Henry Wakefield (American football)

{{Short description|American football player and coach (1899–1962)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox college football player | name = Henry Wakefield | image = HekWakefield.jpg | alt = | caption = Wakefield in uniform, c. 1924<br/>''"Hek"'' | birth_date = {{Birth date|1899|2|10|mf=y}} | birth_place = Petersburg, Tennessee, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1962|11|19|1899|2|10|mf=y}} | death_place = Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. | school=Vanderbilt Commodores | height_ft=5 | height_in=10 | weight_lb=180 | pastschools = Vanderbilt (1921–1924) | currentposition = End / Fullback | highlights= * SIAA championship (1921) * SoCon championship (1922, 1923) * All-Southern (1923, 1924) * Consensus All-American (1924) * One of Dan McGugin's six best players. * Vanderbilt's best drop kicker * 1934 All-time Vandy team. }} '''Henry Smith''' "'''Hek'''" '''Wakefield ''' (February 10, 1899 – November 19, 1962) was an American college football player and coach. He played fullback and end for the Vanderbilt Commodores of Vanderbilt University from 1921 to 1924, receiving the honor of consensus All-American in his senior year. He was considered the greatest drop kicker in school history.<ref name=obitu>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5803494/hek_wakefield_funeral_today/|page=34|date=November 20, 1962|work=The Tennessean|title=Hek Wakefield Funeral Today|access-date=July 7, 2016|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref>

==Early years== Wakefield was born on February 10, 1899, in Petersburg, Tennessee, to Samuel S. T. Wakefield and Lula Dyer. Samuel, who owned a sawmill in Petersburg, reportedly died in 1917 as a result of burns caused by the explosion of a steam engine at his sawmill.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=marlene&id=I2677|title=Rootsweb}}</ref>

===Prep school=== Wakefield attended prep school at Fitzgerald & Clarke School in Tullahoma, Tennessee, where he won a state football title on a team coached by Wallace Wade, who later coached Wakefield at Vanderbilt. All-American Vanderbilt end Lynn Bomar was a teammate at both Fitzgerald & Clarke and Vanderbilt.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lwpolive.tullahomanews.com/olive/ode/tullahoma/LandingPage/LandingPage.aspx?href=VE5HLzIwMDIvMTAvMDI.&pageno=NDc.&entity=QXIwNDcwMA..&view=ZW50aXR5 |title=City loses Fitzgerald-Clarke, builds Tullahoma High School }}{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==Vanderbilt University==

===Football=== Wakefield played for coach Dan McGugin's Vanderbilt Commodores from 1921 to 1924.<ref name="vufactbook">''[http://www.dothanfirst.com/media/lib/204/8/d/c/8dc53287-cc01-4aa0-a1e3-83cefe778bbf/14vanderbilt_guide.pdf Vanderbilt Football 2014 Fact Book] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819084829/http://www.dothanfirst.com/media/lib/204/8/d/c/8dc53287-cc01-4aa0-a1e3-83cefe778bbf/14vanderbilt_guide.pdf |date=2014-08-19 }}'', Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, pp. 125, 137, 142, 151 (2014). Retrieved August 17, 2014.</ref> He was a prominent member of Commodores teams that compiled a win–loss–tie record of 26–5–4 ({{Winning percentage|26|5|4}}) over his four seasons, and was an All-Southern selection in 1923 and 1924.<ref name="vufactbook" /> The Commodores won three conference titles over this span, including their most recent one to date. He played fullback and end, as well as kicker for extra points and field goals.

====1921==== Wakefield starred in the Sewanee game to finish his freshman year. The Commodores closed the undefeated season winning 9 to 0 in what was called the "muddiest game" in its history.<ref name="50Years" /> The Commodores were reportedly knee-deep in mud and water,<ref>{{Closed access}} {{cite news|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=D51E4BIEMTM3MTA3MzE2MS42NzQ4NDA6MToxMzoxMzIuMTk4LjUwLjEz&p_action=doc&s_lastnonissuequeryname=6&d_viewref=search&p_queryname=6&p_docnum=79&p_docref=v2:1252FEAF2D2D3A44@EANX-127EF8BBF9C6A5C7@2423019-127EF8BC014C3F51@1-13335E5B42A22387@Vanderbilt+Wins+From+Sewanee+In+Final+Quarter%2C+9-0|newspaper=Augusta Chronicle|title=Vanderbilt Wins From Sewanee In Final Quarter, 9-0|date=November 25, 1921}}</ref> with players unrecognizable.<ref>{{Closed access}} {{cite news|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=R62J4CSEMTQwNjYxNjcyOC4xNzc0MzE6MToxMzoxMzIuMTk4LjUwLjEz&p_action=doc&s_lastnonissuequeryname=15&d_viewref=search&p_queryname=15&p_docnum=16&p_docref=v2:11A73E5827618330@EANX-11ED961412D92260@2423019-11ED961468E139A8@12-11ED9615E8420F90@Gil%20Dobie%27s%20Eleven%20Beats%20Pennsy%2041-0.%20after%20Six-Year%20Slump%20Cornell%20Comes%20to%20Life|title=Vanderbilt 9, Sewanee 0.|newspaper=Morning Oregonian|date=November 25, 1921}}</ref> The touchdown for Vanderbilt came after Wakefield's punt of 54 yards was fumbled by Sewanee and recovered by Pos Elam. The subsequent drive resulted in a five-yard touchdown run by Wakefield. Wakefield kicked his own extra point.<ref name="Observer">{{cite news|newspaper=Charlotte Observer|title=Final Period Rally Wins for Old Vandy|date=November 25, 1921}}</ref>

