R. V. Kerr

R. V. Kerr
Tennessee VolunteersNo. 2
Position Guard
Class Graduate
Major Literary
Career history
College Tennessee (19111914)
High school Savannah Institute
Personal information
Date of birth June 29, 1891
Place of birth Savannah, Tennessee
Date of death August 11, 1960 (aged 69)
Place of death Bossier City, Louisiana
Weight 180 lb (82 kg)
Career highlights and awards

Robert Vance "Mush" Kerr (June 29, 1891 August 11, 1960) was an All-Southern[1] college football guard on the SIAA champion 1914 Tennessee Volunteers football team, the first championship of any kind for the school. After college he was a prominent educator.

College football

Kerr anchored the line with captain Farmer Kelly on the SIAA champion 1914 Tennessee Volunteers football team. It was the first championship of any kind for the Tennessee program. Winning all nine of their games, the 1914 squad was only the second undefeated team in Tennessee history. The 1914 Vols were retroactively awarded a national championship by 1st-N-Goal, though this remains largely unrecognized.[2] One account of the Sewanee game reads "Mush Kerr played a wonderful game in the line as did Capt. Kelly. The work of the Tennessee line was easily the feature of the contest, and Sewanee early discovered that it was practically useless to rely on line plunges to gain ground."[3]

Educator

After completing his formal education, Kerr was coach and teacher of Mathematics and science at Amory, Mississippi. He resigned that position to join the teaching staff at Tennessee Polytechnic Institute at Cooksville.

References

  1. Spalding's Official Football Guide. NCAA. 1915.
  2. "Tennessee Total National Championships". College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
  3. "Sewanee Unable To Make Gains Through Heavy Tennessee Line". The University of Tennessee Record 18 (5): 68.

External links