James Driskell "Fats" Lawrence (January 21, 1903 – March 8, 1971) was an All-Southern

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

for the

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) a ...

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

. Lawrence was

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in his senior year of

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 ...

. Upon graduation the ''Glomerata'', the school's yearbook, writes "Fats was a real leader, a hard worker, a quick thinker, and a clean player; in other words, an ideal football man, and Auburn will have a hard time finding a center to fill his shoes."

Early years

James Driskell Lawrence was born on January 21, 1903, in

Plantersville, Alabama Plantersville is an unincorporated community in Dallas County, Alabama, United States. It lies near the county's border with Autauga and Chilton counties. Plantersville was named for the local cotton planters and plantations. The town is hom ...

to Charles Lawrence and Salliego Driskell Todd.

References

1903 births 1971 deaths American football centers People from Dallas County, Alabama Players of American football from Alabama Auburn Tigers football players All-Southern college football players {{collegefootball-player-stub