Hargrove Van de Graaff
Alabama Crimson Tide
PositionEnd
ClassGraduate
Personal information
Born:(1893-09-07)September 7, 1893
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Died:January 2, 1938(1938-01-02) (aged 44)
Missouri
Weight146 lb (66 kg)
Career history
CollegeAlabama (1911–1913)
High schoolTuscaloosa
Career highlights and awards

Coleman Hargrove Van de Graaff (September 7, 1893 – January 2, 1938) was a college football player. He was an advocate for an airport in Tuscaloosa.[1]

Early years

Hargrove was born on September 7, 1893, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Circuit Judge Adrian Sebastain Van de Graaff Sr. and Minnie Cherokee Jemison Van de Graaff.[2]

He helped organize sports at Tuscaloosa High School with football, baseball, and track.[3]

College athletics

Hargrove was an All-Southern end for the Alabama Crimson Tide of the University of Alabama.[4] His brothers Adrian and William also played for Alabama. William, known as "Bully," was Alabama's first All-American. Hargrove was the smallest of the three.[5] Hargrove also played baseball and lettered in track. Robert J. Van de Graaff, the inventor of the Van de Graaff generator which produces high voltages, was another brother.

Following a hard-fought scoreless tie with Georgia Tech in 1911, coach John Heisman declared that he had never seen a player "so thoroughly imbued with the true spirit of football as Hargrove Van de Graaff."[2][5] In a game in 1913 against Tennessee, Hargrove nearly lost an ear and tried to rip it off to avoid leaving the game.[5][6][7]

Military

After graduation, Hargrove followed Adrian into the military.[2] He served in Mexico and in France in the First World War. Hargrove came back with the Croix de Guerre.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Coleman Hargrove van de Graaff, 1893-1938".
  2. 1 2 3 "Coleman Hargrove Van de Graaff, 1893-1938".
  3. ↑ "THS Claimed 1926 National Grid Title". The Tuscaloosa News. April 25, 1969.
  4. ↑ "Consolidated All-Southern Chosen by Ten Scribes; Eleven Like Innis Brown's". Atlanta Constitution. December 3, 1912. p. 10.
  5. 1 2 3 4 O. B. Keeler. "Hargrove Van De Graaff". The Tuscaloosa News.
  6. ↑ Beverly Crider (March 18, 2014). Legends and Lore of Birmingham and Central Alabama. History Press. p. 77. ISBN 9781625849274.
  7. ↑ "Article published in Tuscaloosa News Dec 12, 2004". bama.ua.edu. Archived from the original on September 3, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
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