| abstract | - Pooley dropped out of high school to fight in World War I. He earned a scholarship to play football at Princeton University but arrived too late for the entrance exams. He tried a few other schools before ultimately enrolling at the University of Alabama as a 20-year-old freshman. By the time he was a 24-year-old senior, his teammates had begun calling him "Papa Pooley" because he was so much older than them. Pooley initially played tackle in college, but was eventually put in the backfield where he excelled at fullback and quarterback . He has been called the "greatest defensive back of all time." The climax of his college career was the final game in which he played a key role helping the Alabama win the 1925 national championship by defeating the Washington, 20–19, in the 1926 Rose Bowl. He was a college football coach at Southern Miss, and VMI. From 1931 to 1936, he coached at Southern Miss, where he compiled a 26–24–5 record. From 1937 to 1946, he coached at VMI, where he compiled a 43–45–8 record. His 1938 squad set a school record with four ties. His best season came in 1940, when he went 7–2–1.
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