 O'Dea during his tenure as coach of Notre Dame, 1901 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Biographical details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 17 March 1872 Kilmore, Victoria, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 5 April 1962 (aged 90) San Francisco, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1898–1899 | Wisconsin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Fullback | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1900–1901 | Notre Dame | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1902 | Missouri | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1903 | Kirksville Osteopaths | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coaching record | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overall | 24–10–2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Accomplishments and honors | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Awards | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1962 (profile) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Patrick John "Kangaroo Kicker" O'Dea (17 March 1872 – 5 April 1962) was an Australian rules and American football player and coach. An Australian by birth, O'Dea played Australian rules football for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA).[1] In 1898 and 1899, O'Dea played American football at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the United States, where he excelled in the kicking game. He then served as the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame from 1900 to 1901 and at the University of Missouri in 1902, compiling a career college football record of 19–7–2.
Following his Australian Rules and American Football careers, O'Dea deliberately disappeared from the public eye, however he helped popularise Australian rules football in the United States as a participation sport while working in San Francisco by training schoolchildren in the kicking game.[2]
O'Dea was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1962.
- ^ Nauright, J. (1999). Making an international legend: The media, Pat O'Dea and midwestern American Football in the 1890s and 1930s. Football Studies, 2(2), 37-56. Copy available on-line at www.la84foundation.org.
- ^ "TOURING AUSTRALIANS". The Age. No. 16, 813. Victoria, Australia. 1 February 1909. p. 5. Retrieved 30 September 2021 – via National Library of Australia.