Donald Denver Fleming (June 11, 1937 – June 4, 1963) was an American college and professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for three seasons during the early 1960s. Fleming played

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 ...

for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, and thereafter, he played professionally for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

of the NFL. His professional football career was cut short by his accidental death by electrocution in 1963.

Early life

Fleming was born in Bellaire, Ohio, in 1937 to Denver Fleming.National Football League, Historical Players
Don Fleming
Retrieved June 2, 2010. He attended Shadyside High School in Shadyside, Ohio,databaseFootball.com, Players
Don Fleming
Retrieved June 2, 2010. where he was a standout prep player for the Shadyside Tigers high school football team.

College career

Fleming attended the

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

, where he played for coach

Bob Woodruff Robert Warren Woodruff (born August 18, 1961) is an American television journalist. Since 1996, he has served as a reporter for ABC News. Woodruff co-anchored ABC World News Tonight in 2006 alongside ABC News journalist Elizabeth Vargas. He was ...

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of ...

team from

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 96, 124, 181 (2011). Retrieved August 28, 2011. Fleming was the Gators' team captain in 1958, and he finished his college football career as a first-team All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) selection. Woodruff ranked him as the Gators' best receiver of the 1950s. The

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

drafted Fleming following his senior football season,Pro Football Hall of Fame, Draft History
1959 National Football League Draft
. Retrieved June 2, 2010. but he chose to remain in school and exhaust his remaining NCAA baseball eligibility playing for coach Dave Fuller's

Florida Gators baseball The Florida Gators baseball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of baseball. Florida competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (S ...

team from 1958 to 1960. He was the captain of the Gators baseball team, and led the Gators in

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

Professional career

Fleming was selected by the

in the 28th round (327th pick overall) of the

1959 NFL Draft The 1959 National Football League draft had its first four rounds held on December 1, 1958, and its final twenty-six rounds on January 21, 1959. Both sessions were held at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia. With the first overall pick in the dra ...

, but he remained at the University of Florida and did not play during the NFL season. He successfully urged Chicago management to trade him to the Cleveland Browns before the start of the season. Fleming was a close friend of another Browns defensive back,

Bernie Parrish Bernard Paul Parrish (April 29, 1936 – October 23, 2019) was an American college and professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) for eight seasons during the 1950s a ...

, a fellow Florida graduate, and the two were said to be almost inseparable during the NFL season. Over the following three years, Fleming played regularly at

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

intercepted 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 ...

ten passes, recovered four

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful ...

s, and made ''

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' All-NFL team in .Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Don Fleming
Retrieved June 23, 2010.

Accidental death and legacy

Fleming, his wife Rosalie and their son Ty lived in his hometown of Shadyside, Ohio, during football season, and in

Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 30,183 according to the 2022 census population estimate. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was fo ...

, during the NFL off-season.Associated Press,
Ex-UF Gridder Fleming Is Killed
" ''Daytona Beach Morning Journal'', p. 15 (June 5, 1963). Retrieved June 23, 2010. As a 25-year-old NFL All-Conference selection, Fleming was already planning for when his professional football career ended.Jimmy Mann,
Don Fleming: Real Pro
" ''St. Petersburg Times'', p. 1-C (June 5, 1963). Retrieved June 23, 2010. He had majored in building construction at the University of Florida, and had been working as a foreman for a Central Florida construction company during the off-season to stay in shape and gain industry experience. On June 4, 1963, Fleming and a co-worker, Walter Smith, were operating a crane on a construction site west of

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, when the boom of the crane brushed an overhead 12,000-volt high-tension electrical transmission line.United Press International,
Former Gator Star Is Killed
" ''St. Petersburg Times'', p. 1-C (June 5, 1963). Retrieved June 22, 2010. Fleming and Smith were

electrocuted Electrocution is death or severe injury caused by electric shock from electric current passing through the body. The word is derived from "electro" and "execution", but it is also used for accidental death. The term "electrocution" was coined ...

, and attempts to revive them at the hospital failed. Earlier the same day, the Browns had announced that Fleming had signed his contract for the 1963 season. His death came only 17 days after that of

Ernie Davis Ernest Davis (December 14, 1939 – May 18, 1963) was an American football player who won the Heisman Trophy in 1961 and was its first African-American recipient. Davis played college football for Syracuse University and was the first pick in the ...

, the overall No. 1 pick in the

1962 NFL Draft The 1962 National Football League draft was held on December 4, 1961 at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. The Washington Redskins used the first overall pick of the draft to select running back Ernie Davis, then subsequently traded him ...

, whom the Browns had acquired in a trade. The Browns retired both Davis' uniform number No. 45 and Fleming's No. 46 in memory of the players. Fleming Field at Shadyside High School, Fleming's alma mater, is named in his memory. When the Browns practiced at Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (Hiram College), the field house they used also carried Fleming's name. Fleming was nominated for the Florida Sports Hall of Fame within days of his death, and he was later inducted into the

University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame The University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame includes over 300 former Florida Gators athletes who represented the University of Florida in one or more intercollegiate sports and were recognized as "Gator Greats" for their athletic excellence ...

as a "Gator Great."F Club, Hall of Fame
Gator Greats
Retrieved December 14, 2014.

References

Bibliography

* Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). . * Carroll, Bob, et al., ''Total Football II'', HarperCollins, New York, New York (1999). . * Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). . * Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). . * McCarthy, Kevin M.,
Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football
', Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). . * McEwen, Tom, ''The Gators: A Story of Florida Football'', The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama (1974). . {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Don 1937 births 1963 deaths Accidental deaths by electrocution Accidental deaths in Florida American builders American football safeties Chicago Cardinals players Cleveland Browns players Florida Gators baseball players Florida Gators football players Industrial accident deaths People from Bellaire, Ohio National Football League players with retired numbers