Hargrove Van de Graaff
Alabama Crimson Tide
PositionEnd
ClassGraduate
Personal information
Born:(1893-09-07)September 7, 1893
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Died:January 2, 1938(1938-01-02) (aged 44)
Missouri
Weight146 lb (66 kg)
Career history
CollegeAlabama (19111913)
High schoolTuscaloosa
Career highlights and awards

Coleman Hargrove Van de Graaff (September 7, 1893 – January 2, 1938) was a college football player. He was an advocate for an airport in Tuscaloosa.[1]

Early years

Hargrove was born on September 7, 1893, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Circuit Judge Adrian Sebastain Van de Graaff Sr. and Minnie Cherokee Jemison Van de Graaff.[2]

He helped organize sports at Tuscaloosa High School with football, baseball, and track.[3]

College athletics

Hargrove was an All-Southern end for the Alabama Crimson Tide of the University of Alabama.[4] His brothers Adrian and William also played for Alabama. William, known as "Bully," was Alabama's first All-American. Hargrove was the smallest of the three.[5] Hargrove also played baseball and lettered in track. Robert J. Van de Graaff, the inventor of the Van de Graaff generator which produces high voltages, was another brother.

Following a hard-fought scoreless tie with Georgia Tech in 1911, coach John Heisman declared that he had never seen a player "so thoroughly imbued with the true spirit of football as Hargrove Van de Graaff."[2][5] In a game in 1913 against Tennessee, Hargrove nearly lost an ear and tried to rip it off to avoid leaving the game.[5][6][7]

Military

After graduation, Hargrove followed Adrian into the military.[2] He served in Mexico and in France in the First World War. Hargrove came back with the Croix de Guerre.[5]

References

  1. "Coleman Hargrove van de Graaff, 1893-1938".
  2. 1 2 3 "Coleman Hargrove Van de Graaff, 1893-1938".
  3. "THS Claimed 1926 National Grid Title". The Tuscaloosa News. April 25, 1969.
  4. "Consolidated All-Southern Chosen by Ten Scribes; Eleven Like Innis Brown's". Atlanta Constitution. December 3, 1912. p. 10.
  5. 1 2 3 4 O. B. Keeler. "Hargrove Van De Graaff". The Tuscaloosa News.
  6. Beverly Crider (March 18, 2014). Legends and Lore of Birmingham and Central Alabama. History Press. p. 77. ISBN 9781625849274.
  7. "Article published in Tuscaloosa News Dec 12, 2004". bama.ua.edu. Archived from the original on September 3, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
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