1926–1927 Vanderbilt Position(s) Center | 1936 Vanderbilt (freshmen) Name Vernon Sharpe | |
Born November 30, 1906
Nashville, Tennessee ( 1906-11-30 ) Died April 5, 1991(1991-04-05) (aged 84)
Brentwood, Tennessee | ||
Vernon Hibbett Sharpe, Jr. (November 30, 1906 – April 5, 1991) was a college football player and coach.
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Early years
Vernon Sharpe, Jr. was born in Nashville on November 30, 1906 to Vernon Hibbett Sharpe and Lorene Seleney Dandridge. His older brother Alf Sharpe was also a Vanderbilt center.
Vanderbilt University
He was a prominent center for Dan McGugin's Vanderbilt Commodores of Vanderbilt University. He was in the same class as the quarterback to whom he snapped the ball, College Football Hall of Fame member Bill Spears.
1927
Sharpe was captain of the 1927 team, which included the nation's leading scorer in running back Jimmy Armistead. Sharpe received the second most All-Southern votes of any center, behind Elvin Butcher of Tennessee. Sharpe arguably had the better season, but was seen as having been outperformed by Butcher in the Vanderbilt–Tennessee game. Sharpe was suffering from a knee injury at the time, including the week before against Georgia Tech and Peter Pund. He was called by coach McGugin the greatest Vandy center since Stein Stone.
Coaching career
In 1936, he coached Vanderbilt's freshmen team.