Alfred D. Sharp (February 6, 1902 – November 1981) was an

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 with ...

player for the

Vanderbilt Commodores The Vanderbilt Commodores are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt fields 16 varsity teams (6 men's teams and 10 women's team ...

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

Early years

Sharp was born in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

on February 6, 1902, to Vernon Hibbett Sharp and Lorene Seleney Dandridge. Sharp attended Hume Fogg High. His younger brother Vernon Sharp was also a Vanderbilt football player, selected All-Southern in 1927.

Vanderbilt University

, Sharp 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 chapters ...

fraternity. In an interview by Edwin Thomas Wood of

Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the liter ...

, Warren spoke of Sharp:

Warren: When I was there t Vanderbiltwe had some fine teams. There was Alf Sharp—he was an All-Southern center at one time. He looked like a badly formed
pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
; he was really a menacing looking man. He was two years ahead of me, and then I taught his younger brother alter Sharp, who later taught at Vanderbilt. He was instrumental in founding the Department of Fine Arts, of which he was Chairman from 1955 to 1960when I came back to Vanderbilt in the thirties. And his younger brother came up one day and said, "You're not going to believe this, but I have documentation: my big brother was writing
poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...
s secretly the whole time he was here" So I saw the poems years later when the younger brother betrayed him. Wood: Any good? Warren: Well, as a matter of fact, they were skillful. They were close imitations of
Housman Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by pub ...
. Very skillfully done, totally unoriginal. But the man had this need, hidden under that murderous exterior, to write poems.

Football

Sharp was a prominent member of

Dan McGugin Daniel Earle McGugin (July 29, 1879 – January 23, 1936) was an American 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 again from ...

from

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

to 1923 as a

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 ...

on teams which won three straight conference titles.

1921

In a 42 to 0 victory over

Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader, ...

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 ...

, Sharp recovered a Vanderbilt fumble in the endzone. He was ejected for slugging the following week against

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

1922

He 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 NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

at the dedication of

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

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 ...

. Sharp was expected to start the game on the sidelines due to a hurt shoulder. During that game, "Thousands of cheering Vanderbilt fans inspired the surge of center Alf Sharp, guard Gus Morrow, tackle

Tex Bradford Cecil Rhodes "Tex" Bradford (August 15, 1899 – January 27, 1975) was a college football player and a medical doctor. Early years Bradford was born on August 15, 1899, in Mansfield, Texas, to James Frederick Bradford and Susan Virginia Ho ...

, and end

Lynn Bomar Robert Lynn Bomar (January 21, 1901 – June 11, 1964) was an American football end in the National Football League (NFL). Bomar played college football, basketball and baseball for Vanderbilt University, following coach Wallace Wade and ...

, who stopped Michigan cold in four attempts." Sharp netted an

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

the next week in a 20 to 10 victory over the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

."Vanderbilt Downs Texas Longhorns, Long Grid Rivals."
Dallas Morning News 22 Oct. 1922

1923

Sharp recovered a fumble in the endzone in a 17 to 0 victory over

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

.Russell, Fred, and Maxwell Edward Benson. ''Fifty Years of Vanderbilt Football''. Nashville, TN, 1938, p. 42 He was cited along with

and

Bob Rives Robert Franklin Rives (November 12, 1903 – March 1, 1956) was an American football tackle. He played college football for Vanderbilt University. Early years Bob Rives was born on November 12, 1903, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to R. H. Rives. H ...

for holding the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity college athletics, intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in NCAA Division I, ...

to only 7 in a 51 to 7 romp. Sharp intercepted a pass off the receiver's finger tips during the 35 to 7 victory over

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, of which

Morgan Blake William Morgan Blake (February, 1889 – July 26, 1953) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter in the South who in his 24 years on the job covered seven Rose Bowl games. He also taught the south's largest Sunday School class. Early ye ...

, sportswriter in the ''Atlanta Journal'', wrote "No southern team has given the Georgia Bulldogs such a licking in a decade."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Alfred 1902 births 1981 deaths American football centers Vanderbilt Commodores football players Players of American football from Nashville, Tennessee All-Southern college football players