Tommy Spence

Tommy Spence
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Position Fullback
Class 1917
Career history
College Georgia Tech (1914–1916)
Personal information
Born: (1896-04-17)April 17, 1896
Thomasville, Georgia
Died: November 27, 1918(1918-11-27) (aged 22)
France
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight 168 lb (76 kg)
Career highlights and awards

Thomas Louis "Tommy" Spence (April 17, 1896 – November 27, 1918) was a college football player. Spence also played on the baseball, basketball, and track teams.[1]

Georgia Tech

Football

Spence was a prominent fullback for John Heisman's Georgia Tech Golden Tornado of the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1914 to 1916 . He was posthumously elected to the Georgia Tech Athletics Hall of Fame in 1976.[2]

1915

In 1915, near the end of the LSU game, he returned an interception 85 yards.[3] He made a 40-yard drop kick field goal against North Carolina.[4]

1916

Spence was a starter for the 1916 team which, as one writer wrote, "seemed to personify Heisman."[5] In Georgia Tech's record-setting 222-0 win over Cumberland College in 1916, Spence scored the second-most behind Everett Strupper when he netted five touchdowns.[6] He was selected All-Southern that season.[7] Walter Camp gave him honorable mention.

First World War

Spence was a casualty of the First World War.[8] He is the namesake of Spence Air Base.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Thomas Spence Killed In Airplane Accident". The Gazette Times. December 18, 1918.
  2. ↑ "Georgia Tech Athletics Hall of Fame".
  3. ↑ "Georgia Techs Walloped Tigers of Louisiana". The Charlotte News. October 24, 1915. p. 10. Retrieved May 4, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Possessing No Offense and a Weak Defense, Carolina Proved Easy For The Jackets". Charlotte News. October 31, 1915. p. 12. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
  5. ↑ Heisman, John M. (2012-10-02). Heisman: The Man Behind the Trophy. p. 144. ISBN 9781451682915.
  6. ↑ "A Monumental Victory". October 6, 2006.
  7. ↑ Intercollegiate Athletic Calendar. 1. 1917. p. 167.
  8. ↑ Wiley Lee Umphlett (1992). Creating the Big Game: John W. Heisman and the Invention of American Football. p. 141. ISBN 9780313284045.
  9. ↑ "Spence Air Base".
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