Bowling for Hollers: Versatile Athletes Cheered on Gridiron and Hardwood

"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it." - George Bernard Shaw

Could a short ex-hoopster in college contribute in a big way in the first college football playoff? Oregon wideout/punt returner Johnathan Loyd, who caught a TD pass from Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota against Wyoming and returned a punt for 51 yards at Utah, is the winningest player in the Ducks' basketball history (97 victories). Loyd led them in assists last season when he supplied a game-high six scoring feeds in an NCAA tourney opening-round win against BYU and team-high five assists when they were eliminated by Wisconsin.

Loyd isn't the first such versatile athlete. South Carolina football wide receiver/basketball guard Bruce Ellington, after throwing a touchdown pass to the Gamecocks' quarterback on a reverse and catching a go-ahead TD pass in the second half of the Capital One Bowl against Wisconsin last year, is among the all-time Top 10 "Men For All Seasons." In an era of specialization, preliminary research reveals Ellington is the first major-college basketball regular to compete the same academic school year in three consecutive football bowl games. Living up to George Bernard Shaw's credo, he joined Terry Baker (Oregon State), Rick Casares (Florida), Ronald Curry (North Carolina), Charles Davis (Purdue), Pete "Bump" Elliott (Michigan), Fred Gibson (Georgia), Teyo Johnson (Stanford), Matt Jones (Arkansas), Terry Kirby (Virginia), Dave Logan (Colorado) and Tony "Zippy" Morocco (Georgia) as athletes who scored a touchdown in a bowl game shortly before or after switching uniforms and making significant contributions to the school's basketball squad. Ellington, after pacing USC in pass receptions, cut short both his college football and basketball career by declaring early for the NFL draft (started two of three early-season hoop contests).

In the ultimate one-and-only achievement, Baker is the lone football Heisman Trophy winner to play in the basketball Final Four (1963). Kirby, a running back, and Matt Blundin, a quarterback, were teammates who competed in back-to-back years for Virginia football squads in bowl games (Florida Citrus following 1989 season and Sugar following 1990) before becoming members of Cavaliers hoop teams participating in the NCAA playoffs.

A striking number of athletes did Loyd one better by playing both sports at the highest collegiate level in the same school year. Retiring from the NFL last season, all-time great tight end Tony Gonzalez (California) is among the following alphabetical list of versatile athletes since the end of World War II who played in at least one football bowl game the same school year they were a hoop regular (bowl year denotes when regular season was played):