The Greatest TU Running Back, On SI Tulane's Pick
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2026 is the 100th anniversary of the opening of old Tulane Stadium in Uptown. This Summer, we are bringing you a series looking back at who we, at On SI Tulane, believe were the best to perform there or other venues for the Greenbacks. From running back to linebacker to wide receiver to quarterback, we will look at who shined the most for the Green Wave in its storied history. Last week, we gave our take on who we think was the greatest quarterback in the long line of outstanding QBs in Tulane history.
This week, we look at the running back position for the Green Wave. On Monday, we gave a peak into the 2026 running back room and gave you a taste of what we think could transpire in the first Fall of Hall Ball. Today, we look back at the many men who filled that role over the century-plus of Tulane football, and we begin with...
The Blond Blizzard: Billy Banker
In the days of the leather helmets, Lake Charles native Billy Banker entered a football game for the Green Wave without one on his noggin. His coach, Tulane's Bernie Bierman, told him to put it on or he'd be jerked from the game. As Banker entered the field for a kickoff return, the helmet kept slipping over his eyes. He flung it to the sidelines and played the rest of the game without it, his golden locks flowing in the wind. Thus the name, The Blond Blizzard.
Banker played halfback at Tulane in the late-1920s, including the undefeated season of 1929. He once held Tulane's school records, some of which would stand for 60-years: career scoring (263 points), career touchdowns (37), career rushing yards (2,516), touchdowns in a single game (4), most rushes in a career (515), most rushes in a game (43) and average yards rushing in a game (93.2).
Banker was a charter member of the Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame, was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1977, and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1978.
Do It All: Don Zimmerman
Another Lake Charles legend, Don Zimmerman was an all-star athlete for Tulane. The Flying Dutchman, as he was known, was a "triple-threat" player as a runner, passer, and kicker on coach Bernie Bierman's and Tex Cox's Tulane football teams from 1929 to 1932. His first three years saw three Southern Conference championships. Zimmerman led the Green Wave to a record of 25–4–1.
Zimmerman ended his Tulane career as the Green Wave's all-time leader in total offense (4,657 yards on 764 plays, an average of 6.1 yards per play) and pass interceptions, setting records that lasted for 40 years.
Among his many honors:
- 3-Time Southern Conference champion (1929, 1930, 1931)
- Consensus All-American (1932)
- First-team All-American (1931)
- Two-time First-team All-Southern (1931, 1932)
- Second-team All-Southern (1930)
- Southeastern Conference pole-vault champion (1933)
- Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame
- Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame
Next Level Halfback: Eddie Price
An alumnus of Warren Easton High School in New Orleans, Eddie Price served in the Navy during World War II, then came back to star as one of the most prolific running backs in Tulane football history.
Playing four years for the Green Wave, Price still stands in third place all-time in career rushing yards, compiling 3,095 between 1946 and 1949. His 238-yards against Navy is the 8th best in Tulane history in a single game, and his 1,138-yards in that same season stands in the 8th slot in the single season TU charts. He would play in the inaugural Senior Bowl in 1950, leading the South to victory scoring a fourth-quarter touchdown. Price holds the highest career rushing average in Tulane football history, averaging 6.02 yards per carry (minimum 300 attempts).
Price would go on to a six-year career in the NFL with the New York Giants after being drafted in the 2nd round by the G-men. He would lead the league in carries and yardage in his 2nd year with NY.
Price was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1975, a charter member of the Tulane Hall of Fame in 1977, and was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982.
First and Only TU #1 NFL Pick: Tommy Mason
The Lake Charles pipeline continued in 1957 when Tommy Mason followed his brother, Claude "Boo" Mason, to Tulane. Mason had the speed and strength to do it all. At Lake Charles High, he hit the 10-second mark in the 100-meter dash in track, all the while posting 1,000-yards rushing on the football field.
Freshmen weren't allowed to play football during this era, so the younger Mason started his Green Wave career in '58. Though his numbers weren't the gaudy type seen by Tulane running backs in later years, Mason did it all for the Wave: running back punts and kickoffs, rushing the ball, and receiving. Oh, by the way, he was also playing safety on defense. In fact, in his senior season, 1960, Tommy averaged playing 58-minutes per game. He helped Tulane hold Paul “Bear” Bryant’s Alabama Crimson Tide to a 6-6 tie in that campaign. Alabama only lost to Tennessee that year.
