Wild Bill Claiborne

W. S. Claiborne

Claiborne depicted c. 1900
Sewanee Tigers
Position Guard
Class Graduate
Career history
College Sewanee (18991900)
Personal information
Date of birth December 11, 1872
Place of birth Amherst County, Virginia
Date of death January 7, 1933 (aged 60)
Place of death Florida
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg)
Career highlights and awards

William Stirling "Wild Bill" Claiborne (December 11, 1872 January 7, 1933) was a college football player and reverend.

College football

Claiborne was a prominent guard for the Sewanee Tigers of Sewanee:The University of the South, a small Episcopal school in the mountains of Tennessee. He played on the 1899 "Iron Men" who won five road games in six days and all by shutout,[1] selected All-Southern.[2] Claiborne was blind in one eye, and used his discolored eye for purposes of intimidation on the field.[1][3][4] At Sewanee Claiborne studied theology.[1]

Religious work

He was a member of the Missionary Society.[1] He was called the "apostle of the mountain folk" for his work among Tennessee mountain people.[1] He founded the St. Andrew's School for Mountain Boys, refounded St. Mary's School, and established Emerald-Hogston Hospital.[1] Claiborne wrote a book titled Boy in the Mountains.[1][5]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Wendell Givens (2003). Ninety-Nine Iron: The Season Sewanee Won Five Games in Six Days. University of Alabama Press. pp. 32; 121.
  2. "An All-Southern College Eleven". Orange and Blue.
  3. Richard Scott. SEC Football: 75 Years of Pride and Passion. p. 22.
  4. Randy Horick. "A Winner's Tale".
  5. "The Literature of Missions". Forth 81: 721.