Vernon Hibbett Sharp, Jr. (November 30, 1906 – April 5, 1991) was a

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 ...

player and coach.

Early years

Vernon Sharp, Jr. was born in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

on November 30, 1906 to Vernon Hibbett Sharp and Lorene Seleney Dandridge. His older brother

Alfred Sharp Alfred D. Sharp (February 6, 1902 – November 1981) was an American football player for the Vanderbilt Commodores of Vanderbilt University. Early years Sharp was born in Nashville on February 6, 1902, to Vernon Hibbett Sharp and Lorene Sele ...

was also a Vanderbilt center.

Vanderbilt University

He was a prominent

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

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 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 in the same class as the

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 ...

to whom he snapped the ball,

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

member

Bill Spears William Douglas Spears (August 31, 1906 – December 31, 1992), known as "Bounding Bill Spears", was an American football player and stand-out quarterback for Dan McGugin's Vanderbilt Commodores football teams from 1925 to 1927. Spears was ele ...

1927

Sharp 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 ...

of the 1927 team, which included the nation's leading scorer in

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 American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

Jimmy Armistead. Sharp received the second most All-Southern votes of any center, behind Elvin Butcher of

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. Sharp arguably had the better season, but was seen as having been outperformed by Butcher in the Vanderbilt–Tennessee game. Sharp was suffering from a knee injury at the time, including the week before against

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

and

Peter Pund Henry Rudolph "Peter" Pund (January 27, 1907 – October 17, 1987) was an American college football player. He was elected to the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame in 1958, the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1977, and the College Football Hall of Fame ...

. He was called by coach McGugin the greatest Vandy center since

Stein Stone James Nollner "Stein" Stone Sr. (April 18, 1882 – August 25, 1926) was an American football and basketball player and coach. "Stein" is the German for stone. Vanderbilt University At Vanderbilt he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraterni ...

Coaching career

In 1936, he coached Vanderbilt's freshmen team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharpe, Vernon 1906 births 1991 deaths All-Southern college football players American football centers Vanderbilt Commodores football players Players of American football from Nashville, Tennessee Vanderbilt Commodores football coaches