Irby Curry
Encyclopedia
Irby Rice "Rabbit" Curry (August 4, 1894 – August 10, 1918) was an American football
quarterback
for Vanderbilt University
from 1914 to 1916. He was selected as a first-team All-Southern player in 1915 and 1916 and a third-team All-American in 1916. In August 1918, while serving as a pilot in the 95th Aero Squadron during World War I, he was killed in aerial combat over France.
to his parents, Oscar E. Curry (1869–1964) and Emma C. (Fannin) Curry (1872–1963). He attended Marlin High School, where he was a stand-out athlete. In 1912, he was the Texas state champion in the pole vault as a junior with a then-record 10' 4" (3.14 m), and in 1913, he was on the Texas state champion mile-relay team with a then-state record 3:49.
where he became the quarterback
for the school's football team
from 1914 to 1916. Curry weighed only 130 pounds while playing football for Vanderbilt. He was an elusive runner who reportedly "only needed the suspicion of an opening to wriggle through, and once into the open — zip, flash and a touchdown."
In Vanderbilt's 1915 game against Mississippi
, the team traveled by train from Nashville
to Memphis, Tennessee
, where the game was to be played. The players complained about the lack of food on the train, and the team's manager picked three or four hatfuls of green apples from an orchard near the tracks. The manager later recalled that Curry ate many of the green apples and proceeded to score six touchdowns and kick eight goals after touchdown against Ole Miss. The final score was 91-0.
Vanderbilt's final game of the 1915 season was a Thanksgiving Day game against Sewanee. Vanderbilt won 27–3, as Curry scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns and kicked three goals from touchdown, leading The Atlanta Constitution to write:
At the end of the 1915 season, Curry was selected as a first-team All-Southern back by all ten Southern sporting writers in a composite poll published by The Atlanta Constitution.
, and the Associated Press reported that "Virginia was unable to stop the fleet-footed 'Rabbit' Curry", whose "spectacular open field running was the feature of the game." Curry had runs of 61, 40 and 11 yards against Virginia, scored a touchdown and kicked three goals from touchdown.
At the end of the 1916 season, Curry was selected as an All-Southern quarterback and as a third-team All-American by Walter Camp
for Collier's Weekly
.
as a pilot, attaining the rank of First Lieutenant
. On August 10, 1918, while on protection patrol, he was killed in an aerial combat over Perles, France
.
Curry was survived by his wife, Dimple Jenna Rush. Curry's remains were initially buried at Atz, France, but were subsequently removed to a military cemetery at Château-Thierry
. In August 1921, Curry's remains were removed and reburied in a cemetery in his hometown of Marlin, Texas
. Floral tributes, telegrams and tributes from hundreds of Vanderbilt alumni, athletes and officials were sent to the funeral.
had three photographs displayed over his desk. The three pictures were of Abraham Lincoln
, Robert E. Lee
and Curry. When McGugin took the Vanderbilt team on the road against Texas
in 1922, he took the team to Curry's grave in Marlin, Texas before the game. Before the team ran onto the field against Texas, McGugin told them: "They are betting Texas will beat you 20 to 0, they say you are a bunch of cowards. 'Rabbitt' Curry, whose father is sitting here with you, is looking down on you from his Eternal Home." Vanderbilt won the game 20–0.
In 1930, a newspaper account reported on the special place that Curry maintained in McGugin's memory:
In 1922, after Vanderbilt moved into its new football stadium Dudley Field, now known as Vanderbilt Stadium
, the old football ground at the corner of West End Avenue and 21st Avenue South in Nashville (Old Dudley Field), was renamed Curry Field in honor of Curry. An open space called "Curry Field" still exists on the site on the Vanderbilt University
campus.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
for Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
from 1914 to 1916. He was selected as a first-team All-Southern player in 1915 and 1916 and a third-team All-American in 1916. In August 1918, while serving as a pilot in the 95th Aero Squadron during World War I, he was killed in aerial combat over France.
Early years
Curry was born on August 4, 1894 in Marlin, TexasMarlin, Texas
Marlin is a city in Falls County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,628 at the 2000 census, but decreased to 5,967 by 2010. It is also the county seat of Falls County, and has been so since 1851...
to his parents, Oscar E. Curry (1869–1964) and Emma C. (Fannin) Curry (1872–1963). He attended Marlin High School, where he was a stand-out athlete. In 1912, he was the Texas state champion in the pole vault as a junior with a then-record 10' 4" (3.14 m), and in 1913, he was on the Texas state champion mile-relay team with a then-state record 3:49.
Vanderbilt
After graduating from high school, Curry enrolled at Vanderbilt UniversityVanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
where he became the quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
for the school's football team
Vanderbilt Commodores football
The Vanderbilt Commodores football program is a college football team that represents Vanderbilt University. The team currently competes in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Southeastern Conference...
from 1914 to 1916. Curry weighed only 130 pounds while playing football for Vanderbilt. He was an elusive runner who reportedly "only needed the suspicion of an opening to wriggle through, and once into the open — zip, flash and a touchdown."
1915 football team
As a junior in 1915, Curry led Vanderbilt to a record-setting season in which they scored 514 points in 510 minutes of actual playing time, "ranking them as a legitimate 'point-a-minute' team." They finished 9–1–0. Following an 85-yard touchdown run in Vanderbilt's one loss, The Washington Post wrote that the "little Curry" was "quick as a flash" and "Vanderbilt's bright star."In Vanderbilt's 1915 game against Mississippi
Ole Miss Rebels football
The football history of the University of Mississippi , includes the formation of the first football team in the state and is 26th on the list of college football's all-time winning programs...
