Boozer Pitts

{{Short description|American football player and coach (1893–1971)}}

{{Infobox college coach

| name = Boozer Pitts

| image = Boozer Pitts.png

| alt =

| caption = Pitts pictured in The 1925 Glomerata, Auburn yearbook

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1893|11|25}}

| birth_place = Pittsview, Alabama, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1971|2|10|1893|11|25}}

| death_place = Auburn, Alabama, U.S.

| alma_mater =

| player_years1 = 1913–1914

| player_team1 = Auburn

| player_positions = Center

| coach_years1 = 1919–1922

| coach_team1 = Auburn (assistant)

| coach_years2 = 1923–1924

| coach_team2 = Auburn

| coach_years3 = 1925–1927

| coach_team3 = Auburn (assistant)

| coach_years4 = 1927

| coach_team4 = Auburn

| overall_record = 7–11–6

| bowl_record =

| tournament_record =

| championships =

| awards =

| coaching_records =

}}

John Emmett "Boozer" Pitts Sr. (November 25, 1893 – February 10, 1971){{cite book|title=Baron Christopher de Graffenried V: his ancestors and his descendants, 1191 to 2001|author=Thomas, B.W.|date=2003|publisher=Willo Publishing Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VYwZAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=December 3, 2014}} 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.

Playing career

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3447376/the_tennessean/|author=M. J. Donahue|author-link=Mike Donahue|title=Mike Donahue Praises Departing Stars|date=December 14, 1914|page=9|accessdate=October 20, 2015|via=Newspapers.com|work=The Tennessean}} {{Open access}} Pitts was selected All-Southern and was a member of an All-time Auburn Tigers football team selected in 1935,{{cite web|url=http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16313coll13/id/211|title=Tulane University Football Program-The Greenie; Auburn vs. Tulane|access-date=December 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223103444/http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16313coll13/id/211|archive-date=December 23, 2014|url-status=dead}} as well as coach Donahue's all-time Auburn team.{{Cite news|url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19330110&id=9LM-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=UkwMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6571,378292|title = Mike Donahue Names All-Time Auburn Football Team|date = January 10, 1933|work = The Tuscaloosa News}} One writer claims "Auburn had a lot of great football teams, but there may not have been one greater than the 1913–1914 team."{{cite web|url=http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/aub/genrel/auto_pdf/2013-14/misc_non_event/1913_team.pdf|title=Auburn's 1913 Undefeated Team|author=Ethan Brady|access-date=December 15, 2014|archive-date=October 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001214548/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/aub/genrel/auto_pdf/2013-14/misc_non_event/1913_team.pdf|url-status=dead}} Pitts weighed some 190 pounds.

Army

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."He Can't Talk Or Eat Food, But 'Boozer' Writes Poems", The Morning Herald, Thursday, December 31, 1959, Hagerstown, Maryland One of his sons, John E. Pitts, Jr. was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force.{{cite web|url=http://www.west-point.org/users/usma1946/15715/|title=Pitts, John Emmett|publisher=west-point.org|accessdate=December 3, 2014}}

Head coaching record

File:Boozer Pitts 1929.png

{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no }}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Auburn Tigers

| conf = Southern Conference

| startyear = 1923

| endyear = 1924

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1923

| name = Auburn

| overall = 3–3–3

| conference = 0–1–3

| confstanding = 14th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1924

| name = Auburn

| overall = 4–4–1

| conference = 2–4–1

| confstanding = 17th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Auburn Tigers

| conf = Southern Conference

| startyear = 1927

| endyear = single

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1927

| name = Auburn

| overall = 0–4–2{{#tag:ref|Dave Morey coached the first three games of the season.|group="n"|name="1927season"}}

| conference = 0–4–1

| confstanding = 22nd

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Auburn

| overall = 7–11–6

| confrecord = 2–9–5

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record End

| overall = 7–11–6

| bowls = no

| poll = no

| polltype =

| legend = no

}}

Selected works

{{cite book |title=Thoughts of a Man Called Boozer |first=John E. |last=Pitts |publisher=Carlton Press |year=1968 |url=https://www.amazon.com/Thoughts-Called-Boozer-Col-Pitts/dp/B000HWU4QQ}}