Mayes McLain

McLain finished the season as college football's scoring leader with 253 points on 38 touchdowns, 19 extra point kicks, and two field goals. McLain's total of 38 touchdowns set a new single-season scoring record in college football. His record of 38 touchdowns stood for more than 60 years until 1988.

McLain died in 1983 at age 77 in Marietta, Georgia. In 1987, he was posthumously inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame at Lawrence, Kansas.

During his wrestling career, he was often a featured attraction at venues such as Madison Square Garden (New York), the New York Hippodrome, the Boston Garden, Maple Leaf Gardens (Toronto), Sydney Stadium (Australia), and the Olympic Auditorium (Los Angeles). He was matched up against many of the most famous wrestlers of the day, including Strangler Lewis, Ed Don George, Ray Steele, and Wee Willie Davis. In September 1938, McLain became the world heavyweight champion in Toronto and held the title for six weeks. He was inducted into the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1983.

Mayes also worked as a stunt man in the motion picture business. He appeared as a wrestler in the 1936 motion picture, Magnificent Brute.

After his professional football career ended, McLain became a professional wrestler. He was active in professional wrestling from March 1933 to May 1942. His wrestling career was interrupted during World War II, but he resumed his participation in professional wrestling from April 1947 to July 1953.

In August 1931, the Spartans announced that McLain had been sent a contract to return to the team for the 1931 season. The Portsmouth Times reported at the time: "McLain is located at Pryor, Oklahoma and is in shape to play football on a moment's notice as he has been herding cattle and writes friends that he is hard as nails."

McLain appeared in only one game for Portsmouth in 1931. He also played for the Staten Island Stapletons. He appeared in nine games for a Stapletons team that finished in seventh place in the NFL. McLain was the Stapletons' second-leading scorer (behind Ken Strong) with two touchdowns and 12 points.

McLain also played for the St. Louis Gunners at the end of the 1931 season. In December 1931, he scored all of the Gunners' points in a 10-0 victory over the Des Moines Hawkeyes.

McLain later played in the National Football League, under the name Chief McLain, for the Portsmouth Spartans (1930-1931) and Staten Island Stapletons (1931). After retiring from football, McLain worked as a professional wrestler, sometimes under the name the "Masked Manager", from 1933 to 1953.

In August 1930, McLain signed a contract to play for the Portsmouth Spartans (later known as the Detroit Lions). During the 1930 NFL season, McLain, sometimes referred to as "Chief" McLain, scored four rushing touchdowns and three receiving touchdowns. His total of 42 points tied for the lead on the Spartans in their first NFL season.

In January 1929, McLain announced that he was working with Iowa's baseball coach "in an attempt to master the art of pitching."

McLain enrolled at the University of Iowa and played for the Iowa Hawkeyes football team during the 1928 season. In the preceding two seasons, Iowa had compiled a combined record of 7-9. With the arrival of McLain, the Hawkeyes improved to 6-2 in 1928. McLain was credited with the improvement in Iowa's fortunes in 1928. At the end of the 1929 season, McLain was named to Pan-American Bank's All-American team.

At the start of the 1928 season, the United Press ran a feature story describing Mayes as the "Big Hope of Hawkeye Gridders." The story described the excitement on the Iowa campus:

When the Iowa team played at Chicago's Soldier Field in October 1928, The New York Times wrote:

On November 10, 1928, McLain scored both of Iowa's touchdowns in a 14-7 victory over Ohio State.

In early December 1928, a Big Ten faculty eligibility committee declared McLain ineligible to play another year of Big Ten football. The committee ruled that his two years of play at Haskell counted toward his three years of eligibility under Big Ten rules.

That spring, allegations circulated that Iowa was paying athletes in violation of conference rules. An investigation revealed that a group of alumni had created a "Labor Fund" for the purpose of promoting work for Iowa athletes in local businesses. While most of the athletes were found to have performed actual work, McLain was singled out as an exception. McLain had been paid $60 per month during the 1928-29 academic year "for allegedly taking a 'real estate census' of Iowa City."

McLain opened the 1926 season with two touchdowns in a 65-0 victory over Drury College and followed the next week with eight touchdowns and seven extra point kicks in a 57-0 rout of Wichita. After scoring 55 points against Wichita, The Wichita Eagle wrote, "McLain put up the most astonishing exhibition of football ever seen in Wichita."

On October 2, 1926, McLain scored six touchdowns in a 55-0 victory over Still College. The Lawrence Journal-World reported, "The Husky Cherokee fullback thrilled the fans by his broken field running and his vicious tackling."

In the fourth game of the 1926 season, McLain scored four rushing touchdowns in a 38-0 victory over Morningside College.

On December 4, 1926, McLain scored one touchdown in a 27-7 victory over the University of Tulsa.

Haskell concluded the 1926 season on December 18 with a 40-7 victory over the Hawaii All-Stars. McLain scored three touchdowns in the game.

McLain attended the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, a college founded for Native Americans of various tribes. He played football for Dick Hanley's Haskell Indians in 1925 and 1926. During the 1926 season, McLain set the all-time college football scoring record with 253 points on 38 touchdowns, 19 extra point kicks, and two field goals. McLain was considered a triple-threat man who excelled at running, passing and kicking. He also played on defense as well as offense.

Mayes Watt McLain (April 16, 1905 – March 6, 1983), also known as Watt Mayes McLain, was an American football player and professional wrestler. He played college football for the Haskell Institute from 1925 to 1926 and for the University of Iowa in 1928. In 1926, he set college football's single-season scoring record with 253 points on 38 touchdowns, 19 extra point kicks, and two field goals. His record of 38 touchdowns in a season stood for more than 60 years until 1988.

Mayes was born in Pryor, Oklahoma in 1905 as the youngest of six children. A brother and sister died in infancy. His parents were of Cherokee and Scotch-Irish ancestry and were born in Texas; they married in Pryor. Along with other members of his family, Mayes was registered in 1906 at the age of one year on the Dawes Rolls as "Cherokee by Blood" (1/8). Both parents are listed on the Dawes Rolls: his mother is listed as 1/4th Cherokee by Blood and his father is listed as "IW" (Intermarried White) whose marriage occurred after November 1, 1875. His father Pleas L. McLain was a farmer. His mother was Martha A. McLain.