Lynn Bomar

Robert Lynn Bomar (January 21, 1901 – June 11, 1964) was an American football end in the National Football League (NFL).

Bomar was born on January 21, 1901, in Bell Buckle, Tennessee to Oliver Eugene Bomar, a blacksmith, and Elizabeth May McAdams.

Vanderbilt records indicate that he spent part of his youth in Gallatin.

Bomar attended Webb School in his native Bell Buckle, and spent a year at Castle Heights Military Academy.

Bomar then attended preparatory school at the Fitzgerald and Clarke Military Academy in Tullahoma, Tennessee.

In 1920, he was a member of teams which won the state prep-school football and basketball championships.

In both sports Bomar played under head coach Wallace Wade.

While Wade coached at Fitzgerald and Clarke, the school's overall football record was 15–2.

With him on the football team was future college teammate and All-American Hek Wakefield.

Texas had been undefeated in 1920, winning the Southwest Conference.

Bomar played for head coach Dan McGugin's Vanderbilt Commodores football team at Vanderbilt University from 1921 to 1924.

Wallace Wade was hired as Vanderbilt football's assistant and line coach for 1921 and head coach of the basketball and baseball teams for 1922.

Bomar and Wakefield enrolled at the school in the same class.

He was prominent on Commodore teams which compiled a win–loss–tie record of 26–5–4 (.800) and three straight conference titles during his four seasons.

The 1921 squad was considered possibly the best in Longhorns history, and Vanderbilt football seemed to be in decline when Georgia Tech defeated the Commodores 44–0 the previous year.

Dan McGugin gave a speech invoking late former Vanderbilt quarterback Irby Curry before the game.

According to Edwin Pope's Football's Greatest Coaches, "The Texas game, sparked by McGugin's unforgettable oratory, was the big one; and Vandy got out of the year without a loss."

Bomar scored on a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, increasing the Commodore lead to two touchdowns.

In the sixth game of the season, Vanderbilt defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide 14–0 at Birmingham.

The victory was expected by insiders (then often called the "dope"), with Vanderbilt favored by two touchdowns.

Early in the first quarter several runs by Jess Neely, a long pass from Neely to Tot McCullough and a 17-yard run by Neely brought the ball to the nine-yard line.

After a run by Frank Godchaux, Bomar bucked over the line for a touchdown.

The game against the Georgia Bulldogs decided the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) championship that season, with Bomar excelling at linebacker.

Bomar played college football, basketball and baseball for Vanderbilt University, following coach Wallace Wade and classmate Hek Wakefield there from prep school, and was a unanimous 1922 All-Southern selection and a consensus 1923 All-American selection in football.

The latter season included a first-team All-American selection by Walter Camp, rare for a player in the South.

A paralyzing injury ended Bomar's college career, but he quickly recovered and sat on the bench for all of his team's games.

Bomar was an All-Southern and All-American selection in 1922 and 1923.

In addition to playing end and tackle (offense and defense), he made the kickoffs.

Bomar's play was described:

"The Blonde Bear was one of the world's greatest football players, who never missed an open field block. When one considers he made Walter Camp's All-America team when he was backing up the line on defense and blocking and catching passes on offense, his greatness is realized."

"[Bomar] plucked passes out of the ozone that seemed impossible to get, and then raced through the enemy like they were tied.' Often he started games at fullback, shifted to halfback or end, and finished at tackle. In backing up the line, [he] hurled back all comers with the same savage vigor."

His favorite refrain to opponents was, "I hope you don't like it."

During Bomar's freshman season at Vanderbilt, he was already a standout player as a starting fullback.

In a game against the Longhorns at the Texas State Fair in Dallas, the Commodores won 20–0 after they were expected to lose by two touchdowns.

He played for the New York Giants in 1925 and 1926, retiring abruptly after a separate injury.

Bomar was nicknamed "the Blonde Bear".

He had a later career in law enforcement.

In his position as Tennessee's Commissioner of Public Safety and Patrol chief, Bomar supervised the ransacking of black households during the 1946 Columbia race riot.

He was the warden of Tennessee State Prison from 1955 until his death, and oversaw several executions.

In 1956, Bomar was the first Vanderbilt football player elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.