Fred Brooker "Whitey" Rawl (December 9, 1904 – August 12, 1980) was a college football player and coach. He also played basketball, baseball and track. He was a prominent quarterback for coach Billy Laval's Furman Purple Hurricane of Furman University,[1] called the "siege gun" of the Furman backfield;[2] leading Furman to a 23–5–1 record over his tenure. The 1927 team won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association and was the only team to defeat NC State.[3] In a defeat over The Citadel, Rawl ran 56 yards for the game's only touchdown.[4] He also starred in a victory over Mercer.[5] Rawl was later a backfield coach under Laval for the South Carolina Gamecocks.[6]
Rawl told The Columbia Record in 1961 that opponents thought "Laval was either cheating or crazy... Nobody ever seemed to figure out which, but we beat 'em."[7] Rawl was inducted into the Furman Athletics Hall of Fame in 1982.[8]
References
- ^ "Writer Recalls Golden Moments". The Sumter Daily Item. September 1, 1966.
- ^ "Furman Trims Miami Eleven". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. January 3, 1928.
- ^ "Backfield Quartet Purple Hurricane Furman University". The Index-Journal. October 30, 1927. p. 6. Retrieved September 5, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Fuzzy Woodruff (1928). A History of Southern Football, 1890-1928. p. 186.
- ^ Robert E. Wilder (2011). Gridiron Glory Days: Football at Mercer, 1892-1942. ISBN 9780881462678.
- ^ "The Gamecock - University of South Carolina". sc-newspapers.sc.edu. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016.
- ^ Morris: Laval knew how to win, no matter the sport, The State, November 15, 2009.
- ^ "Furman". Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2015.