George Bascom Sparkman Jr. (January 31, 1886 – July 7, 1924) 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 and coach, once a key figure in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

athletics. Sparkman played and later coached at Hillsborough High School in

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

, posting wins over rival St. Pete. Among his pupils at Hillsborough High were Dutch Stanley and Speedy Walker. Sparkman assisted the

1919 Florida Gators football team The 1919 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the. 1919 college football season. It was Alfred L. Buser's third and last as the head coach of the Florida Gators football tea ...

. He played for coach

Mike Donahue Michael Joseph "Iron Mike" Donahue (June 14, 1876 – December 11, 1960) was an American football player, coach of football, basketball, baseball, tennis, track, soccer, and golf, and a college athletics administrator. He served as the head foot ...

Auburn Tigers football The Auburn Tigers football program represents Auburn University in the sport of American college football. Auburn competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Confe ...

team in

1908 This is the longest year in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars, having a duration of 31622401.38 seconds of Terrestrial Time (or ephemeris time), measured according to the definition of mean solar time. Events January * January ...

. He possibly saved a touchdown by recovering a fumble against

Sewanee Sewanee may refer to: * Sewanee, Tennessee * Sewanee: The University of the South * ''The Sewanee Review ''The Sewanee Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1892. It is the oldest continuously published quarterly in the Unit ...

at the 2-yard line. He also ran for a 65-yard touchdown against

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

. Sparkman died at the age of just 38 of

tetanus Tetanus (), also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by ''Clostridium tetani'' and characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usually l ...

Early years

George Bascom Sparkman Jr. was born to George Sr., an attorney and mayor of Tampa, and Mary Elizabeth Kershaw on January 31, 1886. He married Pearl Luther of

Albertville, Alabama Albertville is a city in Marshall County, Alabama, Marshall County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The population was 22,386 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the ...

References

1886 births 1924 deaths Florida Gators football coaches American football ends American football halfbacks Auburn Tigers football players Players of American football from Tampa, Florida High school football coaches in Florida {{collegefootball-player-stub