A four-year letterwinner, the late Walter "Red" Mahan did not experience a loss until midway through his sophomore season as a Mountaineer.
In fact, Mahan was part of a Mountaineer dynasty that lost only three contests over a four-year span by a combined 20 points.
A right guard from Follansbee, West Virginia, Mahan helped the team to a 10-0-1 record in 1922, which earned the Mountaineers a trip to their first ever bowl game.
In a key victory that season, it was Mahan’s big blocked punt and recovery that helped WVU defeat Pitt, 9-6, for the first win over the Panthers in 11 years.
The Mountaineers took on Gonzaga in the East-West Bowl on Dec. 22, 1922, in San Diego, California. WVU built a 21-0 lead after three quarters and went on to win by a final of 21-13, in the only bowl appearance for a Mountaineer squad that decade.
Mahan was part of the 1924 Mountaineer squad that posted an 8-1 overall record in Coach Clarence Spears’ final season as head coach. The Mountaineers totaled 302 points in nine contests, the most of any Eastern squad, and outscored the opposition by nearly a seven-to-one margin.
“West Virginia,” wrote Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports editor Chester Smith, “had but one great lineman (in 1924). And that one was Red Mahan. About him, coach (Clarence) Spears built his forward wall.”
Following his stellar junior year, Mahan was a first team All-America pick by Midweek Pictorial and Metropolitan News. Additionally, Mahan was named as a third team All-America right guard by Walter Camp, and was selected to the All-Eastern team.
In 1925, Mahan captained the squad as a senior as the Mountaineers again put together an 8-1 mark. Mahan is also a member of the WVU All-Time Team for 1919-29. He was named an inaugural member of WVU’s Mountaineer Legends Society in 2016.
Mahan went on to a successful career as a prosecuting attorney in Brooke County, West Virginia. He died May 10, 1990 at age 87.
