Christie Jean Baptiste "Kit" DeCamps (1878 – 24 August 1951) was a war veteran, civil engineer and

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 ...

player who played for the

Virginia Tech Hokies The Virginia Tech Hokies are the athletic teams representing the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in intercollegiate athletics. The Hokies participate in the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference in 22 va ...

football team of the

Virginia Polytechnic Institute Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

Early life

DeCamps was born in 1878 in

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...

, the son of Ghislain Modeste Decamps (1834–1896) and Mary E. Hahn (1854–1947).Family Search
Retrieved 6 May 2015

Football career

DeCamps was a prominent

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 ...

for the

Virginia Tech Hokies football The Virginia Tech Hokies football team represents Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the sport of American football. The Hokies compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

team of the

. He was considered very fast. He also spent three years at

Furman University Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 and named for the clergyman Richard Furman, Furman University is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It became ...

and a year at Richmond College.

1901

DeCamps was

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

1901 Events January * January 1 – The Crown colony, British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and Western Australia Federation of Australia, federate as the Australia, ...

. He was selected a substitute on the All-Southern team.

Military career

DeCamps was a quartermaster sergeant of Company B, second South Carolina regiment. DeCamps served in the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

Family

On November 23, 1907, DeCamps married Lois Catherine Sykes (1881–1924), daughter of Tiberius Constantine Sykes and Alice E. Luke, in

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...

. They had three children. * Captain William Luke deCamps (July 6, 1911 – May 12, 1991), served in the

111th Field Artillery battalion The 111th Field Artillery Battalion was an artillery battalion of the United States Army, part of the 29th Infantry Division. The battalion fought in Operation Overlord. History Origins The 111th Field Artillery Battalion was a unit of the Unit ...

of the 29th Infantry Division during

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...

.DDay Overlord.com
Retrieved May 2015 * Lois Sykes Decamps (1912–1991), married the diplomat George H. Steuart on May 28, 1938 in Wallacetown, Virginia * Charles Decamps (1914–1991), who served in Italy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

DeCamps died on August 24, 1951.

References

External links

Kit DeCamps in Spanish–American War
Retrieved 13 February 2019
Kit CeCamps in the 1901 Edition of The Bugle
Retrieved 3 August 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:DeCamps, Kit 1878 births 1951 deaths 19th-century players of American football American football quarterbacks Virginia Tech Hokies football players American military personnel of the Spanish–American War People from Anderson, South Carolina Players of American football from South Carolina