View source for Bill Fincher

{{Short description|American football player and coach (1896–1978)}}
{{for|the baseball pitcher|Bill Fincher (baseball)}}{{Use American English|date=April 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}}{{Infobox college coach
| name = Bill Fincher
| image = Bill Fincher.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|11|12}}
| birth_place = [[Murray County, Georgia|Spring Place, Georgia]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1978|7|17|1896|11|12}}
| death_place = [[Atlanta|Atlanta, Georgia]], U.S.
| alma_mater = 
| player_years1 = 1916–1920
| player_team1 = [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech]]
| player_positions = [[End (gridiron football)|End]], [[Tackle (gridiron football position)|tackle]], [[placekicker]]
| coach_years1 = 1921
| coach_team1 = [[William & Mary Tribe football|William & Mary]]
| coach_years2 = 1925–1931
| coach_team2 = [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech]] (line)
| overall_record = 4–3–1
| bowl_record =
| tournament_record =
| championships = 
* [[College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS|National]] ([[1917 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football team|1917]])
| awards = 3× [[College Football All-Southern Team|All-Southern]] ([[1917 College Football All-Southern Team|1917]], [[1919 College Football All-Southern Team|1919]], [[1920 College Football All-Southern Team|1920]])<br/>2× Consensus [[All-American]] ([[1918 College Football All-America Team|1918]], [[1920 College Football All-America Team|1920]])<br/>Tech All-Era Team ([[John Heisman]] Era)
| coaching_records =
| CFBHOF_year = 1974
| CFBHOF_id = 1280
}}
'''William Enoch Fincher''' (November 12, 1896 – July 17, 1978) was an American [[college football]] player and coach.  He played the [[End (gridiron football)|end]] and [[Tackle (gridiron football position)|tackle]] positions for the [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football]] team of the [[Georgia Institute of Technology]].  Fincher was inducted into the [[College Football Hall of Fame]] as a player in 1974.

==Early years==
Fincher was born in [[Murray County, Georgia|Spring Place, Georgia]]. He attended old [[Atlanta Public Schools#High schools 2|Tech High School]] in [[Atlanta]].<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W1pfjlqKhlMC&pg=PA141 |title = Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events, 1940s-1970s|isbn = 9780820339061|last1 = Martin|first1 = Harold H.|date = March 2011| publisher=University of Georgia Press }}</ref>

==Georgia Tech==
Fincher attended [[Georgia Institute of Technology]], graduating with a mechanical engineering degree in 1921. At school, he played [[college football|football]], [[basketball]], and ran [[track and field|track]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://history.library.gatech.edu/items/show/22341|title = William e. Fincher|year = 1920}}</ref> He was a prominent [[Tackle (gridiron football position)|tackle]] and [[End (gridiron football)|end]] for the [[Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football]] teams. Fincher could play any position on the [[Lineman (gridiron football)|line]] in the complicated [[Heisman shift]] offense.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/footballimmortal00weya|url-access=registration|title=Football immortals|publisher=Macmillan|page=[https://archive.org/details/footballimmortal00weya/page/n126 91]|author=Alexander M. Weyand|year=1962}}</ref> He made a record 122 of 136 [[Conversion (gridiron football)|PAT]] attempts.<ref name="cast"/>  He stood 6 feet tall and weighed 182 pounds.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2012082//|work=The Atlanta Constitution|date=November 4, 1917|access-date=March 18, 2015|page=3|title=Golden Tornado A Real Southern Eleven Atlanta Has Right To Be Proud Of Them|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref> He was nominated though not selected for an ''Associated Press'' All-Time Southeast 1869–1919 era team.<ref name="allt">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1242&dat=19690731&id=TkdTAAAAIBAJ&pg=2604,3160960|newspaper=Kingsport Post|title=U-T Greats On All-Time Southeast Team|date=July 31, 1969}}</ref>

Fincher had a [[glass eye]] which he would covertly pull out after feigning an injury, turn to his opponents and say: "So that's how you want to play!"<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cm1TZA6jCSgC&q=bill+fincher+glass+eye&pg=PA28|title=SEC Football: 75 Years of Pride and Passion|author=Richard Scott|page=28|isbn=9781616731335|date=2008-09-15|publisher=Voyageur Press }}</ref>

===1916===
Fincher was a substitute for the [[1916 Georgia Tech vs. Cumberland football game|222 to 0 rout]] of [[Cumberland University|Cumberland]] in [[1916 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football team|1916]].

