William McKinnon Fetzer (June 24, 1884 – May 3, 1959) 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 ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at

Davidson College Davidson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after American Revolutiona ...

(1915–1918),

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

(1919–1920), and the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

(1921–1925), compiling a career

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

record of 61–28–7. His brother, Bob Fetzer, served as co-head football coach at the University of North Carolina and later became the first and longest serving Athletics Director for the university. Fetzer also was the head basketball coach at Davidson for two seasons, from 1916 to 1918, tallying a mark of 18–11. In addition, he coached baseball at Davidson (1915–1919), NC State (1920), and North Carolina (1921–1925), amassing a career

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

record of 128–75–5.

Baseball career

Fetzer was also a professional baseball player. He made his

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) debut on September 4, 1906, as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, A ...

for the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...

. In his lone

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

Fetzer failed to record a hit. This would be his only major league game, although he continued to play in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

, primarily as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

, until 1910. He threw with his left hand and hit with his right. Prior to his professional career, Fetzer played collegiately at

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* * 1884 births 1959 deaths Baseball outfielders Danville Red Sox players Davidson Wildcats baseball coaches Davidson Wildcats baseball players Davidson Wildcats football coaches Davidson Wildcats men's basketball coaches Des Moines Boosters players NC State Wolfpack baseball coaches NC State Wolfpack football coaches Norfolk Tars players North Carolina Tar Heels baseball coaches North Carolina Tar Heels football coaches Philadelphia Athletics players 20th-century American sportsmen Winston-Salem Twins players Baseball players from Concord, North Carolina Basketball coaches from North Carolina {{US-baseball-bio-stub