Herbert Hunt "Flash" Covington (October 16, 1902 – January 1, 1990), also called "the Mayfield Flash", 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 ...

player for the Centre Praying Colonels of

Centre College Centre College, formally Centre College of Kentucky, is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, United States. Chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819, the col ...

in Danville, Kentucky.

Early years

Covington spent a year at Mayfield High and two at

Castle Heights Military Academy Castle Heights Military Academy was a private military academy in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States. It opened in 1902 and became a military school in 1918. The school closed in 1986. Its former campus was placed on the National Register of His ...

Centre College

Football

Covington was a prominent running back for coaches Charley Moran and Robert L. Myers's Centre Colonels from

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

, chosen as a running back on Centre's all-time football team in 1935.

1921

Covington played at halfback during the 6–0 victory over Harvard.

Bo McMillin Alvin Nugent "Bo" McMillin (January 12, 1895 – March 31, 1952) was an American football player and coach at the collegiate and professional level. He played college football at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, where he was a three-t ...

threw a touchdown to Covington in the 1922 Dixie Classic which Centre lost to

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

1922

Taking over for McMillin at

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 ...

the following season, Covington did not miss a minute of play over the next three years. He was selected All-Southern in 1922. That year Covington kicked a then record six straight drop-kicked

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

s in the victory over

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

. In a rematch with Harvard, a 24 to 10 loss, "Covington, the Centre quarterback, was responsible for most of the scoring in the game; he kicked Centre's goal from the field, and through Roberts's assistance, made Centre's touchdown; his errors led to the Harvard scores also." He was selected

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n in 1922 by

Billy Evans William George Evans (February 10, 1884 – January 23, 1956), nicknamed "the Boy Umpire", was an American umpire in Major League Baseball (MLB) who worked in the American League from 1906 to 1927. He became, at age 22, the youngest umpir ...

and was on Norman E. Brown's second team. In 1924 he was selected as a third-team All-American by Davis J. Walsh of the

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

. Athletic trainer Alfred Doneghy said Covington was the best runner Centre ever had. An account of his six field goal record follows: "Herb Covington, who has shattered records galore this season through his ground gaining ability, established a world record today for field goals by drop kicks in a single game. Six times he booted the oval over the crossbar, three of them from the 30 yard mark and one from the 41 yard line. The others were from between the 30 and 40 yard marks. The record previously was held by B. W. Tafford,

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

, and W. H. Eckersall,

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, jointly with five in a single game. Robertson of

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

made seven goals in a game with Rose Poly in 1900, but they were all from

placement Placement may refer to: * Placement (EDA), an essential step in E-design automation * Placement exam, determines which class a student should take * Favored placement, the practice of preferentially listing search engine results for given sites ...

1924

Centre defeated

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

14 to 7 and

Wallace Wade William Wallace Wade (June 15, 1892 – October 6, 1986) was an American football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the University of Alabama fr ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

and claims a Southern championship.

Marriage

He married Eleanor Blanche McCormick of

Senatobia, Mississippi Senatobia is a city in and the county seat of Tate County, Mississippi, United States, and is the 16th largest municipality in the Memphis Metropolitan Area. The population was 8,165 at the 2010 census. Senatobia is home to Northwest Mississippi ...

, and was a realtor 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 ...

Coaching career

Covington was coach of the Hillsborough High School Terriers 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 ...

in 1925. Jimmy Steele was on the team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Covington, Herb American football quarterbacks Centre College people Centre Colonels baseball players Centre Colonels football players Basketball people from Kentucky Players of American football from Kentucky People from Mayfield, Kentucky 1902 births All-Southern college football players American football halfbacks American football drop kickers 1990 deaths High school football coaches in Florida 20th-century American sportsmen Baseball people from Kentucky American football people from Kentucky