 Sharp circa 1922 | |
| No. 3 | |
|---|---|
| Position | Center |
| Personal information | |
| Born | (1902-02-06)February 6, 1902 Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | November 1981 Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Listed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Listed weight | 180 lb (82 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Hume Fogg |
| College | Vanderbilt (1920–1923) |
| Awards and highlights | |
| |
Alfred D. Sharp (February 6, 1902 – November 1981) was an Americanfootball player for theVanderbilt Commodores ofVanderbilt University.
Sharp was born inNashville on February 6, 1902, to Vernon Hibbett Sharp and Lorene Seleney Dandridge. Sharp attended Hume Fogg High. His younger brotherVernon Sharp was also a Vanderbilt football player, selectedAll-Southern in 1927.
AtVanderbilt University, Sharp was a member of theDelta Tau Delta fraternity.[1] In an interview by Edwin Thomas Wood ofRobert Penn Warren, Warren spoke of Sharp:[2]
Warren: When I was there [at Vanderbilt] we had some fine teams. There was Alf Sharp—he was anAll-Southern center at one time. He looked like a badly formedpirate; he was really a menacing looking man. He was two years ahead of me, and then I taught his younger brother [Walter Sharp, who later taught at Vanderbilt. He was instrumental in founding the Department of Fine Arts, of which he was Chairman from 1955 to 1960] when I came back to Vanderbilt in the thirties. And his younger brother came up one day and said, "You're not going to believe this, but I have documentation: my big brother was writingpoems secretly the whole time he was here" So I saw the poems years later when the younger brother betrayed him.
Wood: Any good?
Warren: Well, as a matter of fact, they were skillful. They were close imitations ofHousman. Very skillfully done, totally unoriginal. But the man had this need, hidden under that murderous exterior, to write poems.
Sharp was a prominent member ofDan McGugin'sVanderbilt Commodores from1920 to1923 as acenter on teams which won three straight conference titles.
In a 42 to 0 victory overMercer in1921, Sharp recovered a Vanderbilt fumble in the endzone.[3] He was ejected for slugging the following week againstKentucky.[4]
He was a starter forthe scoreless tie with theMichigan Wolverines at the dedication ofDudley Field in1922.[5] Sharp was expected to start the game on the sidelines due to a hurt shoulder.[6] During that game, "Thousands of cheering Vanderbilt fans inspired the surge of center Alf Sharp, guardGus Morrow, tackleTex Bradford, and endLynn Bomar, who stopped Michigan cold in four attempts."[7] Sharp netted aninterception the next week in a 20 to 10 victory over theTexas Longhorns.[8]
Sharp recovered a fumble in the endzone in a 17 to 0 victory overTulane.[9] He was cited along withLynn Bomar andBob Rives for holding theTennessee Volunteers to only 7 in a 51 to 7 romp.[10] Sharp intercepted a pass off the receiver's finger tips during the 35 to 7 victory overGeorgia, of whichMorgan Blake, sportswriter in theAtlanta Journal, wrote "No southern team has given the Georgia Bulldogs such a licking in a decade."[11]
"Vandy's Eleven Tears Loose In Second Quarter".The Macon Daily Telegraph. October 9, 1921.