===1917===
He was a starter for the [[1917 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football team|1917]] [[FBS National Football Championship|national championship]] team. The 1917 team was Tech's first national championship and outscored opponents 491 to 17, and for many years it was considered the greatest football team the [[American South|South]] ever produced.<ref name="wiley">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/creatingbiggamej00umph|url-access=registration|title=Creating the Big Game: John W. Heisman and the Invention of American Football|author=Wiley Lee Umphlett|pages=[https://archive.org/details/creatingbiggamej00umph/page/141 141]–142|date=1992|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=0313284040}}</ref> Fincher kicked 49 extra points.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/creatingbiggamej00umph | url-access=registration |title = Creating the Big Game: John W. Heisman and the Invention of American Football| publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn = 9780313284045|last1 = Umphlett|first1 = Wiley Lee|year = 1992}}</ref>

===1918===
He was a consensus [[College Football All-America Team|All-America]]n in [[1918 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football team|1918]], a year in which he was [[Captain (sports)|captain]].

===1920===
[[File:Fincherplacekick.jpg|thumb|250px|Fincher kicking from placement.]]
In [[1920 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team|1920]] he made [[Walter Camp]]'s first team All-American, a rarity for a player from the South.

One writer said Fincher "seemingly ate ten-penny [[Nail (fastener)|nail]]s" and "was the 'meanest' lineman I ever witnessed in action." A story goes that he sought to knock [[Bo McMillin]] out of the [[Centre Colonels football|Centre]]–Tech game, taking with him [[brass-knuckles]] or "something equally diabolical."<ref>{{cite news|title=Fincher, Guyon, Strupper-and Shaw Hardy|newspaper=The Miami News|date=November 3, 1943}}{{dead link|date=December 2015}}</ref>   Before the game, Fincher said "You're a great player Bo...I feel awful sorry about it because you are not going to be in there very long—about three minutes."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6327532/the_nebraska_state_journal/|title=Sportlight|author=Grantland Rice|page=12|date=July 19, 1940|access-date=August 22, 2016|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|work=The Nebraska State Journal}} {{Open access}}</ref>

Fincher also once held a charging [[Model-T]] for no gain.<ref name="cast">{{cite journal|url=http://issuu.com/gtalumni/docs/1973_51_4/20|journal=Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine|volume=51|title=They Walked Away Into Legend...|author=Lynn Hogan|number=4|date=1973|pages=15–19}}</ref> The yearbook remarks "Bill began his great work on the sand lots of Tech Hi here in Atlanta years ago and ended it up by smearing [[Fatty Warren|"Fatty" Warren]] of the [[Auburn Tigers football|Auburn Tigers]] all over the flats of Grant Field on Turkey Day last."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/handle/1853/14415/1921%20Athletics.pdf.txt?sequence=15|title=The Blueprint}}</ref>

==Coaching==
[[File:Coach William Alexander and his staff.jpg|thumb|250x250px|Fincher (far right), with other members of Tech's 1925 coaching staff. Head coach [[William Alexander (American football)|William Alexander]] is center.]]
Fincher was head coach of a college football team for one season. In 1921, he led the [[William & Mary Tribe football|William & Mary Indians football team]] to a 4–3–1 record. In 1925, he joined Georgia Tech's coaching staff as a line coach, replacing [[Fay Wood]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 25, 1925 |title=Addition of New Coaches Gives Tech Best Stuff in the South |volume=XV |pages=4, 7 |work=[[Technique (newspaper)|Technique]] |issue=1 |url=https://smartech.gatech.edu/handle/1853/33652 |access-date=April 29, 2022}}</ref> He was still a line coach for the school through 1927.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/SC/index.html|work=Atlanta Georgian|title=Bill Fincher|year=1927}}</ref>

==Head coaching record==
{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no }}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name      = [[William & Mary Tribe football|William & Mary Indians]]
 | conf      = [[South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association]]
 | startyear = 1921
 | endyear   = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1921 college football season|1921]]
 | name         = [[1921 William & Mary Indians football team|William & Mary]]
 | overall      = 4–3–1
 | conference   = 1–3–1
 | confstanding = 11th
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
 | name       = William & Mary
 | overall    = 4–3–1
 | confrecord = 1–3–1
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record End
 | overall  = 4–3–1
 | bowls    = no
 | poll     = no
 | polltype =
 | legend   = no
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Bill Fincher}}
* {{College Football HoF|1280}}
* {{Find a Grave|160324291}}

{{Navboxes
| list1 =
{{William & Mary Tribe football coach navbox}}
{{1916 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football navbox}}
{{1917 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football navbox}}
{{1928 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football navbox}}
{{1917 College Football Composite All-Southerns}}
{{1919 College Football Composite All-Southerns}}
{{1920 College Football Composite All-Southerns}}
{{1918 College Football Consensus All-Americans}}
{{1920 College Football Consensus All-Americans}}
{{Walter Camp Southern All-Americans navbox}}
}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fincher, Bill}}
[[Category:1896 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:American football ends]]
[[Category:American football placekickers]]
[[Category:American football tackles]]
[[Category:Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football coaches]]
[[Category:Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players]]
[[Category:William & Mary Tribe football coaches]]
[[Category:All-American college football players]]
[[Category:All-Southern college football players]]
[[Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:People from Murray County, Georgia]]
[[Category:Coaches of American football from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Atlanta]]