Alfred D. Sharp (February 6, 1902 – November 1981) was an

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

player for the

Vanderbilt Commodores The Vanderbilt Commodores are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt fields 16 varsity teams (6 men's teams and 10 women's teams), 14 of which compete at the National ...

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

Early years

Sharp was born in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

on February 6, 1902, to Vernon Hibbett Sharp and Lorene Seleney Dandridge. Sharp attended Hume Fogg High. His younger brother Vernon Sharp was also a Vanderbilt football player, selected All-Southern in 1927.

Vanderbilt University

, Sharp was a member of the

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States–based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapt ...

fraternity. In an interview by Edwin Thomas Wood of

Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, literary critic and professor at Yale University. He was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern ...

, Warren spoke of Sharp:

Warren: When I was there t Vanderbiltwe had some fine teams. There was Alf Sharp—he was an All-Southern center at one time. He looked like a badly formed
pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...
; he was really a menacing looking man. He was two years ahead of me, and then I taught his younger brother alter Sharp, who later taught at Vanderbilt. He was instrumental in founding the Department of Fine Arts, of which he was Chairman from 1955 to 1960when I came back to Vanderbilt in the thirties. And his younger brother came up one day and said, "You're not going to believe this, but I have documentation: my big brother was writing
poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
s secretly the whole time he was here" So I saw the poems years later when the younger brother betrayed him. Wood: Any good? Warren: Well, as a matter of fact, they were skillful. They were close imitations of
Housman Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. He showed early promise as a student at the University of Oxford, but he failed his final examination in '' literae humaniores'' and took emplo ...
. Very skillfully done, totally unoriginal. But the man had this need, hidden under that murderous exterior, to write poems.

Football

Sharp was a prominent member of

Dan McGugin Daniel Earle McGugin (July 29, 1879 – January 23, 1936) was an American college football player and coach, as well as a lawyer. He served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee from 1904 to 1917 and a ...

from

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

as a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

on teams which won three straight conference titles.

1921

In a 42 to 0 victory over

Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (automobile), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City, US * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or tra ...

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

, Sharp recovered a Vanderbilt fumble in the endzone. He was ejected for slugging the following week against

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

1922

He was a starter for the scoreless tie with the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

at the dedication of

Dudley Field FirstBank Stadium (formerly Dudley Field and Vanderbilt Stadium) is a football stadium located in Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1922 as the first stadium in the South to be used exclusively for college football, it is the home of the Vander ...

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

. Sharp was expected to start the game on the sidelines due to a hurt shoulder. During that game, "Thousands of cheering Vanderbilt fans inspired the surge of center Alf Sharp, guard Gus Morrow, tackle Tex Bradford, and end

Lynn Bomar Robert Lynn Bomar (January 21, 1901 – June 11, 1964) was an American football End (gridiron football), end in the National Football League (NFL). Bomar played college football, basketball and baseball for Vanderbilt University, following ...

, who stopped Michigan cold in four attempts." Sharp netted an

interception In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...

the next week in a 20 to 10 victory over the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and ...

."Vanderbilt Downs Texas Longhorns, Long Grid Rivals."
Dallas Morning News 22 Oct. 1922

1923

Sharp recovered a fumble in the endzone in a 17 to 0 victory over

Tulane The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it be ...

.Russell, Fred, and Maxwell Edward Benson. ''Fifty Years of Vanderbilt Football''. Nashville, TN, 1938, p. 42 He was cited along with

and Bob Rives for holding the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

to only 7 in a 51 to 7 romp. Sharp intercepted a pass off the receiver's finger tips during the 35 to 7 victory over

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, of which

Morgan Blake William Morgan Blake (February, 1889 – July 26, 1953) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter in the South who in his 24 years on the job covered seven Rose Bowl games. He also taught the south's largest Sunday School class. Early ye ...

, sportswriter in the ''Atlanta Journal'', wrote "No southern team has given the Georgia Bulldogs such a licking in a decade."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Alfred 1902 births 1981 deaths American football centers Vanderbilt Commodores football players Players of American football from Nashville, Tennessee All-Southern college football players