Following his Australian Rules and American Football careers, O'Dea deliberately disappeared from the public eye, however he helped popularise Australian rules football in the United States as a participation sport while working in San Francisco by training schoolchildren in the kicking game.[2]
Photo session of O'Dea while playing at the University of Wisconsin, c. 1898
O'Dea played American football at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was their star fullback from 1896–1899 and captained the 1898 and 1899 teams. In those days, fullbacks punted and often did the placekicking. In the 1898 edition of the Northwestern game, which was played in a blizzard, he drop-kicked a 62-yard field goal, and he had a 116-yard punt. This earned him the nickname "Kangaroo Kicker".
Wisconsin then headed into a Thanksgiving Day showdown with 1898 Western champions Michigan, with only the narrow loss to Yale marring their record. New songs were composed for the occasion, including “Oh, Pat O’Dea” to the popular tune “Margery”. The chorus ran:
"Oh Pat O’Dea, oh Pat O’Dea, We love you more and more.
Oh Pat O’Dea, oh Pat O’Dea, You’re the boy that we adore;
Your leg is ever sure and true, And always kicks a goal or two.
The team and rooters worship you. Oh Pat O’Dea."[4]
In the 1899 game, he returned a kick-off 90 yards for a touchdown, and he had four field goals. He was selected as an All-American team member in 1899.
He disappeared from public view in 1917, having decided that he didn't like being treated as a celebrity, and it was assumed by Wisconsin fans that O'Dea had died fighting in World War I. In 1934, he was discovered living under an assumed name in California and came back to Wisconsin to a hero's welcome.[6] He later appeared on Bob Hope's All-American football team announcement shows. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on 3 April 1962. He died the next day at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center.[3]
Pat O'Dea died on 4 April 1962 at the age of 90 after an illness. While he was in hospital he received a get-well message from President John Kennedy. O'Dea's obituary in the New York Times
commented on his kicking achievements including a 110-yard punt, though against Minnesota in 1897 and not Yale in 1899, and his 62-yard goal against Northwestern in 1898.
^Nauright, J. (1999). Making an international legend: The media, Pat O'Dea and midwestern American Football in the 1890s and 1930s. Football Studies, 2(2), 37-56. Copy available on-line at www.la84foundation.org.
^ ab"TOURING AUSTRALIANS". The Age. No. 16, 813. Victoria, Australia. 1 February 1909. p. 5. Retrieved 30 September 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
