Frederick Hartley Graham (December 11, 1900 – August 29, 1952) 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. He played professionally 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) in 1926 with the

Providence Steam Roller The Providence Steam Rollers (also referred to as the Providence Steam Roller, the Providence Steamroller and the Providence Steamrollers) were a professional American football team based in Providence, Rhode Island in the National Football Leagu ...

and the

Frankford Yellow Jackets The Frankford Yellow Jackets were a professional American football team, part of the National Football League from 1924 to 1931, although its origin dates back to as early as 1899 with the Frankford Athletic Association. The Yellow Jackets won ...

. Prior to joining the NFL, Graham attended and 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 ...

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

. At West Virginia, Graham excelled in football and

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 ...

from 1921 to 1925 and earned first-team All-American honors in basketball in 1924. He also earned four

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

in football as an end and served as the team's captain in 1924. He was a member of West Virginia's only undefeated football team, which posted a 10–0–1 record in 1922. Graham also helped West Virginia collect its first

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

victory, a 21–13 decision over Gonzaga in the 1922

San Diego East-West Christmas Classic The San Diego East-West Christmas Classic was an annual series of two post-season college American football bowl games played at Balboa Stadium in San Diego, California, in 1921 and 1922.Foldesy, Jody. "Bowls burgeon as big business", ''The Washingt ...

. During his Mountaineer career, WVU posted a 30–6–3 record. On May 25, 2009, Graham was inducted into the WVU Athletics Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Fred 1900 births 1952 deaths American football ends Frankford Yellow Jackets players Indiana State Sycamores football players Providence Steam Roller players West Virginia Mountaineers football players West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball players Sportspeople from Morgantown, West Virginia People from Preston County, West Virginia Basketball players from West Virginia Players of American football from West Virginia American men's basketball players