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He was born 17th
November in Flemington, a suburb of
Melbourne
,
Victoria
. There is still a dispute over the year he was born. The Olympic database
says that Carroll was born in 1892, and at 16 years and 286 days was therefore
the youngest man to be capped for
Australia
and the youngest ever to win an international cap. A birth certificate held in
the Australian Rugby Union archives gives Carroll's year of birth as 1887.
His family moved to
Sydney
when he was young. He played for St. Aloysius College in
Sydney
in 1903-05 and with the St. George club from 1906 to 1908. Recognising
Carroll’s talent, the experienced
St.
George and Australian forward Harold Judd took the youngster under his wing. In
1908 Carroll made the State side against
Queensland
and the touring Anglo-Welsh team.
He was part of the
Australian side to tour
Great Britain
in 1908-09 during which they won a gold medal at the Olympics for
Australia
when they beat
Cornwall
(who were representing
England
) in the rugby final at
White
City
stadium in Shepherd’s Bush
They won 32-3 with Carroll scoring two tries. This was
Australia
’s only gold medal during these Olympics. Carroll at
Above
Danny Carroll in the 1908.
Above
the 1908 Australian Olympic side
Above
close-up of Danny Carroll in the 1908 Australian Olympic winning side
Above
the only known surviving rugby gold medal from the 1908 Olympics
Above the
Australian side than played the
USA
on 16th November1912. Carroll no.20. 1 Wogan, 2 Adamson, 3 George, 4
Fraser, 5 Jones, 6 Meibusch, 7 Flynn, 8 R.Hill, 9 Fahey, 10 Wylie, 11 Pugh, 12
Kent, 13 Murphy, 14 Dwyer, 15 Messenger, 16 Griffin, 17 Ward Prentice (Captain),
18 Dr Bohrsman (Manager), 19 Richards (Vice-Captain), 20 D.Carroll, 21 W.W.Hill,
22 Walker, 23 Cunningham, 24 Watson, 25 Tasker, 26 Dunbar, 27 Clarken.
It was during
this tour of North America with the Wallabies that Carroll decided to stay in
California
where he studied geology at Stanford but these were interrupted by the war. He
played in two test matches for
Australia
v
Wales
at
Cardiff
on 12th December 1908, when they lost 9-6, and the 1912 match
against the
USA
. He did play in several other matches for
Australia
against club sides and in the Olympics.
Above the
1914
Leland
Stanford
Junior
University
. 1. Watkins, 2. Blase, 3. Maloney, 4. Gard, 5. Clover, 6. Wilcox, 7. Urban, 8.
Wines, 9.
Austin
, 10. Carroll, 11. Brown, 12. Lachmund, 13. Davidson, 14. Darsie, 15. Peck, 16.
Andrews, 17. Erb, 18. Hall, 19. Reeves, 20. Tilton.
Above the
USA
side that played
New Zealand
in 1913. Back Row (L-R): Daniel Brendon Carroll (Stanford University), Clark
Lewis Boulware (not used) (Stanford University), Haley (not used) (Stanford
University), William Pettigrew Darsie (Stanford University), Herbert Rowell
Stolz (replacement) (Stanford University), Brant (?) or Flemming (not used) (?),
Joseph C. Urban (Stanford University), A.Knowles (replacement) (?), Charles A.
Austin (Olympic), G.Voight (Santa Clara University), Frank Jacob Gard (Captain)
(Stanford University), Roland Roy Blase (Stanford University), William Norris
King (University of California). Front Row: Forbes (not used) (?), Stirling
Benjamin Peart (
University
of
California
), Joseph Louis McKim (
University
of
California
), G.Glasscock (Olympic), E.B.Hall (
Stanford
University
), Benjamin Edward Erb (not used) (
Stanford
University
), Louis Cass (
Stanford
University
), Mowatt Merrill Mitchell (Los Angeles Athletic Club), Quill (not used) (
Santa Clara
), J.A.Ramage (
Santa Clara
University
).
Above
Carroll at Stanford in 1917
Above
the Stanford 1917 rugby team Back Row (L-R): Wallace, J.L.Reynolds, Boyle, Kyle,
Ring. Middle Row: Warren, Henderson, Adams, McClung. Front Row: L.R.Reynolds,
Worthy, Carroll, Erb, Ford.
During World
War 1 he served in the American Army. He won the Distinguished Service Cross for
extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 364th Infantry Regiment, 91st
Division, A.E.F., near
Bois-de-Cheppy
,
France
, 28 September 1918. Although wounded in the arm in the attack of 26th
September Lieutenant Carroll gallantly led his platoon forward, under heavy
artillery and machine-gun fire, through the Bois-de-Cheppy. Later, while leading
his platoon in an attack near Neuve Grange Farm, he continued on until severely
wounded a second time. He also won the Purple Heart.
Later he
played rugby for the Australian Army in the King’s Cup tournament (a
mini-Rugby World Cup) in 1919
He resumed
his studies at Stanford and graduated in 1920, aged 32.
He still played and coached rugby and because of his outstanding rugby
background, he was selected as player and coach of the
US
rugby Olympic squad for the 1920 Olympics in
Antwerp
where he earned a second gold medal for the
USA
.
Above the
1920
US
Olympic Team (L-R) Back Row: Wallace, Patrick, O’Neil, Fish, J Muldoon,
Fitzpatrick, Slater, Righter. Middle
Row: Meehan, Hazeltine, Maloney (trainer), Tilden (c), Carroll (pl/coach), W
Muldoon, von Schmidt, Scholz. Front Row: Wrenn, Doe, Hunter, Davis, Winston.
Missing: Templeton, Kirksey
He won 3 caps
for the
USA
from 1913 to 1920
He played in
three tests for the
USA
v
New Zealand
in 1913, v France XV in the Olympic final and v
France
at
Colombes
on 10th October 1920 when they lost 14-5.
Above the
USA
side that played a French XV on 10th October 1920. The correct
players are Back Row (L-R): Templeton, Muldoon,
Wrenn, Winston, Kirksey, Scholz,
Davis, Carroll, Righter, Fish, Patrick, Tilden (captain), Hazeltine, C.Slater,
Fitzpatrick, Wallace. Front Row: Doe,
Hunter, Von Schmidt, Mehan,
O’Neil. (players names in
bold played in match. Vidal not in photo)
After
Stanford, Carroll furthered his education at
Oxford
and the Royal School of Mines in
England
.
Carroll
married Helen Warden from
Great Falls
,
Montana
in 1927, and had one son Daniel. His wife died in 1941 and he remarried.
After his
playing days were over he promoted rugby throughout the
San Francisco
area and became a successful oil company executive
with Standard Oil.
For the last
35 years of his life Danny worked for the California Co. in
Great Falls
,
Montana
,
Denver
,
Colorado
and
New Orleans
. At the time of his death he was a tax and insurance commissioner for the
company and lived in
Kenner
,
New Orleans
.
Danny died on
5th August 1956 in
New Orleans
. After his death he ensured his rugby mementos were sent back to relatives in
Australia
. One of his gold medals is currently kept in a Sydney Bank Vault.
His Funeral
Service took place in
Kenner
,
New Orleans
on 6th August 1956.
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Rugby History Society