Tommy Spence

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

Tommy Spence
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
PositionFullback
Class1917
Personal information
Born:(1896-04-17)April 17, 1896
Thomasville, Georgia, U.S.
Died:November 27, 1918(1918-11-27) (aged 22)
France
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight168 lb (76 kg)
Career history
CollegeGeorgia Tech (1914–1916)
Career highlights and awards

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.

World War I

Spence was a casualty of the World War I.[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. open access
  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. open access
  5. Heisman, John M. (2012-10-02). Heisman: The Man Behind the Trophy. Simon and Schuster. pp. 144. ISBN 9781451682915.
  6. "A Monumental Victory". October 6, 2006.
  7. Intercollegiate Athletic Calendar. Vol. 1. 1917. p. 167.
  8. Wiley Lee Umphlett (1992). Creating the Big Game: John W. Heisman and the Invention of American Football. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 141. ISBN 9780313284045.
  9. "Spence Air Base". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-11-27.
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