Bertrand Leslie Shurtleff (3 Aug. 1897 – 15 Feb. 1967) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

who spent three seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

with the Providence Steam Roller (

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...

1926 Events January * January 3 – Theodoros Pangalos declares himself dictator in Greece. * January 8 **Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz. ** Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuy ascends the throne, the last monarch of V ...

) and the Boston Bulldogs (

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

) after playing for

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

. Later he was a

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

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, public speaker, and

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Biography

Early life

Bertrand Leslie Shurtleff was born August 3, 1897, in Adamsville, Rhode Island, to Eugene Kossuth Shurtleff (1856 - 1942) and Hattie Elma Cook (1898 - 1943). He was the seventh of their ten children. At age 14 Shurtleff set out on his own and became self-supporting. At age 18, he went back to school, attending

East Greenwich Academy The East Greenwich Academy (originally known as Kent Academy) was a private Methodist boarding school in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, USA that was in existence from 1802 until 1943. History The school was founded in 1802 by eight prominent men ...

and preparing for college in three years. At the start of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force. He stayed in school for a time then spent the summer working in a powder factory in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Going into the active service, he trained at

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

and served at State Pier in

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...

until he was sent to

to study for a commission. When the war ended, he stayed at Brown, where he participated in wrestling and football. Shurtleff wrestled four years at Brown and won the New England Intercollegiate lightweight wrestling title in 1919-20. He paid his way through college working at odd jobs at everything from construction to crewing on a fruit boat to

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. Shurtleff was a member of the fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha and graduated with the Class of 1922.

Career

Shurtleff wrote a little book of original verse while still a student at

and sold 2,000 copies in 1922-23. He was a professional football player for seven years, seeing action with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, Providence Steamroller and Boston Bulldogs. Later he wrestled professionally under the name "Mad Murdock" and ran a wrestling carnival, meeting all comers. His first novel, ''Carey's Carnival'' was published in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Hurst and Blackett Hurst and Blackett was a publisher founded in 1852 by Henry Blackett (26 May 1825 – 7 March 1871), the grandson of a London shipbuilder, and Daniel William Stow Hurst (17 February 1802 – 6 July 1870). Shortly after the formation of their part ...

. ''Charleston Bound'', a novel about Rhode Islanders in the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, was also published by Hurst and Blackett under the pen name, S. B. Leslie. Between 1938 and 1963 Shurtleff had 14 books published and placed stories in about 30 magazines. In addition to teaching and coaching, Shurtleff lectured widely at high schools, civic clubs and other groups on the fakery in professional wrestling. He also attempted to break into the movies. He was considered a possibility to replace the late Louis Wolheim. He made several trips to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

, getting only bit parts and writing scenarios.

Marriage and children

On August 3, 1922, Bertrand L Shurtleff was married to Hope C. Seal. They had three children. * Jeane (1923 – 1981 ) * Faith (1928 – 1997) * David (1930 – ) Shurtleff married second Margaret D. Dorgan on Aug. 3, 1946.

Death

Bertrand Shurtleff died on February 15, 1967, in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

Published works

Poetry

*1922:''Songs at Anchor''

Series books

AWOL Series

*1944:''AWOL K-9 Commando'' *1946:''AWOL Musters Out'' *1948:''AWOL at Large'' (The British edition of ''AWOL Musters Out'') *1948:''AWOL the Rajah'' *1951:''AWOL the Courier''

Huskie and Spareribs

*1949:''Two Against the North: A Story of Huskie and Spareribs'' *1952:''Escape from the Icecap: A Tale of Huskie and Spareribs''

Other novels

*1938:''Carey's Carnival'' (as Bert Shurtleff) *1939:''Charleston Bound'' (as S.B. Leslie) *1945:''Short Leash'' *1947:''Long Lash'' *1951:''Colt of the Alcan Road'' *1953:''Flying Footballs'' *1963:''Ten Fathoms by Scuba'' Bertrand Shurtleff also wrote many short stories that were published in popular magazines such as '' Argosy'', '' Amazing Stories'', ''

Astounding Science Fiction ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William C ...

'' and others.

Honours, decorations, awards and distinctions

The Brown University Athletic Hall of Fame

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shurtleff, Bert 1897 births 1967 deaths People from Newport County, Rhode Island Players of American football from Rhode Island Brown Bears football players Boston Bulldogs (NFL) players Providence Steam Roller players 20th-century American short story writers Writers from Rhode Island 20th-century American male writers