Ashley Wakefield "Rammy" Ramsdell (November 6, 1894 – April 14, 1977) was a

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 ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

player and

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

athlete for the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as t ...

of 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 ...

. Ramsdell's athletic career was prematurely ended when he broke his leg playing baseball at the end of his junior year. He was the first scholarship athlete at the

. According to one writer "the Gators' first

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 ...

of note," he is the oldest player at the position in 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 ...

, inducted in 1971. He was picked for an all-time Florida team at the position in 1927.

Early years

Ashley Wakefield Ramsdell was born on November 6, 1894 in

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

. He attended Hillsborough High School 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 ...

, class of 1913. Future Gator teammate

Rex Farrior Jewel Rex Farrior Sr. (October 5, 1896 – January 17, 1993) was an American college football and baseball player and coach for the Florida Gators of the University of Florida, as well as a lawyer. He became a founding partner in a prominent Tam ...

also attended. As an

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: ** End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron footbal ...

on the football team, Ramsdell dropped a pass to tie the state championship game. The basketball team however did win a state title. Ramsdell is in the school's hall of fame.

University of Florida

Ramsdell attended the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played several sports for the

. Ramsdell was the starting

for two seasons on the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

, a

centerfielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ce ...

on the

baseball team 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 te ...

, and a member of Florida's first

squad. Ramsdell began his collegiate athletic career on Florida's freshman football team, when he was taught the quarterback position by coach and former Gator quarterback Bob Shackleford. Then he played for coaches George E. Pyle and

C. J. McCoy Charles James McCoy was an American college football and basketball coach. McCoy was the third head coach of the Florida Gators football team and the first head coach of the Florida Gators men's basketball team that represent the University of F ...

on the varsity

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

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

. The highlight of his football career was a 60-yard

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

run in the rain to defeat

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

in 1915. Ramsdell also scored four touchdowns in the game with

Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader, ...

that year. While running the bases during a baseball game against

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

in 1915, Ramsdell accidentally stepped on the foot of first baseman George Steed and got his spikes caught in Steed's laces, which resulted in Ramsdell breaking his left leg with "a loud cracking noise". The serious injury ended Ramsdell's collegiate athletic career. Without their projected starting quarterback, the Gator football team went 0–5 and did not score a touchdown during the subsequent 1916 season.

Later life

Ramsdell married Geneva E. Mosley on June 2, 1917. Their daughter Jean was a Tampa philanthropist. Ramsdell's

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

registration says he is a schoolteacher in Tampa."United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K356-FT6 : December 12, 2014), Ashley Wakefield Ramsdell, 1917-1918; citing Tampa City no 1, Florida, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,556,894. He later settled in Plant City and owned a trucking company. After a stroke in 1950, he sold the business.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsdell, Rammy 1894 births 1977 deaths American football quarterbacks Florida Gators football players Florida Gators baseball players Florida Gators men's basketball players Sportspeople from Ocala, Florida People from Plant City, Florida Players of American football from Tampa, Florida Baseball players from Tampa, Florida American men's basketball players

Early years

University of Florida

Later life

See also

References

External links