He was a prominent
running back for the
VMI Keydets football team of the
Virginia Military Institute.
1920 In
1920, Leech was selected third-team All-American by
Walter Camp. On the
All-Southern team's neglecting of Leech, one writer asks "Is
Virginia in the
South? If so, any judge that fails to put Jimmy Leach (sic), of V. M. I., on an All-Southern eleven is worse than crazy. Leach was a better football player than
Flowers, of Georgia Tech, or
McMillan, of Centre. He was easily the greatest back in the South, unsurpassed anywhere. He could kick, pass, crash through a line, or circle an end. In the nine game he played he scored 210 points, including twenty-six touchdowns. He carried the ball for 1,723 yards and hurled forward passes for 48 yards. He made seven runs from fifty to eighty-five yards, several against
Pennsylvania. He is one of the greatest broken field runners the country has ever seen." ==See also==