Stanley Allen Fritts (born September 18, 1952) is a former professional

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 who played

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

for two seasons for the Cincinnati Bengals. He played college football at North Carolina State University.

Early years

Fritts attended Oak Ridge High School. He accepted a football scholarship from North Carolina State University. As a sophomore in 1972, when Lou Holtz arrived as the new head coach at North Carolina State University, he implemented split-back veer offense to take advantage of the talent at

, that included Fritts,

Willie Burden Willie Burden (July 21, 1951 – December 4, 2015) was a professional Canadian football player with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, who subsequently became an academic and sports administrator. He was made a member of the C ...

, Charley Young and

Roland Hooks Roland L. Hooks (born January 2, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York) is a former American football running back in the NFL who played for the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at North Carolina State University. Early years Hooks attended Fa ...

. At the time, this was arguably the best group of

s in the nation, they were known as "The Four Stallions" and everyone of them went on to play in a professional football league. He led the team with 145 carries for 689 yards (4.8-yard avg.) and 16 rushing touchdowns. As a junior in 1973, he was part of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship team as a halfback. He was second on the team behind Burden, with 114 carries for 661 yards (5.8-yard avg.) and 7 rushing touchdowns. As a senior in 1974, he led the team with 245 carries for 1,169 yards (4.8-yard avg.) and 12 rushing touchdowns. He finished his college career with 534 carries for 2,542 yards (4.8-yard avg.) and 41 rushing touchdowns. He passed Burden as the 7th ranked rusher in Wolfpack history.

Professional career

Fritts was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 4th round (97th overall) of the

1975 NFL Draft The 1975 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1975, at the New York Hilton at Rockefeller Center in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Atlanta Falcons selected quarterback Steve Bartkows ...

. He appeared in 26 games with 9 starts.

Personal life

He currently resides in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fritts, Stan 1952 births Living people American football running backs Cincinnati Bengals players NC State Wolfpack football players People from Oak Ridge, Tennessee Sportspeople from the Knoxville metropolitan area Players of American football from Tennessee