Cliff Battles
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| No. 20 | |||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Halfback | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Date of birth: | May 1, 1910 | ||||||||||||||
| Place of birth: | Akron, Ohio | ||||||||||||||
| Date of death: | April 28, 1981 (aged 70) | ||||||||||||||
| Place of death: | Clearwater, Florida | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 195 lb (88 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | Akron (OH) Kenmore | ||||||||||||||
| College: | West Virginia Wesleyan | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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| Rushing yards: | 3,511 |
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| Rushing average: | 4.2 |
| Receiving yards: | 546 |
| Passing yards: | 590 |
| Total touchdowns: | 31 |
| Coaching record: | 4-16 |
| Player stats at NFL.com | |
Clifford Franklin Battles (May 1, 1910 – April 28, 1981) was an American football halfback in the National Football League (NFL). Battles was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.
Battles was born in Akron, Ohio, the son of Frank Battles, a saltworker for the BFGoodrich and Firestone tire companies, and Della Battles. He played high school football at Kenmore High School. Kenmore today honors athletes who carry on Battles' tradition, those who letter in three sports their senior year, with the Cliff Battles Award. Kenmore High School is at the corner of 13th Street and Battles Avenue, but the avenue is not named after Cliff. It was so named before he became famous.
Battles attended and played college football at West Virginia Wesleyan College. His most prominent season was 1931, when he scored 15 touchdowns and had four extra points. The best game of his college career was also in 1931 in a game against Salem College, when he scored seven touchdowns and had 354 rushing yards, 91 kick return yards, and 24 receiving yards, totalling 469.
He acquired the nickname "Gip" (sometimes spelled "Gipp") because of his admiration for Notre Dame back George Gipp, the subject of Knute Rockne's "win one for the Gipper" speech.
While at West Virginia Wesleyan, Battles won 15 letters in five sports – four each in football and track, three each in baseball and basketball, and one in tennis. While there, he was a Phi Beta Kappa scholar and Rhodes Scholarship candidate.
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