He was named first-team All-SEC by the league coaches and claimed first-team All-America honors from Time Magazine. He was selected to participate in the East-West Shrine Game, Hula Bowl, Coaches All-American Game and College All-Star Game.
In 1960, Mason went on to be drafted by the NFL's expansion Minnesota Vikings as the top overall pick, the only time that has happened for a Tulane football player. That same year, the fledgling AFL's Boston Patriots nabbed him as the 3rd choice in the 1st round of their phone-draft. He would go on to play six season with the Vikings, four more with the Los Angeles Rams, and finish his career at Washington.
He was inducted into the Tulane Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. As a side note, when he was honored in Natchitoches for the Louisiana Hall, Mason's then wife, Cathy Rigby, may have garnered more attention than he did. Rigby was an Olympic gymnast for the United States in the late 60s and early 70s.
Not a Dearth Since Mason, but an Abundance When the Century Turned
There were running backs of note after Mason left for the NFL, like Jamaican Dartez, Orleans Darkwa, and Marvin Christian, just to name a few. However, an ungodly profusion of running backs hit the Tulane running back roster once the calendar turned to the year 2000. Though we intended to follow the same formula as we did last week in our rundown of the greatest quarterbacks to don the Olive and Blue, we couldn't. The Mathing just wouldn't Math. So we present the rest of our list in chronological order, beginning with
Record Breaker: Mewelde Moore
Mewelde Moore left Belaire High School in Baton Rouge, winning Mathematics contests, gaining fame on the football field, and earning a place in the National Honor Society. When he signed with Tulane as the calendar turned to a new century, there were probably few who would predict the high-stepping runner would leave the first four years of the 2000s with historic numbers for the Green Wave.
In 2000, Moore was named Conference-USA's Freshman of the Year. He was also a Freshman All-America choice by The Sporting News and Football News. Moore started 7 of the 10 games he played in. He hauled in a 74-yard scoring pass against Army, posted a season-high 131 rushing yards and had 56 receiving yards against East Carolina, carried the ball for 114 yards against Cincinnati and had 100-yards rushing against Memphis and SMU.
In 2002, Moore was named to the All-C-USA team by The Sporting News. Moore became only the second player in Tulane history to run for 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons, joining the aforementioned Price who did it in 1948–49. Moore led the team in rushing and receiving in 2002 and averaged 129.5 all-purpose yards per game for the season.
In 2003, Moore earned 1st-Team C-USA honors again. He was named to Doak Walker and Walter Camp Award watch lists honoring the top running back and player in college football. Moore started the first 9 games of the season but missed the final 3 with a broken hand that required surgery. He ranked second in C-USA with a 101.0 rushing average per game and 147.0 all-purpose yards per game.
Moore is only the second player in NCAA history to rush for 4,000 yards and have 2,000 yards receiving in a career. He ranks 11th in Division I history in all-purpose yards with 6,505 yards. His 4,364-yards rushing and his 65-hundred plus all-purpose yards are both Tulane records.
Although Moore was selected by the Minnesota Vikings with the 119th overall pick in the fourth round of the 2004 NFL draft, four years earlier he was was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the fourth round of the 2000 MLB draft but did not sign. Moore went on to play for the Vikings, Steelers, and Colts through 2012.
Outstanding TU Career, Even Better in the NFL: Matt Forté
Matt Forté grew up in Slidell, Louisiana, graduating from Slidell High School in 2004, where he was a standout letterman in football and track & field. He had some of the better 100-meter and 200-meter times in the New Orleans area in 2003.
Tulane coach Chris Scelfo brought Forté on board for the 2004 season. Though the Green Wave did not have a winning record during Forte's time, the Wave did have Forté, and his numbers speak for themselves.
The most dominant single-season rusher in school history, Forté set the Tulane single-season record with 2,127 rushing yards in 2007, averaging 177.2 yards per game. He racked up 4,265 career yards, ranking him second only behind his predecessor, Moore.
Though a talented running back for the Wave, Forté went on to an even more impressive NFL career. The Chicago Bears selected him in the second round of the 2008 NFL draft as the 44th overall selection, the sixth running back taken that year. He out-competed NFL legend Adrian Peterson and second-year running back Garrett Wolfe for the starting role and played 1st string for all 16 games in his rookie year, gaining 1,238-yards, his longest going for 50-yards that season.
