William McKinnon Fetzer (June 24, 1884 – May 3, 1959) 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 ...

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 (appr ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at

Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan� ...

(1915–1918),

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 universit ...

(1919–1920), and the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

(1921–1925), compiling a career

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

record of 61–28–7. His brother,

Bob Fetzer Robert Allison Fetzer (September 9, 1887 – May 19, 1968) was an American football coach, track and field coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Davidson College in 1914 and as co-head football coach a ...

, served as co-head football coach at the University of North Carolina and later became the first and longest serving Athletics Director for the university. Fetzer also was the head basketball coach at Davidson for two seasons, from 1916 to 1918, tallying a mark of 18–11. In addition, he coached baseball at Davidson (1915–1919), NC State (1920), and North Carolina (1921–1925), amassing a career

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

record of 128–75–5.

Baseball career

Fetzer was also a professional baseball player. He made his

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) debut on September 4, 1906 as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

for the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oaklan ...

. In his lone

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

Fetzer failed to record a hit. This would be his only major league game, although he continued to play in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

, primarily as an

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 cat ...

, until 1910. He threw with his left hand and hit with his right. Prior to his professional career, Fetzer played collegiately at

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* * 1884 births 1959 deaths Baseball outfielders Danville Red Sox players Davidson Wildcats baseball coaches Davidson Wildcats baseball players Davidson Wildcats football coaches Davidson Wildcats men's basketball coaches Des Moines Boosters players NC State Wolfpack baseball coaches NC State Wolfpack football coaches Norfolk Tars players North Carolina Tar Heels baseball coaches North Carolina Tar Heels football coaches Philadelphia Athletics players Winston-Salem Twins players People from Concord, North Carolina Baseball players from North Carolina Basketball coaches from North Carolina {{US-baseball-bio-stub