====1922==== upright=.7|thumb|Wakefield in 1922. Wakefield was the starting fullback and kicker for the undefeated 1922 team. He was thus a starter for the scoreless tie with Michigan at the dedication of Vanderbilt's new Dudley Field. "That's the only game in which I prayed", said Wakefield, "I was a sophomore at the time and when they put me in, I remember saying a little prayer that Michigan would run the other way."<ref name=collegian>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5803522/wakefield_first_to_praise_modern/|author=John Biss|title=Wakefield First To Praise Modern Collegian's Play|newspaper=The Tennessean |date=November 20, 1962|page=29|access-date=July 7, 2016|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref> In the game against Texas at the Texas State Fair, which Vanderbilt won 20 to 10, the Commodores' first score came after Wakefield recovered a fumble by Texas's Franklin Stacy on a punt return, at the 25-yard line.<ref>"Big Gains Are Made On Punts And Wide Runs In Dallas Game." ''Fort Worth Star Telegram''. October 22, 1922, p. 14.</ref> Wakefield also blocked a Texas field goal attempt that day. He made an 18-yard field goal in a 9 to 0 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats.<ref name="Wildcats">{{cite news|title=Wildcats Lose Hard Fought Game To Vandy Eleven At Nashville|newspaper=The Kentucky Kernel|date=November 17, 1922|url=http://eris.uky.edu/catalog/xt7qz60bwf6t_7|access-date=August 30, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219210355/http://eris.uky.edu/catalog/xt7qz60bwf6t_7|archive-date=December 19, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> A trick play which resulted in a touchdown thrown from Doc Kuhn to Lynn Bomar against Sewanee was set up by a 33-yard punt return by Wakefield.<ref name="Sewanee">{{cite news|newspaper=The Sewanee Purple|title=Sewanee Loses To Vanderbilt, 26–0|date=December 14, 1922|hdl = 11005/1158}}</ref> Vanderbilt won 26 to 0, finishing the year as Southern Conference champions.<ref name="Alphabet">{{Closed access}} {{cite news|title=The Sportlight: Football Alphabet|newspaper=The Boston Daily Globe|author=Grantland Rice|date=November 24, 1922|id = {{ProQuest|504491164}}}}</ref><ref>e.g. {{Closed access}} {{cite news|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=Vanderbilt Team Only Undefeated Eleven In South|date=December 2, 1922|id = {{ProQuest|145950809}}}}; {{Closed access}} {{cite news|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=Few Titles Changed Hands During 1922|date=December 31, 1922|id = {{ProQuest|145942485}}}}; "No Outstanding Football Eleven During The Year." ''New Castle News''. December 27, 1922. p. 17.; Farrell, Henry. "Sports Kings That Kept Crown." ''Middletown Daily Herald''. December 31, 1922. p. 6.</ref> Wakefield made seven extra points on the year.

