Banks McFadden

Clemson University

Men's Basketball, Football and Track

1936-1940

The only Clemson Tiger to have his jersey retired in both football and basketball, Banks McFadden was voted the greatest athlete in Clemson history by a media poll conducted in 1999. In addition to football and basketball, he was a standout on the Tigers' track team and pitched briefly for the baseball team as well.

Born in Fort Lawn, South Carolina, McFadden enrolled at Clemson in 1936. On the gridiron, he helped the Tigers win 12 of 15 SoCon games in his four years while also being a star on the basketball court. McFadden became one of only eight athletes to be named first-team All-American in both sports, earning the honor twice for basketball. 

As a senior in 1939, he was voted All-Southern Conference as a running back and was the Associated Press "Athlete of the Year" after leading Clemson to a 9-1 record and a victory in the 1940 Cotton Bowl, the Tigers' first bowl appearance.

On the basketball court, he led the 1938-39 Clemson team that captured the SoCon championship by beating Maryland in the tournament final. He was voted first team All-SoCon as a sophomore, junior and senior.

McFadden was the fourth overall pick of the 1940 NFL draft by the Brooklyn Dodgers and spent one season in professional football. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, attaining the rank of colonel, before embarking on a football coaching career at his alma mater. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1959. Banks McFadden died in June of 2005 at the age of 88.