Thomas Graydon Thomas Hetherington " Blondy " Graydon ( March 30 , 1881 – October 1949 ) was an All - American football player . While attending Harvard , he was selected as fullback on the All - American teams of 1901 and 1902 . Early years . Graydon was the son of Ann H . Graydon and Dr . Thomas W . Graydon . His father was a doctor in Cincinnati , Ohio who had emigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1868 . Graydon ' s father later became a prominent Republican politician and manufacturer of patent medicines . Graydon was educated in the private schools of Cincinnati and at St . Paul ' s School in Concord , New Hampshire , from which he graduated in 1899 . All - American at Harvard . In the fall of 1899 , Graydon entered Harvard University . He played fullback on the Harvard football team in 1900 , 1901 and 1902 . He was selected by Walter Camp as an All - American at that position in 1901 and 1902 . His brother , Joseph Graydon , played end for Harvard . In February 1902 , Graydon gained publicity for his participation in a charity performance with the Barnum & Bailey Circus . Some Harvard athletes engaged in a burlesque polo match , and Graydon engaged in a tumbling routine while dressed " in resplendent pink tights . " Marriage and professional life . Graydon married Helen Beryl Whitney , the daughter of San Francisco millionaire , J . Parker Whitney . The two became engaged when Whitney was between thirteen and fifteen years old and eloped in 1903 . Their " Romeo and Juliet " romance , in which Graydon helped his bride escape from a New York boarding school , garnered national media attention . One Boston newspaper reported : " The young couple have known each other very well for years . The groom was a roommate of the bride ' s brother at Harvard ; and the blonde fullback whose plays on the gridirons at Cambridge and New Haven were acclaimed by thousands of admirers , has long been known to the Whitneys as ' Tommy ' . . . She was about the age of 15 when she met and fell in love with ' Tommy ' Graydon . . . It was impossible from the first day for any observer not to see they were desperately in love with each other . " After the completion of his education , published accounts differ as to Graydon ' s professional career . According to contemporaneous press accounts , Graydon trained as a cobbler in Cincinnati after graduating from Harvard — hoping to learn the shoe business . He later became manager for a shoe company . According to a later - published social history of Cincinnati , Graydon returned to Cincinnati after graduating from Harvard , where he accepted a position in the bookkeping department of The Macdonald - Kiley Company . The latter publication states that Graydon was appointed as a vice president of the company after three years and as president of the company at age 28 in 1909 . Under Graydon ' s leadership , the latter publication states that the company employed 200 men and 50 women and sold goods throughout the United States . In 1909 , the couple garnered national press attention again when Mrs . Gradyon sued for divorce , alleging that her husband failed to support her . One press account of the trial reported on the testimony of Graydon ' s wife and father - in - law : " Idleness , dissipation and neglect on the part of Graydon entered into her disillusionment , she explained , and he had allowed his business in Cincinnati to dwindle away until it did not bring enough revenue to provide for her support , she said . According to Mrs . Graydon , selling shoes proved less attractive to her husband than bucking the line of Yale in football scrimmages , and his experience as a business man was marked by none of the " eclat " that distinguished his career on the gridiron . Mrs . Graydon ' s testimony was short , and her only witness was her father , J . Parker Whitney , whose millions she will inherit . . . . When asked about the character of his son - in - law , Whitney was too chivalrous to say anything to his disparagement . ' He ' s a really good fellow , ' said Whitney , ' but as a business man he ' s impossible . ' " On April 6 , 1910 a decree of divorce was granted . Military service . When the United States entered World War I , Graydon enlisted and was sent to the Plattsburg training camp . After training he was commissioned captain of the 303rd Machine Gun Company , and was sent to Camp Devens . Graydon left for France on July 4 , 1917 , with the 76th Division . Later he was transferred to the 3rd Division and was placed in command of Company B of the Seventh Machine Gun battalion . He saw action at the Battle of Château - Thierry where his machine gun battalion bore the brunt of the fighting . After the Armistice was signed he became part of the army of occupation and was the first Harvard man to reach the Rhine . He returned to the United States on April 8 , 1919 and received his honorable discharge . Later years . Graydon was married three times . His second wife was Mary Andrews , and his third wife was Marian MacAdams of New York City . Graydon was married to his third wife for 20 years starting in 1929 . Graydon was affiliated with the Episcopal church , the Business Men ' s Club , Harvard Club and Phi Delta Psi fraternity , which he joined while in college . Graydon and his third wife died when their automobile was involved in a collision with a passenger bus near Westfield , Indiana in October 1949 while the two were returning from Santa Monica , California to their home in New York .