Grailyn Hewitt "Grailey" Berryhill (August 17, 1896 – January 10, 1976) 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,

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

, and politician. He was a star

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 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 ...

. He scored six

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s in the 76 to 0 win over

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

in 1918, and was captain-elect for 1921. Berryhill received one of the school's highest honors that a student could achieve, the "

Bachelor of Ugliness The Bachelor of Ugliness was a title conferred onto Vanderbilt University's most popular male undergraduate. One of the highest honors that a student could achieve, it was given to the male undergraduate student believed to be most representative of ...

." He was also a three-term member of the

Tennessee General Assembly The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Tennessee Senate, Senate and a Tennessee House of Representa ...

Early years

Grailey Berryhill was born on August 17, 1896, in

McKenzie, Tennessee McKenzie is a city at the tripoint of Carroll, Henry, and Weakley counties in Tennessee, United States. The population was 5,310 at the 2010 census. History The city of McKenzie was originally surveyed and platted in 1865 on land that belong ...

, to Adam Douglas Berryhill and Harriett Costen.

Vanderbilt

When Berryhill did not return to the 1921 Vanderbilt Commodores football team,

sports writer Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

Ferguson "Fuzzy" Woodruff wrote "While prospects seem fair to middling in most of the big southern colleges, there are two notable exceptions.

expects nothing of Vanderbilt this year. Dan has lost Berryhill, his only reliable

backfield The offensive backfield is the area of an American football field behind the line of scrimmage, and players positioned there on offense who begin plays behind the line, typically including the quarterback and running backs ( halfbacks and full ...

man, through the matrimonial route." Berryhill graduated with an MD from Vanderbilt University in 1921.

References

External links

* 1896 births 1976 deaths American football halfbacks Vanderbilt Commodores football players Vanderbilt University School of Medicine alumni Players of American football from Tennessee Tennessee Republicans Tennessee Democrats Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Physicians from Tennessee All-Southern college football players People from McKenzie, Tennessee 20th-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly {{Tennessee-politician-stub