William Harold Collins
| Spot Collins | |
|---|---|
| College | Texas, Southwestern |
| Conference | Southwest Conference |
| Sport | Football |
| Position | QB, LB, guard |
| Class | 1947 |
| Nickname | Spot |
| Career | 1941–1946 |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
| Weight | 195 lb (88 kg) |
| Born | March 4, 1922 Breckenridge, TX |
| Died | March 26, 1996 Temple, TX |
| High school | Breckenridge High School |
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William Harold "Spot" Collins (March 4, 1922 – March 26, 1996) was a college and professional football player and coach in the 1940s. He was a quarterback and guard who led Texas to its first bowl game and, during his military service, led Southwestern University to the 1944 Sun Bowl where he was the game's MVP. He played one year of professional football for the NFL's Boston Yanks in 1947 and was head football coach at Southwestern in 1948–49. He is one of only 14 NFL players to serve in both World War II and the Korean War.
William Harold Collins was a star in football, baseball and basketball at Breckenridge High School, which he attended from 1936–1940. He led the football team to a district championship in his senior year and was 2nd Team All-State the same year. When the season was over, he played in the annual Texas High School Football Coaches Association All-Star game.
He first attended the University of Texas in 1940 where, in his freshman year, he was captain of the "Shorthorn" football team – the freshman team. They went undefeated and won the unofficial conference championship.
In 1941 he played guard on the varsity and earned a letter despite missing the end of the season with a knee injury. That season marked the first time that a Texas team would ever be ranked No. 1 in the polls, if only for a week before tying Baylor and losing to TCU in back to back weeks. The Longhorns finished 8–1–1 and ranked No. 4 in the country. It was the first time Texas ever finished the season ranked.
In 1942 Collins was moved to quarterback, which in the single-wing formation was also known as the "blocking back". The quarterback did not pass or handle the ball as much as they do in modern offenses, but did call the plays. On defense, he played linbebacker. After starting slowly to allow his knee to heal, Collins took over the starting job from Joe Magliolo because he was seen as the better pass defender and the Longhorns started to play against more pass-oriented offenses in the Southwest Conference. He helped lead Texas to the conference title, a No. 11 ranking and their first bowl game, the 1943 Cotton Bowl. He was recognized as an All-Southwest Conference 2nd Team player as a back.
Following the 1942 season, he joined the Marine Corps and, along with eight other Longhorns, was sent to Southwestern University as part of the V-12 program. There he was captain of the most successful Pirates football team in school history, a team that beat Texas in Austin, was ranked as high as No. 11, and won the 1943 Sun Bowl, in which Collins was named MVP. Though the Texas Conference was officially disbanded during the war, the school considers themselves Texas Conference Champions that year.
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