Sheldon Fitts

Sheldon Fitts
Fitts, c. 1920
No. 31 – Georgia Bulldogs
PositionsQuarterback, halfback
Personal information
Born(1899-11-01)November 1, 1899
Jemison, Alabama, U.S.
DiedOctober 26, 1985(1985-10-26) (aged 85)
Marion, Alabama, U.S.
Career information
High schoolGeorgia Military College
CollegeGeorgia (1920)
Awards and highlights
  • SIAA Championship (1920)

Sheldon Fitts (November 1, 1899 – October 26, 1985) was an American college football player and lawyer.

Biography

Fitts was born in 1899 in Jemison, Alabama. He prepped at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville. Fitts had a half-sister, author Mary Ward Brown.

Fitts played as a quarterback and halfback for the Georgia Bulldogs of the University of Georgia, a member of the "ten second backfield" of 1920. Fitts caught the pass to beat Furman and starred in the 56–0 win over Florida.

While at Georgia, Fitts was also a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity,: 156  and played as a center fielder on the Bulldogs baseball team.: 271  He was awarded varsity letters in both football and baseball.: 334  Georgia lists Fitts as only earning a football letter for the 1920 season, with contemporary newspaper reports from the 1921 season noting that he was unable to play due to a knee injury. While he was reported to have returned to the team in October 1922, there are no contemporary accounts of him playing again for Georgia.

Fitts went on to become an attorney. At the time of his death in 1985, he was a resident of Marion, Alabama. He was survived by a son, Sheldon Jr., and predeceased by his wife, Frances, who died in 1984.

Notes

  1. ↑ The term "ten second backfield" generally refers to players capable (or thought to be capable) of running a 100-yard dash in 10 seconds—that is, fast runners.

References

  1. ↑ "Draft Registration Card". fold3.com. Selective Service System. February 1942. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
  2. 1 2 Brown, Mary Ward (2009). Fanning the Spark: A Memoir. University of Alabama Press. p. 3. ISBN 9780817316457. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Advent has ten-second backfield". The Cincinnati Post. November 11, 1913. p. 6. Retrieved September 9, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Ga. Barely Overcome Furman Crew". The Red and Black. October 22, 1920. p. 8.
  5. ↑ "'Gators Lose To Georgia In One-Sided Bout". The Florida Alligator. Vol. 9. November 19, 1920.
  6. ↑ "'Gators Are Beaten By Red and Black In One-Sided Game". The Red and Black. November 19, 1920. p. 8.
  7. 1 2 Pandora. University of Georgia. 1921. Retrieved September 8, 2024 – via usg.edu.
  8. ↑ Pandora. University of Georgia. 1922. Retrieved September 8, 2024 – via usg.edu.
  9. ↑ "All-Time Georgia Football Lettermen". georgiadogs.com. July 24, 2006. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
  10. ↑ "Georgia Looking for Tough Game from Virginians". Birmingham Post-Herald. Birmingham, Alabama. November 3, 1921. p. 10. Retrieved September 8, 2024 – via newspapers.com. The quandary of the coaches in these losses is rendered doubly serious by the inability to play of Sheldon Fitts who has been unable to play a minute this season on account of an injured knee.
  11. ↑ "Sheldon Fitts Returns to Georgia Grid Squad". The Telegraph. Macon, Georgia. October 11, 1922. p. 9. Retrieved September 8, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
  12. 1 2 3 "Sheldon Fitts, Sr". Selma Times-Journal. Selma, Alabama. October 28, 1985. p. 3. Retrieved September 8, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Social Security Death Index". fold3.com. Social Security Administration. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
  14. ↑ "Frances B. Fitts". Selma Times-Journal. Selma, Alabama. October 17, 1984. p. 2. Retrieved September 8, 2024 – via newspapers.com.