Fred Crawford (American football)
| No. 32 Duke Blue Devils | |
 | |
| Date of birth | July 27, 1910 |
|---|---|
| Place of birth | Waynesville, North Carolina |
| Date of death | March 5, 1974 (aged 63) |
| Place of death | Tallahassee, Florida |
| Career information | |
| Position(s) | T/E |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) |
| Weight | 190 lb (86 kg) |
| College | Duke University |
| High school |
Waynesville Township High School The McCallie School |
| Career history | |
| As player | |
| 1932–33 | Duke Blue Devils |
| 1935 | Chicago Bears |
| Career highlights and awards | |
|
Championships
Honors
| |
| Career stats | |
| |
Frederick Eugene "Fred" Crawford (July 27, 1910 – March 5, 1974) was an American football player.
Early years
Fred Crawford was born on July 27, 1910 in Waynesville, North Carolina, the son of congressman William T. Crawford.[1][2] Fred attended both Tuscola High School and The McCallie School.[3]
Football
College
He played at tackle and end for Wallace Wade's Duke Blue Devils, selected All-Southern in 1932[4] and a consensus All-American in 1933.[5] Crawford was the first football player to gain first-team All-America honors from the state of North Carolina.[6][7] He was mainly responsible in 1933 for the defeat of the Tennessee Volunteers, that team's first loss in over two and a half seasons.[6] It caused Tennessee coach Bob Neyland to remark: "He gave the finest exhibition of tackle play I have ever seen."[8] Duke won the Southern Conference the same year, winning 9 straight until a loss at Georgia Tech knocked Duke out of contention for the Rose Bowl.[9]
Crawford was elected to the NC Sports Hall of Fame in 1964,[10] the College Football Hall of Fame in 1973, and the Duke Sports Hall of Fame in 1976.[11]
One description of Crawford's play said he was "a hell-for-leather, hard-hitting, hard-charging, fast-running juggernaut" who "covered punts like a run-away express'" and "charged through the line like a lion going in for the kill.[12] Coach Wallace Wade called Crawford "the greatest lineman I ever saw."[13]
NFL
After a brief motion picture career,[14] Crawford played professionally for the Chicago Bears. He played just a year due to a lack of size for an interior line position[10] and a broken leg.[13] George Halas discovered Crawford could throw quite far indeed, and in a preseason game let him throw what was a completion to Ed Kawal that went 82 yards in the air.[15]
World War II
He served in the United States Air Force during World War II.[14]
Florida
After the war until the time of his death he was a State Motor Vehicle Department official in Florida.[6][14]
References
- ↑ North Carolina, Birth Indexes, 1800-2000 [database on-line].
- ↑ "Fred Crawford (1910-1974)".
- ↑ "Fred Crawford".
- ↑ "All-Southern 11 Is Picked". Ironwood Daily Globe. December 1, 1932.
- ↑ "AP All America". Bismarck Tribune. 1933-12-02.
- 1 2 3 "Frederick A. "Fred" Crawford".
- ↑ Theresa Jensen Lacey (2002). Amazing North Carolina. p. 79.
- ↑ "Scouts Line Up Stars On Grid Fronts". The Evening Independent. October 25, 1933.
- ↑ Hester, James Earl (2005). Crazy about Sports: Great Memories of Special Players, Teams, and Events. 1. Author House. p. 198.
- 1 2 "Fred Crawford".
- ↑ "Duke Sports Hall of Fame".
- ↑ Robert Franklin Durden (1993). The Launching of Duke University 1924-1949. Duke University Press. p. 242.
- 1 2 Michael Beadle. "Waynesville". p. 40.
- 1 2 3 "McCallie Alumni in the College Football Hall of Fame".
- ↑ Daly, Dan (September 16, 2012). "Fred Crawford's heave wowed crowd in '35". The Washington Times.