Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1991
- Class:
- 1939
The first Marshall player selected in the NFL Draft was Everett “Boot” Elkins, who was taken by the Chicago Cardinals in the 15th round of the 1939 draft after his junior season. Called a “human locomotive” and known as a back with big play abilities, Elkins chose to stay at Marshall for his senior season and never were the skills that led Chicago to draft him more on display than on Sept. 30, 1939, in a 20-0 Marshall win over Virginia Tech at Fairfield Stadium. In a game played in muddy conditions under torrential rains, the Hamlin, W.Va., native not only caught a 99-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Andy D’Antoni, he also returned a kickoff 95 yards for another touchdown. Elkins had been an All-Buckeye Conference selection in 1937 and 1938, helping the 1937 squad to a 9-0-1 record and league championship.
The Chicago Cardinals retained Elkins’ NFL rights the following year and he played one game for the team in 1940, but then signed with the American Football League’s New York Yankees, for whom he played and was named second team All-AFL that season. Elkins played for the same team – which had been renamed the Americans – the next year, then his football career ended as he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps for World War II. Elkins was inducted into the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991.
