Frank Speer
{{Short description|American football player and wrestler (1907–1938)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox college football player
|name=Frank Speer
|image=frank_speer.jpg
|caption=Speer c. 1929
|alt=
|birth_date= {{birth date|1907|5|27}}
|birth_place=Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
|death_date= {{death date and age|mf=y|1938|6|10|1907|5|27}}
|death_place= Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
|height_ft=6
|height_in=0
|weight_lb=205
|bowlgames=
|school=Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
|currentposition=Tackle
|pastschools=Georgia Tech (1927-28; 1930)
|class=1930
|currentnumber=48; 12; 17
|highlights=
- National champion (1928)
- SoCon champion (1927, 1928)
- First-team All-American (1928)
- All-Southern (1927, 1928)
- Georgia Tech Athletics Hall of Fame
- Tech All-Era Team (William Alexander Era)
}}
Frank R. Speer (May 27, 1907 – June 10, 1938) was a college football player and wrestler.{{Cite news|url = http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1938/06/12/page/28/article/frank-speer-wrestler-dies-of-pneumonia|title = Frank Speer, wrestler, dies of pneumonia|date = June 12, 1938|work = The Chicago Tribune|access-date = January 31, 2016}}
College football
Speer was an All-American tackle for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets of the Georgia Institute of Technology;{{cite news|title=Associated Press Gives Views on America's Best Gridders|author=Alan J. Gould|work=The Salt Lake Tribune|date=1928-12-08}} part of its national championship team of 1928. He first made the All-Southern team as a sophomore in 1927.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1970&dat=19281226&id=rhoiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=h6YFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2890,7320400|title=Meet the Georgia Tech Varsity |work=Berkeley Daily Gazette|date=December 26, 1928}} One writer in 1930 said Vance Maree and Frank Speer had the reputation as "the toughest pair of tackles in the south."{{Cite news|url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19301010&id=80IdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PUsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6395,1252192|title = Tech Leader Awaiting Test|last = Davis|first = Ralph|date = October 10, 1930|work = The Pittsburgh Press}} Speer is a member of the Georgia Tech Athletics Hall of Fame.{{cite web|url=http://www.ramblinwreck.com/extras/local/halloffame.html|title=Georgia Tech Athletics Hall of Fame|access-date=2014-11-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107055249/http://www.ramblinwreck.com/extras/local/halloffame.html|archive-date=2017-11-07|url-status=dead}}
Wrestling
Speer once lost in a wrestling match with Bronko Nagurski due to a kneeing foul.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19340417&id=1bNQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PyIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2884,3051762|title=Speer of Georgia Tech Loses To The Big Nag|date=April 17, 1934|work=The Milwaukee Journal}} In another wrestling match, he caused former World Heavyweight Champion Jack Dempsey, who was officiating the contest, to knock him out.{{Cite news|url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19341009&id=QxpVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aT0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=6487,988619|title = Dempsey Knocks Out Tech Wrestling Star|date = October 9, 1934|work = The Miami News}}
On June 1, 1938, Speer became ill but still participated in a wrestling match with Dorv Roche at Atlanta's Warren Arena.[http://wrestlingdata.com/index.php?befehl=bilanzen&wrestler=13073&jahr=1938&monat=6 Wrestlingdata.com - Match Statistics for Frank Speer] Following the match, he developed a fever and was taken to a hospital, where he died June 10 of bronchial pneumonia.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{1928 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football navbox}}
{{1928 College Football Composite All-Southerns}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Speer, Frank}}
Category:Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players
Category:American football tackles
Category:All-Southern college football players
Category:American male sport wrestlers
Category:Players of American football from Atlanta
Category:20th-century male professional wrestlers
Category:20th-century American professional wrestlers