page_title: Everett Strupper
section_title: 1917 season
hierarchical_section_title: Everett Strupper / Georgia Tech / 1917 season
caption_attribution_description: English: The 1917 Georgia Tech backfield. From left to right: Everett Strupper, Judy Harlan, Joe Guyon, and Albert Hill.
context_page_description: George Everett Strupper Jr., known variously as "Ev" or "Strup" or "Stroop" was an American football player. He played halfback for Georgia Tech from 1915 to 1917. Strupper overcame deafness resulting from a childhood illness and was selected as an All-American in 1917.
  During Strupper's three years playing for Georgia Tech, the team compiled a record of 24–0–2 and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 1,135 to 61. In Georgia Tech's record-setting 222–0 win over Cumberland College in 1916, Strupper scored eight touchdowns. For many years, 1917 Georgia Tech was considered the greatest football team the South ever produced. Strupper starred as part of a renowned backfield including also Joe Guyon, Judy Harlan, and Al Hill. Strupper and teammate Walker Carpenter were the first players from the Deep South selected for an All-America first team.
  Sportswriter Morgan Blake called Strupper "probably the greatest running half-back the South has known." Bernie McCarty writes "Strupper ranks among the greatest broken-field gallopers in Southern football history. And he caught and threw passes, returned kicks, blocked well, punted and played a bang-up defensive game."
context_section_description: Strupper also played on the 1917 team then considered the greatest the South ever produced, including one of the greatest backfields. According to the Times-Picayune, "Strupper, Guyon, Hill, and Harlan form a backfield with no superiors and few equals in football history". Tech gave Vanderbilt its worst loss in school history 83–0. "It was not until 1917 that a Southern team really avenged long-time torment at McGugin's hands. And it took one of history's top backfields–Joe Guyon, Ev Strupper, Al Hill, and Judy Harlan of Georgia Tech–to do it," writes Edwin Pope. The team also defeated the University of Pennsylvania, then one of the Eastern powers, 41–0. It was called by one writer "Strupper's finest hour." In a 98–0 win over the Carlisle Indians in 1917, Strupper drew praise for his performance. The Atlanta Journal wrote:
  "Everett Strupper played like a veritable demon. At one time four Carlisle men pounced on him from all directions, and yet through some superhuman witchery he broke loose and dashed 10 yards further. On another occasion he attempted a wide end run, found that he was completely blocked, then suddenly whirled and ran the other way, gaining something like 25 yards before he was downed."
  
  Strupper scored five touchdowns against Carlisle, including a 32-yard fumble return for a touchdown. And in a 68–7 win over rival Auburn, Strupper had a 65-yard touchdown run that drew the following praise from the Atlanta Journal:
  "It was not the length of the run that featured it was the brilliance of it. After getting through the first line, Stroop was tackled squarely by two secondary men, and yet he squirmed and jerked loosed from them, only to face the safety man and another Tiger, coming at him from different angles. Without checking his speed Everett knifed the two men completely, running between them and dashing on to a touchdown."
  Remarkably, two Georgia Tech players led the country in touchdowns for the 1917 season. Quarterback Albert Hill was first with 23 touchdowns, and Strupper was second with 20 touchdowns.  Strupper rushed for some 1,150 yards on a little over 100 carries.
  Strupper has been recognized as a consensus first-team player on the 1917 College Football All-America Team, having received first-team honors from Frank Menke Syndicate, Paul Purman, and Dick Jemison of the Atlanta Constitution. Strupper and team captain Walker Carpenter were the first players from the Deep South selected for an All-America first team. Strupper was named as one of four backs on Georgia Tech's "All-Era" team for the Heisman era covering the years from 1904 to 1919.
caption: Tech's 1917 backfield; left to right: Strupper, Harlan, Guyon, and Hill
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