1903–1906 Georgetown 1912–1915 VPI Positions Quarterback 1911 North Carolina Alma mater Georgetown University | 1909–1910 VPI Role Basketball Coach 1908 Georgia Name Branch Bocock | |
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Sport(s) Football, basketball, baseball Born March 10, 1884
Shenandoah, Virginia ( 1884-03-10 ) Died May 25, 1946, Blackstone, Virginia, United States | ||
James Branch Bocock (March 10, 1884 – May 25, 1946) was an American football, basketball, and baseball coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Georgia (1908), Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute (VPI)—now known as Virginia Tech (1909–1910, 1912–1915), the University of North Carolina (1911), Louisiana State University (1920–1921), the University of South Carolina (1925–1926), and The College of William & Mary (1928–1930, 1936–1938), compiling a career college football record of 98–55–9. Bocock was also the head basketball coach at VPI (1909–1911, 1913–1915), LSU (1920–1921), and South Carolina (1924–1927), tallying a career college basketball mark of 109–33, and the head baseball coach at VPI (1910–1911, 1914), LSU (1922–1923), and South Carolina (1925–1927), amassing a career college baseball record of 70–54–2.
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Early years
Bocock was a quarterback for the Georgetown Hoyas.
Coaching career
Although official records give Bocock credit only for coaching the Georgia Bulldogs football team in 1908, he also coached the last three games of Georgia's 1907 season. In 1907, Georgia head football coach Bull Whitney was caught in a controversy over the revelation that there were at least four paid professionals on the Georgia and Georgia Tech teams during the game played that year. As a result, Georgia removed all known ringers from its team and Whitney was forced to resign, handing the coaching duties over to Bocock for the last three games. Georgia was 2–1 in those three games.
At VPI, Bocock was the team's first true professional coach and the first head football coach to receive a full-time salary.
Later life
Bocock died at the age of 62 on May 25, 1946 at his home in Blackstone, Virginia.