He would go on to accumulate over a thousand yards rushing five times in his eight years with the Bears, playing two more years with the New Jets before retiring from the game.
Among his NFL awards and honors:
- Two time Pro Bowler (2011, 2013)
- PFWA All-Rookie Team (2008)
- PFR 2010's All-Decade Team
- 100 greatest Bears of All-Time
- Brian Piccolo Award (2014)
The Long Line Continues: Tyjae Spears
As a senior at Ponchatoula High School, Tyjae Spears rushed for 920 yards and had 880 receiving yards with 18 total touchdowns. Though he received an offer from Kansas State in 2018, Spears wanted to stay close to home. So, he picked Tulane. As the Grail Knight would say in the Indiana Jones movies, "You (Tyjae) have chosen wisely."
Spears would pile up the fifth most yardage in Tulane rushing history, garnering 2,910-yards in his four years as a Greenie. He owns the fourth highest single-game rushing mark at 264-yards against Memphis in 2021, and is in 2nd place all-time for the single-season rushing record of 1,581-yards behind only Matt Forté.
He was named the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year as a redshirt junior. He was ranked the 6th best college football player nationwide among the 100 Best Players of the College Football Bowl Season 2022–2023 by College Football News.
Spears was selected by the Tennessee Titans in the third round, 81st overall, of the 2023 NFL draft. He shared a backfield that had Derrick Henry as the primary running back.
Known for his ball security, Spears is a dual threat, gaining almost as many yards receiving as he does on the ground for the Titans. Injuries have shortened two of three seasons with Tennessee thus far, but he still averages over 4-yards per carry and almost 7-yards per reception. In his combined 383-touches over those three seasons, Spears has only fumbled twice, not losing either of them.
If Only He Had Stuck Around: Makhi Hughes
Makhi Hughes only played football in Uptown for two years. Hughes was redshirted his freshman year due to a knee injury. He then piled up over a thousand yards each of his two seasons as a Greenie, moving on to what he hoped would be greener pastures. More on that in a bit.
Hughes attended Huffman High School in Birmingham, Alabama, where he had over 2,700 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns. He originally committed to play college football at Appalachian State University but flipped his commitment to Tulane in 2021, in what maybe should have raised a red flag for Tulane fans.
Beginning as the fourth string running back his redshirt freshman year, Hughes didn't start a game until week four and would go on to rush for 1,378-yards in his first year, following that up with 1,401-yards rushing in 2024.
Entering the transfer portal, Hughes went on to Oregon to join his half brother there, Na'eem Offord. After sparsely playing in four games for the Ducks, he requested to redshirt for the rest of the season, which was granted by the team. He transferred to Houston to be rejoined by his old Tulane head coach, Willie Fritz where he'll have two more seasons to ply his trade.
Though he only played two years in a Tulane uniform, Hughes is 6th on the all-time rushing board for the Greenies. Imagine if he would have stuck it out for his final two years....
The On SI Tulane Greatest Running Back: Mewelde Moore
This was a close one. Matt Forté could have been our call:
- owns the single season rushing mark of 2,127-yards
- is second on the list of TU running backs in career yardage
- owns the top three places in single game rushing, including two contests where he topped 300-yards.
However, much like what Shaun King did for the quarterback position, Mewelde Moore was the guy who started the 21st century for Tulane, setting the standard by which other Green Wave running backs are now measured. Not only did Moore rush more than anyone else ever in a Tulane uniform, he is also the Tulane's all-time leader in all-purpose yards (6,505) as he was a prolific pass-catcher out of the backfield.
Moore was a do-it-all running back who could spread the field. He led Tulane teams in the first four years of the 2000s in which there were only two teams with winning records (2000, 2002). In those years, the Green Wave offense was prolific, but the defense left something to be desired. Despite that, Moore found a way to pile up the yardage, even outdistancing his successor, Forté. Add to that his proclivity for gaining yards on the ground and via the air, only the second player in NCAA history to hit 4-thousand rushing and 2-thousand receiving in a career, and you have an all-around player.
Though Forté excelled at Tulane, as pointed out earlier, the pinnacle for him was his NFL career.
A case could be made for both, but the On SI Tulane choice for the best running back in Tulane history is Mewelde Moore.
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Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.