Al Sharpe
| Sport(s) | Football, basketball |
|---|---|
| Biographical details | |
| Born | October 7, 1877 |
| Died | May 17, 1966 (aged 88) Buffalo, New York |
| Playing career | |
| Football | |
| 1897–1900 | Yale |
| Baseball | |
| 1900–1901 | Yale |
| Position(s) | Halfback |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football | |
| 1912–1917 | Cornell |
| 1919 | Yale |
| 1928–1931 | Washington University |
| Basketball | |
| 1912–1919 | Cornell |
| 1919–1921 | Yale |
| Baseball | |
| 1913–1919 | Cornell |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1919–1921 | Yale |
| 1928–? | Washington University |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 50–42–5 (football) 103–58 (basketball) 60–65–1 (baseball) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| Football 1 National (1915) |
|
| Awards | |
| All-American, 1899 | |
Albert Hayes Sharpe (October 7, 1877 – May 17, 1966) was an All-American football player, coach and athletic director and medical doctor. He played football for Yale University and was selected as a halfback for the 1899 College Football All-America Team. Sharpe was also a star basketball player in the early years of the college game. Sharpe also excelled in baseball, gymnastics, rowing and track. In 1915, Sharpe was selected by one sporting expert as the greatest living athlete in the United States. He later served as a coach and administrator at Cornell University, Yale, the Ithaca School of Physical Education and Washington University in St. Louis.
Sharpe began his athletic career as a student at the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia. After graduating from the Penn School, Sharpe enrolled at Yale University where he played halfback for the Yale football team from 1898 to 1900. He also handled punting and place-kicking responsibilities for the team. In 1899, he was selected as an All-American in football. On the gridiron, Sharpe's "end running and kicking thrilled Yale students." In 1929, sports writer Lawrence Perry wrote that Sharpe was best recalled for a 50-yard dropkick in the 1899 Yale-Princeton game. In an October 1900 game against Amherst, Sharpe had one of his best games. A contemporary newspaper account reported: "Sharpe was again the sensational hero of the game. He got Yale's first touchdown by a series of three runs that carried the ball for 85 yards. He got Yale's second touchdown when the first half was almost ended by a 95-yard run that set the grand stand wild."
Sharpe was also a pioneer of college basketball. Intercollegiate basketball did not gain traction until the 1900s, but Yale students organized a team in the 1890s. In February 1898, Sharpe led Yale's basketball team to a 27–7 win over New York's Knickerbocker Athletic Club. A newspaper account of the game praised Yale for its "signal work" in passing the ball from one to another without a hitch. Sharpe led all scorers with five goals including a halfcourt shot described as follows:
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