Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-07-24
Byrd Halls Totum as Best Organizer
Among Coaches; Associates Loud Him


better than any other football
coach I ever saw"
These are the words DR.. H, C.
(Curley) Byrd. formerly Uni
versity of Maryland president,
used today to describe the over
all generalship that had be-
come closely associated with
Jim Tatum.
His sudden death in Chapel
Hill, N. c., last night left the
rest of the college football
world in a state Of shock. The
University of North Carolina
head coach died of a virus
infection.
Football coaches and ath-
letic directors throughout the
country all agree that the sport
won't seem the same without
the big man who had been
such a dominant figure every
autumn since he first took over
at Maryland in 1947.
High Praise From Byrd
Byrd, chairman and acting
director of the new Maryland
Tidewater Fisheries Commits
sion, brought Tatum to Mary
land to raise the schools foot
ball fortunes. Byrd was preSi-
dent of the university at the
time.
HE undoubtedly had one of
the best organizing minds in
the business" Byrd said. He
was a wonderful fellow person.
ally and one couldn't ask any
thing more than what he did in
supporting the administration.
He was a man of fine, high
character and I wish he could
have stayed at Maryland"
Tatum left Maryland after the
1855 season to become head
coach at Carolina, two years
after Byrd had resigned as the
Maryland president.
William w. (BilD Cobey.
Maryland athletic director who
served with Tatum as business
manager of athletics, had this
to say:
HE was one of the most out
standing figures in the sports
world. He devoted his whole
life to sports. Jim was a tirelesS
worker. He worked at his job
"a hours a day and II months
q year. I've never known a man
who worked harder at his pro-
feSSion.
His death came as an awful
shock to me-"
Wilkinson Shocked
Shocked, too, was Bud Will
kinson, who stepped into the
head coaching job at Oklahoma
when Tatum left it vacant to
move to Maryland.
I'm so shocked I really
don't know what to say" VIII
kinson said. I'm just too upset
to make a coherent statement.
wilkinson and Tatum were
coaching rivals before World
War II, when Wilkinson was
an assistant at Syracuse and
Tatum had a similar job at
Cornell. They served in the
Navy together during the war
and Wilkinson joined Tatum
as his assistant at Oklahoma
in 1916.
During the war, Tatum was
line coach under Don Faurot at
Iowa Preflight School and
Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
It is well known that Tatum !
picked up the Split-T he used
so well in later years from
-Faurot, now athletic director
at the University of Missouri.
Faurot Learned From Him
Jim Tatum was one of my |
greatest friends" Faurot said
today. lone of the greatest
friends I ever had. 1t might be
true Jim picked up the split-T
from me, but I learned more
football from Tatum than he
ever learned from me-espe-
cially defensive football"
Bowden Wyatt, head coach
at the University of Tennessee,
said: Football has lost one OF
its most colorful characters and
one of it's greatest coaches. And
I have lost a close personal
friend"
High praise, too, came from
two top officials of the Univer-
sity of North Carolina. Pres
ident William Friday said:
"The thousands of people who
knew and lived Jim Tatum are
shocked and saddened. The
university has lost a devoted
son who was an outstanding
national figure in sports"
Chancellor w. B. Aycock
said: II am deeply grieved and
saddened by the passing OF.
Coach Tatum. 1t was my
privilege to know him well. His
tremendous capacity for work
and his untiring energy were
exceeded only by his devotion
to his university. He will be
greatly missed by his thousands
of friends everywhere. The
university has lost an outstand-
ing son and an important
e