:''This is an article about the college football coach. For the baseball player, see

Red Roberts :''This is an article about the baseball player. For the college football coach, see Red Roberts (American football).'' Charles Emory "Red" Roberts (August 8, 1918 – December 2, 1998) was a Major League Baseball player. Roberts played for ...

.'' James Madison "Red" Roberts (August 23, 1900 – June 27, 1945) 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 wi ...

player and coach. He played football 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 ...

in Danville, Kentucky. Roberts was thrice selected All-Southern, and a unanimous choice for the ''Associated Press'' Southeast Area All-Time football team 1869-1919 era. After college Roberts, played in the early

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 the

Toledo Maroons The Toledo Maroons were a professional American football team based in Toledo, Ohio in the National Football League in 1922 and 1923. Prior to joining the NFL, the Maroons played in the unofficial "Ohio League" from 1902 until 1921. History Or ...

and the Akron Pros. He also played in the first American Football League for the

Cleveland Panthers The Cleveland Panthers were a professional American football team. They were an independent team founded in 1919 from the remains of the Youngstown Patricians. The Panthers played, with various degrees of success, continuously from 1919 and event ...

. Roberts served as the head football coach at Waynesburg College—now known as

Waynesburg University Waynesburg University is a private university in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. It was established in 1850 and offers undergraduate and graduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. The university enrolls over 2,500 students, including ...

—in

Waynesburg, Pennsylvania Waynesburg is a borough in and the county seat of Greene County, Pennsylvania, United States, located about south of Pittsburgh. Its population was 3,987 at the 2020 census. The region around Waynesburg is underlaid with several layers of co ...

for one season, in 1923. He later made a run for the office of

Governor of Kentucky The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-e ...

as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

in 1931, losing in the primary to

Ruby Laffoon Ruby Laffoon (January 15, 1869March 1, 1941) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Kentucky from 1931 to 1935. A Kentucky native, at age 17 Laffoon moved to Washington, D.C., to live with his uncle, U.S. Rep ...

who went on to win the election.

Playing career

Roberts entered Centre in 1918, and was the most prominent

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

native on the 9–0 1919 team and the 1921 team which upset Harvard. Roberts once saved Roscoe Brumfield, the Centre College mascot, after someone pushed him into the lake and he could not swim and went down the second time. Roberts played fullback and

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 ...

for the

Centre Colonels football The Centre Colonels football team, historically also known as the Praying Colonels, represents Centre College in NCAA Division III competition. The Colonels currently play in the Southern Athletic Association (SAA), which was established in 201 ...

team along with such teammates as Norris Armstrong,

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 ...

Red Weaver Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

, Sully Montgomery, and

Matty Bell William Madison "Matty" Bell (February 22, 1899 – June 30, 1983) was an American football player, coach of football and basketball, and college athletics administrator. He played for Centre, captain of its 1918 team. He served as the head footbal ...

. Roberts was chosen as end on Centre's all-time football team chosen in 1935. He was 6'2" and 235 pounds. Texans McMillin and Weaver happened to meet up with Roberts at Somerset High, and came to Centre due to boosters, meeting up with a slew of former Texas hands in coach Robert L. Myers and players Matty Bell, Sully Montgomery, Bill James, and Bob Mathias. The team posted a 7–1 record in

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Fo ...

, ostensibly so good that Myers needed a better coach and hired

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 in Major League Baseball and as a collegiate and professional American football coa ...

1921

McMillin scored the one 32-yard touchdown of the Harvard game, but the interference was furnished by Roberts. After a scoreless half and early in the third quarter, Roberts told McMillin "it's time to score, ride my hump", and McMillin rushed for the lone touchdown of the game." He also scored the first touchdown in the 35 to 14 loss to Harvard the previous year. Roberts was selected by

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

as a first team All-American at the end of the regular season and became the fifth first-team player designated by Camp, joining teammates "Bo" McMillin and Red Weaver, who were picked in prior years. Roberts received Camp's honorable mention in 1922. Roberts gave his blood to save his sister.

Coaching career

Roberts was the head football coach at Waynesburg College—now known as

—in

for the 1923 season. His coaching record at Waynesburg was 3–4–1.

Death

Roberts died on June 27, 1945 from burns suffered when a fire broke out on the third floor of the Cumberland Hotel in

Middlesboro, Kentucky Middlesboro ()Rennick, Robert. ''Kentucky Place Names'', University Press of Kentucky (Lexington), 1987p. 196 Accessed 26 August 2013. is a home rule-class city in Bell County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 10,334 at the 2010 U.S ...

, where he was the manager. Mrs. Anny Teapa Roberts, a native of

Vienna, Austria en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, whom he married the previous April, also badly burned, said she had fallen asleep in the bedroom while her husband was talking with a guest in the living room of their suite. Roberts apparently fell asleep on the living room couch after his guest had left, she said, and neither she nor Roberts awakened until fire flashed out in the living room. Roberts' wife said the flash seemed to come from an electrical fixture in the room. She said she ran into the room to bring Roberts out but he was badly burned by the time she reached him.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Red 1900 births 1945 deaths American football ends American football fullbacks American football guards American football tackles Akron Pros players Centre Colonels football players Cleveland Panthers players Toledo Maroons players Waynesburg Yellow Jackets football coaches All-American college football players All-Southern college football players Kentucky Democrats People from Somerset, Kentucky Coaches of American football from Kentucky Players of American football from Kentucky Deaths from fire in the United States Accidental deaths in Kentucky