Elmer Horsey Wingate (October 26, 1928 – February 27, 2016) was an American football player. Wingate was drafted by the

New York Yanks The New York Yanks were an American football team that played in the National Football League under that name in the 1950 and 1951 seasons. Season by season overview 1949 The team began in 1944 as the Boston Yanks, owned by Kate Smith's mana ...

in the fourth round of the

1951 NFL Draft The 1951 National Football League Draft was held January 18–19, 1951, at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago. The Baltimore Colts folded after the 1950 season, and the NFL placed their players in the 1951 NFL draft. This was the fifth year that t ...

and played for one season with the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

Early life and college career

Wingate was born in 1928 in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and attended high school at the

Baltimore Polytechnic Institute The Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, colloquially referred to as BPI, Poly, and The Institute, is a U.S. public high school founded in 1883. Established as an all-male manual trade / vocational school by the Baltimore City Council and the Bal ...

. He then went on to college at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the Flagship un ...

.Elmer Wingate Past Stats
, Database Football, retrieved 26 December 2008. While there, Wingate played football for the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divis ...

as a defensive end. In 1947, he was the team's receiving leader with 12

reception Reception is a noun form of ''receiving'', or ''to receive'' something, such as art, experience, information, people, products, or vehicles. It may refer to: Astrology * Reception (astrology), when a planet is located in a sign ruled by another p ...

s for 145 yards and three

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

s. In 1948, Wingate repeated as the Terrapins' leader receiver with nine receptions for 32 yards and three touchdowns, and was named an honorable mention All-American. In 1950, Wingate was named to the All-

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

team. At Maryland, Wingate also played on the lacrosse team as a defenseman in 1950 and 1951. He was named to the All-American second-team in 1951.

Later life

He received a commission as a second lieutenant in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army S ...

upon graduation from the University of Maryland as a member of the

Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps The Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) is one of the three primary commissioning sources for officers in the United States Air Force and United States Space Force, the other two being the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) ...

. While serving in the Air Force, he played football for the

Bolling Air Force Base Bolling Air Force Base or Bolling AFB was a United States Air Force base in Washington, D.C. In 2010, it was merged with Naval Support Facility Anacostia to form Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling. From its beginning, the installation has hosted el ...

football team, where they won the service championship from 1952 to 1953. His service was during was during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

era.The Korean War Honor Roll
"Football And America", Pro Football Hall of Fame, retrieved 26 December 2008. Wingate was selected in the fourth round of the

, 46th overall, by the

. He eventually entered the league to play for the

in 1953. While in the

NFL 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 maj ...

, Wingate saw action in twelve games.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wingate, Elmer 1928 births 2016 deaths American lacrosse players American military sports players Baltimore Colts players Maryland Terrapins football players Maryland Terrapins men's lacrosse players Baltimore Polytechnic Institute alumni United States Air Force officers Players of American football from Baltimore Lacrosse players from Baltimore