George C. Paterson

George "Bubbles" Paterson

Michigan Wolverines
Position	Center
Career history
College	Michigan (1911–1913)
Personal information
Date of birth	May 10, 1891
Place of birth	Austin, Pennsylvania, United States
Date of death	November 29, 1945(1945-11-29) (aged 54)
Place of death	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Career highlights and awards
All-American (1913)

George Cornell "Bubbles" Paterson (May 10, 1891 – November 29, 1945) was an American football player and engineer. He played center for the University of Michigan Wolverines football teams coached by Fielding H. Yost from 1911 to 1913. He was selected as an All-American in 1913.

Paterson was born in Austin, Pennsylvania in 1891. Paterson grew up in Detroit, Michigan, where his father, Andrew C. Paterson, practiced as an attorney. Paterson attended the Detroit public schools and graduated in 1910 from Detroit Central High School. At Detroit Central, Paterson was captain of the football team and a teammate of Jimmy Craig and Squib Torbet — both of whom later joined Paterson on the University of Michigan football team. Paterson also played with the Detroit Athletic Club team.

Paterson enrolled at the University of Michigan where he played football under the school's famous coach, Fielding H. Yost. Paterson was the starting center on Yost’s teams from 1911 to 1913. Paterson started all eight games for the Wolverines as a sophomore in 1911. In 1912, he started six of the team’s seven games, missing one game due to injury. And as a senior in 1913, Paterson was elected by his teammates as the captain and started all seven games.

Michigan's 1913 football team, with Paterson as captain, finished with a 6–1 record and outscored its opponents 175–21. The team unexpectedly lost a game early in the season to Michigan Agricultural College (known now as the Michigan State University) by a score of 12–7. In the remaining six games, the team allowed only nine points. The 1913 schedule included games against three of the Eastern football powers, and the Wolverines won all three games — defeating Syracuse (43–7), Cornell (17–0) and Penn (13–0).