Eugene Noble "Buck" Mayer(c. 1892 - October 21, 1918) was an All-American football player for the University of Virginia. He was the first football player from a Southern school to be recognized as a consensus first-team All-American.

A native of Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, Mayer played halfback for the Virginia Cavaliers from 1912-1915. Mayer also competed for Virginia in track and field. He threw the 16-pound shot put 42 feet, 3 inches, ran the 100-yard dash in 10.1 seconds, and had a career best of 22 feet, 9 inches in the broad jump. In 1915, Mayer was selected as a first-team All-American by International News Service

International News Service

International News Service was a U.S.-based news agency founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.Established two years after the Scripps family founded the United Press Association, INS scrapped among the newswires...

 sports editor Frank G. Menke

Frank G. Menke

Frank Grant Menke was an American newspaper reporter, author, and sports historian. He wrote for the Hearst Newspapers from 1912 to 1932 and his articles appeared daily in 300 newspapers across the country. He was billed by the Hearst syndicate as "America's Foremost Sport Writer"...

 and Eastern football expert Parke H. Davis

Parke H. Davis

Parke Hill Davis was an American football player, coach and historian who retroactively named the national championship teams in American college football from the 1869 through the 1932 seasons. He also named co-national champions at the conclusion of the 1933 season...

. He was the first player from a Southern school to be a consensus first-team All-American. He led Virginia to an 8-1 record in 1915, scoring five touchdowns in a 74-0 win over Richmond. During Mayer's four years at the University of Virginia, the football team compiled a record of 39-6. He set school records for most points scored in a game (36), most touchdowns in a season (21 in 1914), most career touchdowns (48), and career points scored (312).

In addition to athletics, Mayers was an excellent student who earned at Rhodes scholarship. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1916 with a law degree.

After graduating, Mayer began practicing law in Charleston, West Virginia

Charleston, West Virginia

Charleston is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers in Kanawha County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 51,400, and its metropolitan area 304,214. It is the county seat of Kanawha County.Early...

. In 1918, during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Mayer enlisted in a machine gun company. He died of pneumonia at Camp Johnston in Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

, in October 1918. He was 26 years old at the time of his death, and was survived by his wife and one child.

Mayer was posthumously inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.