John G. Daye’s collection of books, periodicals, and ephemera about college football was added to the Irvin Department’s holdings in 2016.

The John G. Daye Football History Collection of over 700 volumes, includes books about the development of American college football, the evolution of the rules of the game, personal narratives, the works of Walter Camp, Amos Alonzo Stagg, and John Heisman and others who defined the game, books on strategy, playbooks, biographies of players and coaches, team histories, books on the development of conference play and bowl games, and important early periodicals, from Spaulding and Smith and Street through the National Collegiate Athletic Association guides.

The USC alumnus, is a renowned South Carolina high school football coach.  Over the course of his thirty-nine year coaching career Daye coached at Chesterfield, Columbia, Orangeburg-Wilkinson, Brookland-Cayce, and Heathwood Hall.  In addition, he is the author of A History of College Football in South Carolina: Glory on the Gridiron (2009) and The Encyclopedia of the Armed Forces Football: The Complete History of the Glory Years (2014).