Brown University Athletics

John W. Mayhew '09
Hometown: West Tisbury, MA
Sport: Football
Year Inducted: 1972
Other Sports Played: Baseball, Basketball, Track & Field

John W. Mayhew '09 was selected to Walter Camp's All-American first-team backfield in 1906, the first Brown man so honored, and was picked on the second team in 1908. The short, heavy Mayhew was a hurdler of national caliber and carried his speed and high-knee action to the football field, making him extremely difficult to tackle. He scored 18 touchdowns in his four years of football. Mayhew is best remembered for his brilliant play in the 23-0 victory over Dartmouth in 1906. He ran 43 yards for one touchdown on the famous sideline play, a play on which the Brown team would run toward the center of the field and Mayhew would delay and then sweep down the near sideline away from the flow. Later in that game, when Dartmouth blocked one of his punts, Mayhew picked up the ball and streaked 52 yards for another score. The native of West Tisbury, on Martha's Vineyard, was a consistent winner in the dashes, a good broad jumper, and the mainstay of the undefeated relay team of 1907, running with Capt. Harry P. Thurlow '07, John R. Honiss '08, and William C. Prout '09. He set a Brown record of 15.4 for the 120 high hurdles that wasn't broken until John Collier did a 15.3 in 1926. And his time of six seconds flat for the indoor 45-yard high hurdles was a world record that stood until 1927. His other times were 10.1 for the 100, 25.1 for the 220 hurdles, and 22 feet 7 ½ inches for the running broad jump. One of Brown's finest all-around athletes, Mayhew was a shortstop on the baseball team and played a good game of basketball. Johnny Mayhew was president of his sophomore class and captain of both track and football as a senior.