Who Is The Oldest College Football Player? [2024 Updated]

Playing collegiate football in your late 30s is not uncommon in the NFL and has become increasingly prevalent, it is a rare occurrence. In this article, we will bring you the oldest college football player. 

• Alan Moore

• Tom Thompson

• Mike Flynt

• Joe Thomas Sr

• Bob Schembre

• Tim Frisby

• James Stefanou.

Let’s discover more with Scott Fujita!

7 Oldest College Football Player 2024

Among the list, Alan Moore is the oldest college football player ever. All of these guys, though, bucked the rules and went on to play at least one football match in college later in life. Read on to know more about them.

1. Alan Moore

Alan Moore

At the age of 61, Alan Moore became the oldest players in college football 2024 when he joined Faulkner University’s team. Moore kicked an extra point in the first game of the 2011 He had played regularly collegiate football at Jones College in Mississippi in 1968. On the other hand, Moore was conscripted and served in the army during the Vietnam war. 

View more:

• Oldest NFL player
• Best defensive players in NFL
• Best NFL coaches of all time

Moore worked in the industry for decades after the war until the economy deteriorated in 2009. After watching the game at Jones College with his grandsons, Moore decided he liked football again now that he had more free time. 

Moore was permitted to play for Holmes Community College by a conditioning coach, and he eventually moved to Faulkner University, where he joined the squad.

He preferred to kick in the old-style instead of the new soccer manner, wearing old-fashioned square-toe kicking sneakers. His kicking shoe was emblazoned with the word “believe.”

2. Tom Thompson 

Tom Thompson

Tom Thompson, a graduate student at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, made history in 2009 by participating in a football game at 61. 

Thompson only appeared in one game that season, but he scored the game at Austin College’s only touchdown by kicking the extra point. Thompson had last played competitive football about 50 years ago, when he was in high school, before the 2009 game. 

While Alan Moore had the record for becoming the oldest NCAA football player ever when he appeared in a game in 2011, Thompson owns the record for becoming the oldest NCAA college football player ever. Thompson’s autobiography, Kick Start, chronicles his achievements and life. 

Tom Thompson’s Austin College jersey is on display in the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana, to celebrate his record-breaking achievement.

3. Mike Flynt

Mike Flynt

Mike Flynt was the world’s oldest player in college football history until Tom Thompson shattered his record in 2009. Flynt re-enrolled at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, to play one more year of football at sixty. 

Flynt claimed he had always regretted being thrown off the squad before his final year of college for getting into multiple fights on campus. 

Unlike some of the older athletes on this list, Flynt was in excellent physical form because of his strength training coach at Nebraska, Oregon, and Texas A&M. 

Flynt tested out and made the squad after learning that he was still eligible to play at Sul Ross State. Mike Flynt had a rabid support base known as the “Sul Ross Baby Boomers” during his 2007 season.

4. Joe Thomas Sr.

Joe Thomas Sr

Joe Thomas Sr. is the father of Dallas Cowboys quarterback. Joe Thomas Jr. is the oldest Division 1 college football player. At 55, Thomas played for South Carolina State University in 2016. 

This oldest di football player is a kick returner, who carried the ball three yards throughout the game. Thomas had dreamed of playing collegiate football since he was a kid near South Carolina State University. 

Although Thomas played high school football and was an excellent running back, he could not play younger. When Thomas Jr. began school, Thomas Sr. chose to join and play with his son. 

Even though they both made the squad, they never had the opportunity to play together since Thomas Sr. was wounded in a vehicle accident. After a few years of recovery, this oldest D1 college football player was ultimately allowed to play collegiate football.

Joe Thomas Sr. was largely deaf throughout his youth because his ears were filled with dirt and dust from years of laboring on farms with his family. Unfortunately, Thomas’ blocked ears were not identified until he was 17 years old after this NCAA division player had struggled to hear for years.

5. Bob Schembre

Bob Schembre

Bob Schembre is not well-known, he joined the Westminster College football team in 2008 when he was 51 years old (he turned 52 later in the year). 

Schembre’s two kids had previously played football for Westminster, so Schembre set up a meeting with a coach, ostensibly to discuss his sons. 

Schembre, on the other hand, informed the trainer that he wished to play football for the school. Schembre was given a chance by the coach and finally made the team. 

He had never played competitive football, unlike the other players on the roster, but he had served in the Navy and was still in decent shape.

Bob Schembre, a long-serving clergyman, graduated from Westminster College with a degree in theology and led a home-school high school team in 2014.

6. Tim Frisby 

Tim Frisby

Tim Frisby was 39 years old when he stepped into football tryouts at the University of South Carolina in 2004. He wasn’t nearly as old as many of the other guys on this list. 

After serving as a U.S. Army Ranger in the first Gulf War and Kosovo, Frisby was still in excellent physical shape. Frisby, who was 40 years old, was a wide receiver for the University of South Carolina until 2005. 

His football drew a lot more attention, and Frisby considered making a movie about his life. Frisby was employed as a personal trainer at a Gold’s Gym when the most current update was completed in 2014. 

Tim Frisby appeared on “The Late Show” with David Letterman and “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno during the peak of his story’s coverage.

7. James Stefanou

James Stefanou

James Stefanou of the University of Colorado Boulder is the oldest person to play college football at 32 years old. Stefanou, an Australian native, had never played organized football before joining his high school’s squad in 2017. 

He has some experience playing American football with ProKick Australia. This program helps Australian players improve their abilities to play collegiate and NFL football in the United States. 

Stefanou has always been an athlete, despite not having grown up playing American football. Stefanou was a member of the U19 team, a junior development team that serves as a feeder group for Australia’s Olympic team. 

James Stefanou routinely scores 60-yard field goals and aspires to be an NFL kicker in practice.

Final Thoughts

How do you feel after reading this article? Do these oldest football player names surprise you? If you want to discover more helpful information about sports, go for Scott Fujita!