Julian Washington "Judy" Harlan Jr. (November 6, 1896 – May 20, 1978) was an American college football player for the Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football of the Georgia Institute of Technology. He was the fullback in Georgia Tech's famous

backfield The offensive backfield is the area of an American football field behind the line of scrimmage. The offensive backfield can also refer to members of offense who begin plays behind the line, typically including any backs on the field, such as the ...

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Fo ...

, and was also a Georgia Tech track athlete.

Georgia Tech

Harlan was a prominent

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

for John Heisman's and William Alexander's Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football team of the Georgia Institute of Technology, called by some the school's greatest back. Playing in the days before two platoons, Harlan was also one of the best defensive backs in the country.

1917

Coming from old Tech High, Harlan was a fullback on the school's famous

, alongside halfbacks

Everett Strupper George Everett Strupper Jr. (July 26, 1896 – February 4, 1950), known variously as "Ev" or "Strup" or "Stroop" was an American football player. He played halfback for Georgia Tech from 1915 to 1917. Strupper overcame deafness resulting from ...

and

Joe Guyon Joseph Napoleon "Big Chief" Guyon (Anishinaabe: ''O-Gee-Chidah'', translated as "Big Brave"; November 26, 1892 – November 27, 1971) was an American Indian from the Ojibwa tribe (Chippewa) who was an American football and baseball player and co ...

, and

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Albert Hill. Harlan often blocked for Strupper or Guyon, performing notably as a freshman having to fill the void left by

Tommy Spence Thomas Louis Spence (April 17, 1896 – November 27, 1918) was an American college football player. Spence also played on the baseball, basketball, and track teams. Georgia Tech Football Spence was a prominent fullback for John Heisman's Ge ...

. The 1917 team won Georgia Tech's first

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

and outscored opponents 491 to 17. Harlan was a member of the school's ANAK Society. Harlan once spoke of Joe Guyon, a full blooded

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

, and his antics: "Once in a while the Indian would come out in Joe, such as the nights Heisman gave us a white football and had us working out under the lights. That's when Guyon would give out the blood curdling war whoops." JudyHarlan

1918

Due to the

First World War 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 ...

, Harlan was also a teammate of Auburn great

Moon Ducote Richard Joseph "Moon" "Duke" DuCôté ( ; August 28, 1897 – March 26, 1937) was an American baseball, football, and basketball coach, football and baseball player, football official, and businessman. He first attended Spring Hill College and ...

on the 1918 Cleveland Naval Reserves which upset national champion

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

by a 10 to 9 score. Pittsburgh had beaten Georgia Tech 32 to 0 after declining an offer to play the year before. Ducote kicked the winning field goal. Harlan stated: "I intercepted a pass and returned it to midfield in the fourth quarter. I felt I at least had evened up some of the losses we had at Tech."

1919

Harlan came into his own upon returning to Tech for the 1919 season, "the line plunger almost unfailingly good for "must" yardage to keep a drive rolling."

1921

Harlan was captain of the Tech team in 1921. Former Tech fullback Sam Murray, who played behind

Doug Wycoff Stephen Douglas Wycoff (September 16, 1903 – October 27, 1981) was an American football running back for the New York Giants, Staten Island Stapletons, and Boston Redskins in the National Football League (NFL), the Newark Bears in the fi ...

, was asked about a certain strong runner in the 1930s, "He's good. But if I were playing again, I would have one wish – never to see bearing down upon me a more fearsome picture of power than Judy Harlan blocking for

Red Barron David Irenus "Red" Barron (June 21, 1900 – October 4, 1982) was an American football and baseball player. Barron was a three-sport letterwinner at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In football, he was named second or third team All Ameri ...

." Harlan was inducted into the Georgia Tech Athletics Hall of Fame in 1960.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harlan, Judy 1896 births 1978 deaths American football fullbacks Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's track and field athletes All-Southern college football players People from Ottumwa, Iowa Players of American football from Iowa