Wild Bill Claiborne
 Claiborne depicted c. 1900 | |
| Sewanee Tigers | |
|---|---|
| Position | Guard |
| Class | Graduate |
| Major | Theology |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | December 11, 1872 Geddis, Amherst County, Virginia |
| Died: | January 7, 1933 (aged 60) Florida, U.S. |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Weight | 190 lb (86 kg) |
| Career history | |
| College |
|
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
William Stirling "Wild Bill" Claiborne (December 11, 1879 – January 7, 1933) was a college football player and Episcopal archdeacon of Sewanee and East Tennessee. Before he was archdeacon, he was rector of Otey Memorial parish.[1][2]
College football
[edit]Claiborne attended Roanoke College from 1891 to 1897.[2]
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,[3] selected All-Southern.[4] Claiborne was blind in one eye, and used his discolored eye for purposes of intimidation on the field.[3][5][6] A documentary film about the team and Claiborne's role was released in 2022 called "Unrivaled: Sewanee 1899." [7] At Sewanee Claiborne studied theology[3] and was ordained priest in 1901.
Religious work
[edit]He was a member of the Missionary Society.[3] He was called the "apostle of the mountain folk" for his work among Tennessee mountain people.[3] He founded the St. Andrew's School for Mountain Boys, refounded St. Mary's School, founded the DuBose Memorial Training School,[8] and established Emerald-Hogston Hospital.[3] Claiborne wrote a book titled Roy in the Mountains.[3][9][10]
One description of his service in the ministry reads "eleven years ago he went into the mountains of East Tennessee and rolled up his sleeves. They are still up."[11]
References
[edit]- ^ "Message from the President" (PDF). Claiborne Society Newsletter (Fall 2015). Retrieved October 15, 2023.
- ^ a b The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography ... Current Volume. J. T. White. 1927.
- ^ a b c d e f g Wendell Givens (2003). Ninety-Nine Iron: The Season Sewanee Won Five Games in Six Days. University of Alabama Press. pp. 32, 121. ISBN 9780817350628.
- ^ "An All-Southern College Eleven". Orange and Blue.
- ^ Richard Scott (September 15, 2008). SEC Football: 75 Years of Pride and Passion. Voyageur Press. p. 22. ISBN 9781616731335.
- ^ Randy Horick. "A Winner's Tale".
- ^ "Unrivaled: Sewanee 1899", Wikipedia, January 23, 2023, retrieved January 31, 2023
- ^ Boddie, John Bennett (June 2009). Virginia Historical Genealogies. Genealogical Publishing Com. ISBN 978-0-8063-0042-9.
- ^ "The Literature of Missions". Forth. 81: 721. 1916.
- ^ Claiborne, William Stirling (1916). Roy in the Mountains. E.S. Gorham – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "The Literary Digest". Funk & Wagnalls. November 6, 2017 – via Google Books.