chattanooga MOCS

Parker Talman was a standout football player and Athletic Director at UC in the mid-1910s and early 1920s.  He was on the 1916 football team at UC but made his biggest mark the three seasons he spent at Rutgers from 1913-15. 

In 1913, he became the first Rutgers Scarlet Knights football player to receive All-American honors, earning recognition at the guard position.  He is the only individual to earn Walter Camp All-American selections at three different positions (guard, halfback and fullback) in three different seasons (1913-15). 

Talman also holds the Rutgers football single-game scoring record with 48 points scored (6 touchdowns, 12 extra points) in a game played against RPI on October 9, 1915.  He also competed for Rutgers in baseball and track and was selected as the captain of the 1915 Rutgers football team.

He came to Chattanooga for the 1916 season and sat out as an ineligible transfer.  Talman left Chattanooga to play pro football with Massillon Tigers in 1916 and part of 1917 – with teammates Jim Thorpe and Knute Rockne – before serving a two-year hitch in the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant. He rejoined Massillon for part of the 1919 season before signing with the Detroit Heralds.

Talman returned to Chattanooga and was on the 1921 football team.  He managed nine rushing touchdowns and 63 points in his one season with the Mocs, earning All-American recognition.  He graduated in 1922 and immediately took over as Athletic Director.  He held that position, along with various coaching duties, until 1923.