Perry c. 1921
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Florida Gators No. 13 | |
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Position | Guard/Center |
Class | Graduate |
Career history | |
College |
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High school | Gainesville |
Personal information | |
Date of birth | February 4, 1896 |
Place of birth | Rochelle, Florida |
Date of death | August 9, 1946 | (aged 50)
Place of death | Gainesville, Florida |
Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) |
Weight | 210 lb (95 kg) |
Career highlights and awards | |
Carl Esmond "Tootie" Perry (February 4, 1896 – August 9, 1946) was an American college football player. He played at the guard position and was the first All-Southern player for the Florida Gators football program of the University of Florida .
Perry was born in Rochelle, Florida, in 1896. His parents were Thomas Jefferson Perry and Laura Jane (Sparkman) Perry.
Perry twice enrolled in the University of Florida in Gainesville; first in 1916, and again in 1919. He initially played for coach C. J. McCoy's Florida Gators football team in 1916, but returned at age 23 to play for coach William G. Kline's Gators teams from 1919 to 1921. Perry was five feet, ten inches tall, and at his largest weighed 235 pounds while playing at the guard and center position for the Gators. In a 16–0 loss to Georgia in 1919, "through Perry's ability to handle Day, the Georgia star center, Florida outbucked Georgia..."
In 1921, Perry was a first-team All-Southern selection of the Chattanooga News, Columbus Enquirer-Sun and Nashville Banner, becoming the first All-Southern player at Florida, and also the senior team captain on Florida's team. An account of the Mercer game reads "Capt. Tootie Perry was again the star on defense." The 1922 Seminole, the University of Florida yearbook, called Perry the Gators' "jolly captain" and "Dixie's greatest guard" who played every minute of every game for two years and "developed into a wizard at blocking punts."