Battles, Clifford F.
Football
b. May 1, 1910, Akron, OH
d. April 28, 1981
Battles was a Phi Beta Kappa student at little West Virginia Wesleyan College, where he played baseball, basketball, and track as well as football. He didn't receive any All-America mentions, but Navy players named him as a halfback on their all-opponent team in 1930.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pounder was a versatile runner who could plunge between tackles like a fullback or turn the ends and run in the open field like a halfback. In 1930, he had six touchdown runs of 70 or more yards and in his senior season, 1931, he scored 15 touchdowns in 10 games, including four runs of more than 50 yards.
Battles joined the NFL's Boston Braves in 1931. The team became known as the Redskins in 1932, and Battles was named an All-Pro after leading the league in rushing with 737 yards on 146 carries, a 5.0 average. He was the first NFL runner to gain more than 200 yards in a game, with 215 yards on only 16 attempts against the New York Giants.
He was an All-Pro again in 1936, when the Redskins won the Eastern Division championship. Because of poor attendance in Boston, they played the NFL championship game in the Polo Grounds, losing to the Green Bay Packers.
The Redskins moved to Washington, DC, in 1937. That was Battles' best season and, ironically, his last. He led the league in rushing again with 874 yards on 216 carries, a 4.0 average, and was named an All-Pro for the third time.
In the last game of the season against the New York Giants, the Eastern Division title was on the line. Battles scored three touchdowns on runs from scrimmage of 4 and 73 yards and a 76-yard interception return in a 49-14 victory. A week later, in the championship game against the Chicago Bears, Battles had a 43-yard run on the first play from scrimmage and he scored Washington's first touchdown on a 7-yard run. The Redskins won the championship, 28-21.
That was the first season for the great Sammy Baugh, who earned much more than the $3,000 Battles received. When Washington owner George Marshall refused to give him a raise, Battles retired to accept a $4,000 job as an assistant coach at Columbia University.