneva College Golden Tornadoes located in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. In 1924, he was hired by Allegheny College where he remained for two seasons. In 1926, Davies was hired as the head football coach at the University of Rochester, where he spent nine years, coaching until 1934. After leaving Rochester, he spent one season as a coach at Carnegie Tech and another at Kiski Prep School. In his first season, he led the Tomcats to a 6–1–1 record. Prior to the start of the 1938 season, St. Thomas College changed its name to the University of Scranton. Davies's 1938 team finished with a record of 7–2. The team improved in 1939 and completed an undefeated 7–0–2 season. Davies resigned as Scranton's coach in March 1940 with a three-year record of 20–3–3.

After leaving Scranton, Davies went into the insurance business in the Cleveland area. Davies served seven years as head coach at Western Reserve, although there was no team from 1943 to 1945 due to World War II, but was discharged in October 1947 by the University Board of Athletics. The dismissal came 24 hours after members of the team demanded that they finish the year under another coach.

Later years After permanently retiring from football in 1947, Davies returned to the insurance business in the Pittsburgh area. He died at his home in Pittsburgh's Highland Park district.

Head coaching record College