The Georgia Institute of Technology has had a football team since 1892, and only once has it seen fit to retire a player’s number — the No. 19 worn by Clint Castleberry for 11 golden games in 1942.
Those seeking an Internet tutorial on Castleberry will be disappointed. I found but one snippet of him running the ball — running really fast — from an ESPN clip on YouTube. But when Taz Anderson, who was a captain under Bobby Dodd and who played in the NFL and who knows as much about Tech football as anyone, says that Castleberry must be considered the best Jacket ever, I trust the source.
I also trust Bob Sheldon, who was Tech’s tailback and Castleberry’s teammate in 1942. Says Sheldon, who lives in Cherokee County: “He was great, my lord.”
Castleberry arrived from Atlanta’s Boys High just after Tech had gone 3-6 under Bill Alexander. Starting as a freshman because eligibility rules were relaxed because of World War II, Castleberry was so impressive in his debut — a 15-0 victory over Auburn — that Notre Dame scout William Millner informed coach Frank Leahy that the Tech rookie was “the most dangerous runner in America.” Ed Miles of this newspaper likened Castleberry to “a crazed jackrabbit,” which was most apt: He stood 5-foot-9 and weighed 155 pounds.
Castleberry, who played halfback on offense and defense, passed for a touchdown as Tech beat the Fighting Irish 13-6 at South Bend. (The Irish were led by Angelo Bertelli, who would win the Heisman Trophy in 1943.) Soon Castleberry was all the rage. Sheldon recalls the scene after Tech beat Navy 21-0 at Annapolis: “He’d run an interception back 90 yards, and after the game all you saw outside our locker room was brass. They all wanted him to get him into the Navy, so he would play for their service team. But he had already signed up with the Air Force.”
The Jackets won their first nine games, rising to No. 2 in the polls, but Castleberry hurt his knee against Florida and wasn’t himself as Tech lost to No. 5 Georgia 34-0. The Jackets were invited to the Cotton Bowl, where they lost to Texas 14-7 on New Year’s Day. It was Clint Castleberry’s last game.
He made first-team All-SEC and was named second-team All-American by United Press. He ran third behind Georgia’s Frank Sinkwich and Columbia’s Paul Governali in the Heisman Trophy voting, then the best showing ever for a freshman. Thirty-eight years would pass before another freshman — Herschel Walker, like Castleberry a Georgia native who hoisted a struggling program to national prominence — finished so high in the balloting.
On Nov. 7. 1944, Lt. Castleberry’s plane left Liberia for Senegal. The plane never landed. Its wreckage was never found. On Nov. 23, 1944, the finest player ever to wear the white and gold was classified as killed in action. He was 21.
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