kneeling position rather than standing, the statue is tall (a standing statue would have stood tall). The base is and features Neyland's well-known seven Game Maxims engraved into the precast. Early life, playing career, and education Born in Greenville, Texas, Neyland attended Burleson Junior College in his home town for a year. He then transferred to Texas A&M University for a year before receiving an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York from Congressman Sam Rayburn. At West Point, Neyland starred as a lineman in football and a pitcher in baseball and was the academy boxing champion. The National League baseball New York Giants offered him a $3,500 contract, which he turned down. Neyland graduated from West Point in 1916. He was commissioned as an officer in the United States Army Corps of Engineers and served in France during World War I. After the war, he attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a graduate degree in engineering before to returning to West Point as aide-de-camp to Superintendent Douglas MacArthur. Coaching career Wanting to continue coaching, Captain Neyland was appointed Professor of Military Science at the University of Tennessee (UT) in 1925. After one season as an assistant to head coach M. B. Banks, Neyland was named head coach and athletic director by school president Nathan W. Dougherty in 1926. He coached the team for nine years before the Army called him to active duty for one year in Panama. During that first nine-year stint with the Vols, Neyland had five undefeated seasons, all within a six-year period (1927, 1928, 1929, 1931, and 1932). The Vols reeled off undefeated streaks of 33 and 28 straight games. Upon returning stateside from the Panama Canal Zone, he returned to UT as head coach. Neyland's 1938 team went undefeated and was proclaimed national champion by several minor outlets. His 1939 squad is notable for being the last college football team to go an entire regular season unscored upon, shutting out every opponent; his team was then shut out by USC in the Rose Bowl. From November 5, 1938 to December 9, 1939, the Vols ran off 17 straight shutouts and 71 consecutive shutout quarters—records that have never been seriously threatened. Neyland completed another undefeated regular season in 1940. He was recalled to military service again in 1941. In fall 1942, Neyland was appointed as head coach of an