Boozer_Pitts
Boozer Pitts
American football player and coach (1893–1971)
John Emmett "Boozer" Pitts Sr. (November 25, 1893 – February 10, 1971)[1] was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Auburn University from 1923 to 1924 and again for the final seven games of the 1927 season, compiling a career record of 7–11–6. He was also a professor of mathematics at Auburn in the 1930s.
Pitts pictured in The 1925 Glomerata, Auburn yearbook | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1893-11-25)November 25, 1893 Pittsview, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | February 10, 1971(1971-02-10) (aged 77) Auburn, Alabama, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1913–1914 | Auburn |
| Position(s) | Center |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1919–1922 | Auburn (assistant) |
| 1923–1924 | Auburn |
| 1925–1927 | Auburn (assistant) |
| 1927 | Auburn |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 7–11–6 |
A native of Pittsview, Alabama, Pitts was a prominent center for coach Mike Donahue's Auburn Tigers football team in 1913 and 1914. He entered Auburn at the age of 15, having only read about football.[2] Pitts was selected All-Southern and was a member of an All-time Auburn Tigers football team selected in 1935,[3] as well as coach Donahue's all-time Auburn team.[4] One writer claims "Auburn had a lot of great football teams, but there may not have been one greater than the 1913–1914 team."[5] Pitts weighed some 190 pounds.
Pitts later served as a colonel in the United States Army during World War II. In late 1958, he had his larynx removed during surgery for cancer.[6] One of his sons, John E. Pitts, Jr. was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force.[6][7]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auburn Tigers (Southern Conference) (1923–1924) | |||||||||
| 1923 | Auburn | 3–3–3 | 0–1–3 | 14th | |||||
| 1924 | Auburn | 4–4–1 | 2–4–1 | 17th | |||||
| Auburn Tigers (Southern Conference) (1927) | |||||||||
| 1927 | Auburn | 0–4–2[n 1] | 0–4–1[n 1] | 22nd[n 1] | |||||
| Auburn: | 7–11–6 | 2–9–5 | |||||||
| Total: | 7–11–6 | ||||||||
- Pitts, John E. (1968). Thoughts of a Man Called Boozer. Carlton Press.
- Dave Morey coached the first three games of the season.
- Thomas, B.W. (2003). Baron Christopher de Graffenried V: his ancestors and his descendants, 1191 to 2001. Willo Pub. Co. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
- M. J. Donahue (December 14, 1914). "Mike Donahue Praises Departing Stars". The Tennessean. p. 9. Retrieved October 20, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Tulane University Football Program-The Greenie; Auburn vs. Tulane". Archived from the original on December 23, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- "Mike Donahue Names All-Time Auburn Football Team". The Tuscaloosa News. January 10, 1933.
- Ethan Brady. "Auburn's 1913 Undefeated Team" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-01. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
- "He Can't Talk Or Eat Food, But 'Boozer' Writes Poems", The Morning Herald, Thursday, December 31, 1959, Hagerstown, Maryland
- "Pitts, John Emmett". west-point.org. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
