Stanley Allen Fritts (born September 18, 1952) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

player who played

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 handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...

for two seasons for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...

. He played college football at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universi ...

Early years

Fritts attended Oak Ridge High School. He accepted a football scholarship from

. As a sophomore in 1972, when

Lou Holtz Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is an American former football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New York ...

arrived as the new head coach at

, he implemented split-back veer offense to take advantage of the talent at

, that included Fritts, Willie Burden,

Charley Young Charles Lee Young (born October 13, 1952) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He was drafted in the first round (22nd overall) of the 1974 NFL Draft. He played college foo ...

and Roland Hooks. At the time, this was arguably the best group of

s in the nation, they were known as "The Four Stallions" and everyone of them went on to play in a professional football league. He led the team with 145 carries for 689 yards (4.8-yard avg.) and 16 rushing touchdowns. As a junior in 1973, he was part of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship team as a halfback. He was second on the team behind Burden, with 114 carries for 661 yards (5.8-yard avg.) and 7 rushing touchdowns. As a senior in 1974, he led the team with 245 carries for 1,169 yards (4.8-yard avg.) and 12 rushing touchdowns. He finished his college career with 534 carries for 2,542 yards (4.8-yard avg.) and 41 rushing touchdowns. He passed Burden as the 7th ranked rusher in Wolfpack history.

Professional career

Fritts was selected by the

in the 4th round (97th overall) of the

1975 NFL Draft The 1975 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1975, at the New York Hilton at Rockefeller Center in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Atlanta Falcons selected quarterback Steve Bartkows ...

. He appeared in 26 games with 9 starts.

Personal life

He currently resides in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the South ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fritts, Stan 1952 births Living people American football running backs Cincinnati Bengals players NC State Wolfpack football players People from Oak Ridge, Tennessee Sportspeople from the Knoxville metropolitan area Players of American football from Tennessee