Claude Royal "Tot" McCullough (May 20, 1895 – September 1963) 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 ...

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

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 was a member of the

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States–based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapt ...

fraternity. McCullough was noted for his size, given epithets such as "gigantic" and "Huge Tot McCullough."

Vanderbilt University

Football

"Tot" was an

end End, END, Ending, or ENDS may refer to: End Mathematics *End (category theory) * End (topology) * End (graph theory) * End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) * End (endomorphism) Sports and games *End (gridiron football) *End, a division ...

and tackle on

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 football The Vanderbilt Commodores football program represents Vanderbilt University in the sport of American football. The Commodores compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) within the Southe ...

teams which won two conferences titles in

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 ...

and

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

1921

He was selected All-Southern by

Fuzzy Woodruff Lorenzo Ferguson "Fuzzy" Woodruff (May 27, 1884 – December 7, 1929) was an early 20th-century American sportswriting, sportswriter known throughout most of the American Southeast, southeast for his vivid writing. He was also a music and drama cr ...

1922

McCullough was a starter for the scoreless tie with the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

at the dedication of

Dudley Field FirstBank Stadium (formerly Dudley Field and Vanderbilt Stadium) is a football stadium located in Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1922 as the first stadium in the South to be used exclusively for college football, it is the home of the Vander ...

Harry Kipke Harry George Kipke (; March 26, 1899 – September 14, 1972) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He was the head football coach at Michigan State College in 1928 and at the University of Michigan from 1929 to 193 ...

in recalling that game said "I picked myself up very, very painfully from every blade of grass in the place. It seems to me I spent most of the afternoon flat of my back and if I saw McCullough, their big end, on the street tomorrow, I'd start climbing a tree." He may have been the player to stop Kipke on the goal line by bracing against the goal post during the game, as he mentioned doing such once.

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American college football player and coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage a ...

praised Tot's run defense. McCullough was also on the receiving end of Vanderbilt's only offensive play of note that day, a 20-odd yard pass from captain Jess Neely."Powerful Wolverine Eleven Held To Scoreless Tie By Commodores."
Augusta Chronicle 1922 Oct. 15 McCullough was ruled ineligible for the 1923 football season. Those who played for baseball in the South Georgia league, or any other unrecognized one, were disallowed from participating in varsity athletics in the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

. Tot had played with the Albany club.

Baseball

McCullough was a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

and

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

for the

Vanderbilt Commodores baseball The Vanderbilt Commodores baseball team is an American National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college baseball team from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. The team participates in the of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) an ...

team, including a 1921 SIAA championship.

1921

Vanderbilt's yearbook ''The Commodore'' states that in a 1921 game against Southwestern Presbyterian University, the team achieved a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

in scoring 13 runs in one

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other tea ...

, after two men were

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. The ''Tennessean'' recalls the event: " Neely singled as did Kuhn;

Neil Neil is a masculine name of Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. As a surname ...

fanned but Thomas got his third straight hit and both tallied. Big Tot got hit by a pitched ball and Smith was safe on a

fielder's choice In baseball, fielder's choice (abbreviated FC) refers to a variety of plays involving an offensive player reaching a base due to the defense's attempt to put out another baserunner, or the defensive team's indifference to his advance. Fielder's c ...

with one out. Woodruf flied out to

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

. Tyner slammed one to center which Jetty juggled and everybody advanced a pair of sacks. Ryan was

safe A safe (also called a strongbox or coffer) is a secure lockable enclosure used for securing valuable objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form a door. The body ...

on another

error An error (from the Latin , meaning 'to wander'Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “error (n.), Etymology,” September 2023, .) is an inaccurate or incorrect action, thought, or judgement. In statistics, "error" refers to the difference between t ...

and two runs came over. Neely beat out his second hit of the inning and Kuhn walked. Neil walked. Thomas was safe on an error and Big Tot McCullough picked one over the right field fence, clearing the sacks—but oh, what's the use? Why continue?"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCullough, Tot 1895 births 1963 deaths American football ends American football tackles Baseball first basemen Baseball outfielders Vanderbilt Commodores baseball players Vanderbilt Commodores football players People from Lewisburg, Tennessee All-Southern college football players Players of American football from Tennessee