University of Vermont Athletics

Robert W. Deacon 1953 - Football

One of the finest in a long line of excellent quarterbacks at Vermont, Bob Deacon's passing and total offense records set stood for 17 years until they were bettered by Fran Peterson, Earl Olson or Bob Bateman in the late 60's and early 70's. Captain of the 1952 Catamounts, Deacon, a 1978 UVM Hall of Fame inductee, set numerous single game and career passing marks his senior year. The records included most completions (13), most attempts (35), most yards (248) and most touchdown passes (4). He set season records that year for most attempts (144), most completions (70) and most yards passing (1038).

"Super quarterback. One of the best I've ever coached or seen in college football," said J. Edward Donnelly, former football coach and athletic director at UVM. Deacon played football for both Donnelly and John C. "Fuzzy" Evans, both of whom are members of the Athletic Hall of fame. Donnelly and Evans were assisted in those years by the late Ralph Lapointe, an original Hall of Fame inductee, and Deacon's teammates included Hall of Famers Nat Campana, '54 and William Howard, '52.

In his first year with the varsity football team (1951) Vermont suffered through a horrible 0-7 season, compounded by the fact that two and a half inches of snow fell on the Nov. 3 game with Massachusetts and sleet obscured the Nov. 17 game with Middlebury. Perhaps it was the triumph of perseverance over adversity, then that led to an outstanding performance by Deacon in an Oct. 25, 1952 game at Norwich in which he passed for four touchdowns and led the team to a 27-26 win over the Cadets, setting records for most touchdown passes in one game and a record 248 yards passing that stood for 17 seasons.