, the team traveled by train from Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
to Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, where the game was to be played. The players complained about the lack of food on the train, and the team's manager picked three or four hatfuls of green apples from an orchard near the tracks. The manager later recalled that Curry ate many of the green apples and proceeded to score six touchdowns and kick eight goals after touchdown against Ole Miss. The final score was 91-0.
Vanderbilt's final game of the 1915 season was a Thanksgiving Day game against Sewanee. Vanderbilt won 27–3, as Curry scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns and kicked three goals from touchdown, leading The Atlanta Constitution to write:
"Curry was the star of the game, and proved a marvel at advancing the ball. Near the end of the last quarter, when Clark punted, Curry received the ball on his own 20-yard line and ran 80 yards for a touchdown. Another time he ran 34 yards for a touchdown. Time after time Curry made 10, 15 and 20 yard gains, and his work was largely responsible for Vanderbilt's victory."
At the end of the 1915 season, Curry was selected as a first-team All-Southern back by all ten Southern sporting writers in a composite poll published by The Atlanta Constitution.
1916 football team
In December 1915, Curry's teammates elected him captain of the 1916 Vanderbilt football team. During the 1916 football season, Curry led Vanderbilt to a 7–1–1 record. In October 1916, Curry led Vanderbilt to its first-ever victory over VirginiaVirginia Cavaliers football
Virginia Cavaliers football is a college football program that competes in the NCAA Division I-FBS and the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference...
, and the Associated Press reported that "Virginia was unable to stop the fleet-footed 'Rabbit' Curry", whose "spectacular open field running was the feature of the game." Curry had runs of 61, 40 and 11 yards against Virginia, scored a touchdown and kicked three goals from touchdown.
At the end of the 1916 season, Curry was selected as an All-Southern quarterback and as a third-team All-American by Walter Camp
Walter Camp
Walter Chauncey Camp was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". With John Heisman, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pop Warner, Fielding H. Yost, and George Halas, Camp was one of the most accomplished persons in the early history of American football...
for Collier's Weekly
Collier's Weekly
Collier's Weekly was an American magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957. With the passage of decades, the title was shortened to Collier's....
.
World War I
Curry would have graduated with Vanderbilt's Class of 1918, but he enlisted in the military when the United States entered World War I in 1917. Curry joined the 95th Aero Squadron in the village of SaintsSaints, Seine-et-Marne
Saints is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.-History:Saints appears on early maps as Sanz. It is an agricultural village perched above the Petit Aubetin River....
as a pilot, attaining the rank of First Lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
. On August 10, 1918, while on protection patrol, he was killed in an aerial combat over Perles, France
Perles, Aisne
Perles is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France....
.
Curry was survived by his wife, Dimple Jenna Rush. Curry's remains were initially buried at Atz, France, but were subsequently removed to a military cemetery at Château-Thierry
Château-Thierry
Château-Thierry is a commune in northern France about east-northeast of Paris. It is a sub-prefecture of the Aisne department in Picardy.-History:...
. In August 1921, Curry's remains were removed and reburied in a cemetery in his hometown of Marlin, Texas
Marlin, Texas
Marlin is a city in Falls County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,628 at the 2000 census, but decreased to 5,967 by 2010. It is also the county seat of Falls County, and has been so since 1851...
. Floral tributes, telegrams and tributes from hundreds of Vanderbilt alumni, athletes and officials were sent to the funeral.
Posthumous honors
For many years after Curry's death, Vanderbilt's football coach Dan McGuginDan McGugin
Daniel Earle McGugin was an American football player, coach, and lawyer. He served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee from 1904 to 1917 and again from 1919 to 1934, compiling a record of 197–55–19. He played college football at the University...
had three photographs displayed over his desk. The three pictures were of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
and Curry. When McGugin took the Vanderbilt team on the road against Texas
Texas Longhorns football
The Texas Longhorns football program is the intercollegiate football team representing The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas. The team currently competes in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big 12 Conference which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision of the National...
in 1922, he took the team to Curry's grave in Marlin, Texas before the game. Before the team ran onto the field against Texas, McGugin told them: "They are betting Texas will beat you 20 to 0, they say you are a bunch of cowards. 'Rabbitt' Curry, whose father is sitting here with you, is looking down on you from his Eternal Home." Vanderbilt won the game 20–0.
In 1930, a newspaper account reported on the special place that Curry maintained in McGugin's memory:
"Uncle Dan may have had better players than Curry, but the Rabbit somehow wound himself more closely into the affections of the old master than any other Black and Gold athlete. It was one of those reciprocal admirations of a big man for a little man. Dan, husky old-time guard of a generation ago, marveled at the ball-carrying ability of the 130-pound Curry, and Curry had nothing but worship for the famous coach."
In 1922, after Vanderbilt moved into its new football stadium Dudley Field, now known as Vanderbilt Stadium
Vanderbilt Stadium
Vanderbilt Stadium at Dudley Field is a football stadium located in Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1922 as the first stadium in the South to be used exclusively for college football, it is the home of the Vanderbilt University football team...
, the old football ground at the corner of West End Avenue and 21st Avenue South in Nashville (Old Dudley Field), was renamed Curry Field in honor of Curry. An open space called "Curry Field" still exists on the site on the Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
campus.