Tommy Spence

{{Infobox college football player

|name=Tommy Spence

|image=tomspence.jpg

|image_size=180px

|birth_date={{Birth date|1896|4|17}}

|birth_place=Thomasville, Georgia, U.S.

|death_date={{Death date and age|mf=y|1918|11|27|1896|4|17}}

|death_place=France

|currentposition=Fullback

|school=Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

|class=1917

|height_ft=5

|height_in=11

|weight_lb=168

|pastschools=Georgia Tech (1914–1916)

|highlights=

National champion (1916)
SIAA championship (1916)
All-Southern (1916)
Georgia Tech Athletics Hall of Fame
Tech All-Era Team (John Heisman Era)

}}

Thomas Louis Spence (April 17, 1896 – November 27, 1918) was an American college football player. Spence also played on the baseball, basketball, and track teams.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1126&dat=19181218&id=a5VRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VGgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4573,4884976|title=Thomas Spence Killed In Airplane Accident|date=December 18, 1918|work=The Gazette Times}}

Georgia Tech

=Football=

Spence was a prominent fullback for John Heisman's Georgia Tech Golden Tornado of the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1914 to 1916 . He was posthumously elected to the Georgia Tech Athletics Hall of Fame in 1976.{{cite web|url=http://www.ramblinwreck.com/extras/local/halloffame.html|title=Georgia Tech Athletics Hall of Fame}}

==1915==

In 1915, near the end of the LSU game, he returned an interception 85 yards.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5156730/the_charlotte_news/|work=The Charlotte News|title=Georgia Techs Walloped Tigers of Louisiana|page=10|date=October 24, 1915|access-date=May 4, 2016|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}} He made a 40-yard drop kick field goal against North Carolina.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5076661/the_charlotte_news/|title=Possessing No Offense and a Weak Defense, Carolina Proved Easy For The Jackets|work=Charlotte News|access-date=April 27, 2016|date=October 31, 1915|page=12}} {{Open access}}

==1916==

Spence was a starter for the 1916 team which, as one writer wrote, "seemed to personify Heisman."{{Cite book|title = Heisman: The Man Behind the Trophy|publisher = Simon and Schuster|last = Heisman|first = John M.|isbn = 9781451682915|pages = [https://archive.org/details/heismanmanbehind0000heis/page/144 144]|url = https://archive.org/details/heismanmanbehind0000heis|url-access = registration|date = 2012-10-02}} In Georgia Tech's record-setting 222-0 win over Cumberland College in 1916, Spence scored the second-most behind Everett Strupper when he netted five touchdowns.{{cite web|url=http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/100606aab.html|title=A Monumental Victory|date=October 6, 2006}} He was selected All-Southern that season.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F_WfAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA167|title=Intercollegiate Athletic Calendar|volume=1|page=167|year=1917}} Walter Camp gave him honorable mention.

World War I

Spence was a casualty of the World War I.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/creatingbiggamej00umph|url-access=registration|title=Creating the Big Game: John W. Heisman and the Invention of American Football|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|author=Wiley Lee Umphlett|page=[https://archive.org/details/creatingbiggamej00umph/page/141 141]|isbn=9780313284045|year=1992}} He is the namesake of Spence Air Base.{{cite web|url=http://www.spence-air-base.com/|title=Spence Air Base|access-date=2014-11-27|archive-date=2016-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213754/http://www.spence-air-base.com/|url-status=dead}}

References

External links

{{Find a Grave|55804316}}

Category:1896 births

Category:1918 deaths

Category:Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players

Category:American football fullbacks

Category:All-Southern college football players

Category:American military personnel killed in World War I

Category:Baseball outfielders

Category:Forwards (basketball)

Category:Players of American football from Thomasville, Georgia

Category:American football drop kickers