Frank Area Godchaux Jr. (December 27, 1901 – November 4, 1978) 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 ...

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 ...

player and golfer 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

Frank Area Godchaux Jr. was born on December 27, 1901, in

Abbeville, Louisiana Abbeville is a city in, and the parish seat of, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 12,257 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. At the 2020 Population Estimates Program, populat ...

, to Frank Godchaux Sr. His father was a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

and

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for the Commodores on the 1899 team, transferring from

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

in 1897, and once President of the Louisiana Rice Milling Company, a $10,000,000 corporation.

Vanderbilt University

Godchaux Hall at

was named for his wife, Mary Ragland Godchaux. A

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

building constructed in 1925 as a home for the School of Nursing, it now houses faculty and administrative offices, the Center for Nursing Research, and the Helene Fuld Multimedia Center. It was named for Mary Ragland in 1971.

1921

He was a member of the 1921

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conferen ...

(SIAA) champion football and baseball teams.

Football

Godchaux 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 American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for

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 ...

Vanderbilt Commodores football The Vanderbilt Commodores football program represents Vanderbilt University in the sport of American football. The Commodores compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) within the Southe ...

teams. On the 1921 football team Godchaux was its second leading scorer behind

Rupert Smith General (United Kingdom), General Sir Rupert Anthony Smith, (born 13 December 1943) is a retired British Army officer and author of ''The Utility of Force''. He was a senior commander during the Gulf War, for which he was recognised with the aw ...

. Godchaux was the first son to follow in his father's footsteps as a Vanderbilt football player.

Baseball

On the 1921 baseball team, Frank Jr. was a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

References

External links

* 1901 births 1978 deaths American football halfbacks American football quarterbacks Players of American football from Louisiana Baseball players from Louisiana Baseball catchers Vanderbilt Commodores baseball players Vanderbilt Commodores football players People from Abbeville, Louisiana Sportspeople from Vermilion Parish, Louisiana 20th-century American sportsmen {{runningback-1900s-stub