Herbert Hunt "Flash" Covington (October 16, 1902 – January 1, 1990), also called "the Mayfield Flash", 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 ...

player for the

Centre Praying Colonels Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky. It is an undergraduate college with an enrollment of approximately 1,400 students. Centre was officially chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819. The college is ...

Centre College Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky. It is an undergraduate college with an enrollment of approximately 1,400 students. Centre was officially chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819. The college is ...

in Danville, Kentucky.

Early years

Covington spent a year at Mayfield High and two at

Castle Heights Military Academy Castle Heights Military Academy was a private military academy in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States. It opened in 1902, became a military school in 1918, and closed in 1986. The Academy was founded in 1902 as Castle Heights School by David Mitche ...

Centre College

Football

Covington was a prominent running back for coaches

Charley Moran Charles Barthell Moran (February 22, 1878 – June 14, 1949), nicknamed "Uncle Charley", was an American sportsman who gained renown as both a catcher and umpire (baseball), umpire in Major League Baseball and as a college football, collegiate an ...

and Robert L. Myers's Centre Colonels from

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 ...

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

, chosen as a running back on Centre's all-time football team in 1935.

1921

Covington played at halfback during the 6–0 victory over Harvard.

Bo McMillin Alvin Nugent "Bo" McMillin (January 12, 1895 – March 31, 1952) was an American football player and coach at the collegiate and professional level. He played college football at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, where he was a three-tim ...

threw a touchdown to Covington in the

1922 Dixie Classic The 1922 Dixie Classic was a post-season college football bowl game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the on January 2, 1922, at Fair Park Stadium in Dallas, Texas. Texas A&M defeated Centre 22–14. It is also the game in which Texas A&M's 12th ...

which Centre lost to

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

1922

Taking over for McMillin at

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

the following season, Covington did not miss a minute of play over the next three years. He was selected All-Southern in 1922. That year Covington kicked a then record six straight drop-kicked

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

s in the victory over

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

. In a rematch with Harvard, a 24 to 10 loss, "Covington, the Centre quarterback, was responsible for most of the scoring in the game; he kicked Centre's goal from the field, and through Roberts's assistance, made Centre's touchdown; his errors led to the Harvard scores also." He was selected

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n in 1922 by

Billy Evans William George Evans (February 10, 1884 – January 23, 1956), nicknamed "The Boy Umpire", was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1906 to 1927. He became, at age 22, the youngest umpire in majo ...

and was on Norman E. Brown's second team. In 1924 he was selected as a third-team All-American by Davis J. Walsh of the

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

. Athletic trainer Alfred Doneghy said Covington was the best runner Centre ever had. An account of his six field goal record follows: "Herb Covington, who has shattered records galore this season through his ground gaining ability, established a world record today for field goals by drop kicks in a single game. Six times he booted the oval over the crossbar, three of them from the 30 yard mark and one from the 41 yard line. The others were from between the 30 and 40 yard marks. The record previously was held by B. W. Tafford,

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, and W. H. Eckersall,

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, jointly with five in a single game. Robertson of

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

made seven goals in a game with Rose Poly in 1900, but they were all from placement."

1924

Centre defeated

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 ...

14 to 7 and

Wallace Wade William Wallace Wade (June 15, 1892 – October 7, 1986) was an American football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the University of Alabama fro ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

and claims a Southern championship.

Marriage

He married Eleanor Blanche McCormick of

Senatobia, Mississippi Senatobia is a city in, and the county seat of, Tate County, Mississippi, United States, and is the 16th largest municipality in the Memphis Metropolitan Area. The population was 8,165 at the 2010 census. Senatobia is the home of Northwest Miss ...

, and was a realtor in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Coaching career

Covington was coach of the Hillsborough High School Terriers in

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

in 1925. Jimmy Steele was on the team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Covington, Herb American football quarterbacks Centre College people Centre Colonels baseball players Centre Colonels football players Sportspeople from Kentucky Players of American football from Kentucky People from Mayfield, Kentucky 1902 births All-Southern college football players American football halfbacks American football drop kickers 1990 deaths High school football coaches in Florida 20th-century American people