Thomas Graydon
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|
| Harvard Crimson | |
|---|---|
| Position | Fullback |
| Class | Graduate |
| Career history | |
| College | Harvard University (1899–1902) |
| Personal information | |
| Date of birth | March 30, 1881 |
| Place of birth | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Date of death | October 1949 (aged 68) |
| Place of death | near Westfield, Indiana |
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.
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.
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."
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."
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