Sidney "Sunshine" Gepford (December 15, 1896 – September 9, 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 ...

halfback who played one season in the

American Professional Football Association The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

(APFA) with the

Decatur Staleys The Chicago Bears American football franchise is a charter member of the National Football League (NFL), and has played in all of the league's 100 seasons. The team has captured nine NFL championships – eight NFL championships and one Super ...

. He is considered one of the first APFA/NFL players to die, since the league's formation in 1920, and the first as a result of football-related head injuries.

Early life

Gepford was born in

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city in Macon County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

, the youngest child of Capitola (Knight) and John F. Gepford, the custodians of the Decatur Poor Farm.

Football career

With the Millikin Big Blue of

Millikin University Millikin University is a private university in Decatur, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1901 by prominent Decatur businessman James Millikin and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). History Millikin was initially esta ...

., Gepford played halfback 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 football team whilst captaining and playing running guard for the basketball team. In November 1919, he and teammate Roy Adkins joined the Staleys for their game against the

Taylorville Independents __NOTOC__ Taylorville may refer to the following places: Australia *Taylorville, South Australia, a locality *Taylorville Station (reserve), a protected area in South Australia *Taylorville Station, South Australia, a locality Canada * Taylorville, ...

, which the Staleys won. However, the two were exposed by Millikin head coach Norman Wann and banned from Millikin athletics for violating their amateur athlete statuses, though they were allowed to remain in school. They permanently joined the Staleys for the remainder of the year and into 1920, with Gepford playing quarterback/halfback for the football team and was a member of the

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 ...

team. He also worked for A. E. Staley in the summer. In 1922, Gepford and Adkins enrolled at Bethany College on the advice of a former Millikin coach. As Bethany did not have rules regarding amateur eligibility, the two were also joined by players from the Staleys. During a 1923 game against

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...

, Gepford suffered multiple concussions but continued to play. Due to the injury, he began experiencing headaches that persisted while he worked at Staley and prepared for his new job as athletic director and high school history teacher at Marion High School in

Marion, Illinois The city of Marion is the county seat of Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The population in Marion, IL was 16,855 according to the 2020 census. It is part of a dispersed urban area that developed out of early 20th-century coal fields ...

. On September 9, 1924, he committed suicide by gunshot, which his mother attributed to his concussion (

chronic traumatic encephalopathy Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets wor ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gepford, Sid 1896 births 1924 suicides 1924 deaths Players of American football from Decatur, Illinois American football halfbacks Millikin Big Blue football players Bethany Bison football players Decatur Staleys players Suicides by firearm in Illinois Players of American football with chronic traumatic encephalopathy Basketball players from Illinois Millikin Big Blue men's basketball players Guards (basketball)

Early life

Football career

References

Further reading

External links