====1923==== During the 1923 season, in a close loss of 3 to 0 against that season's eventual national champion, Michigan, opposing coach Fielding Yost said of Wakefield, "I never saw a greater exhibition of end play."<ref name="50Years">Russell, Fred, and Maxwell Edward Benson. ''Fifty Years of Vanderbilt Football''. Nashville, TN, 1938. pp. 42, 67</ref><ref name="prem" /> ''The Kingsport Times'' reported that governor Austin Peay had praised Wakefield for his play that day.<ref name="Hek">{{cite news|newspaper=The Kingsport Times|title=Wakefield Star On Vandy Team|date=November 27, 1923}}</ref> In the game against Tulane, Wakefield had to play quarterback. Vanderbilt was without its quarterback and captain, Doc Kuhn, as well as halfback Gil Reese. Reese had hurt his knee, and during the previous week's game against the Texas Longhorns, Kuhn was hit on the head and had yet to regain his mental composure.<ref name="Picayune">{{Closed access}} {{cite news|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=W57W50XIMTQwNTM2NzM5MC4zNDc4ODc6MToxMzoxMzIuMTk4LjUwLjEz&p_action=doc&s_lastnonissuequeryname=26&d_viewref=search&p_queryname=26&p_docnum=55&p_docref=v2:1223BCE5B718A166@EANX-12845E9C359DFEB1@2423720-12845CB3BB12A4A9@16-12847816EBBBE077@|newspaper=Times-Picayune|title=Tulanians Await Starting Whistle For Vandy Battle|author=Ed Hebert|date=October 27, 1923}}</ref> Vanderbilt won 17–0. Wakefield contributed a field goal to the 51–7 drubbing of the Tennessee Volunteers. Against the Georgia Bulldogs, the Commodores won 35–7. In the third quarter, Kuhn completed a 45-yard pass to Wakefield, caught at Georgia's four-yard line. From there, Vanderbilt scored with a line buck from Tom Ryan. Georgia athletic director and former coach Herman Stegeman rated Wakefield as the best player in all of the south.<ref name="prem" /> At year's end, Wakefield, along with Bomar, were selected as All-Southern ends. Vanderbilt and Washington & Lee finished the season as co-champions of the Southern Conference. A poll of sportswriters selected the Commodores as the best team in the south, awarding them the Champ Pickens Trophy.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Nevada State Journal|title=Wolf Pack, U.C. Grid-Game Held Season Feature|date=December 3, 1923}}</ref><ref>{{Closed access}} {{cite news|newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune|author=Walter Eckersall|title=6 Grid Teams Undefeated In 1923 Season|date=December 30, 1923|id = {{ProQuest|180509468}}}}</ref><ref>cf. {{cite news|newspaper=Boston Daily Globe|title=Champions of 1923|date=December 30, 1923|id = {{ProQuest|497606727}}}}</ref>

=====Jack Wakefield===== In a postseason contest played for the benefit of local charitable institutions, Vanderbilt played a cast of former Princeton varsity stars on December 8. Among the stars were Stan Keck, Frank Murrey, Hank Garrity, John P. Gorman, Ralph Gilroy, A. Barr Snively, and Herb Treat.<ref name="Princeton">{{Closed access}} {{cite news|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=U64F5BITMTQwNTUwNTA3MC44NjI2MTk6MToxMzoxMzIuMTk4LjUwLjEz&p_action=doc&s_lastnonissuequeryname=19&d_viewref=search&p_queryname=19&p_docnum=10&p_docref=v2:11BC3DF3E61E32B5@EANX-12924F53CC143159@2423763-12904BC0826E5298@26-1293047FF758B1E6@|title=Vanderbilt Ties With All-Star Princeton Team|newspaper=Springfield Republican|date=December 9, 1923}}</ref> It was the first showcase of Eastern football in Nashville in many years.<ref>{{Closed access}} {{cite news|newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune|title=Vandy Eleven Ties Ex-Tigers By 7 To 7 Score|date=December 9, 1923|id = {{ProQuest|180508022}}}}</ref> The Commodores tied the team of ex-Tigers, 7–7. Both scoring plays occurred within five minutes of each other. Murrey mentored Wakefield in the art of drop-kicking.<ref name="prem">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1944089//|via=Newspapers.com|title=South's Premier End|work=The News-Palladium|date=November 30, 1923|access-date=March 8, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>

During the game, the one player on Vanderbilt's roster not from the 1923 varsity team was Hek's younger brother, Robert Allen "Jack" Wakefield. He was a highly renowned back on the freshman team, called "the greatest player in Southern freshman football for the past season."<ref>{{Closed access}} {{cite news|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=L6AH5AASMTQwNjA5NDY4OS4zOTIxOTM6MToxMzoxMzIuMTk4LjUwLjEz&p_action=doc&s_lastnonissuequeryname=8&d_viewref=search&p_queryname=8&p_docnum=1&p_docref=v2:1223BCE5B718A166@EANX-12856F5182D9BFB0@2423760-12822CBBF2DAD734@17-12859F955B780B4C@|newspaper=Times-Picayune|author=Ben A. Green|title=Ben Green Selects All-Southern Freshie Team|date=December 6, 1923}}</ref> By all accounts, he played an inspired game, "he cut an all Princeton line into shreds of Black and Orange. He threw all America tackles aside as he would throw sacks of straw, and trampled great names into the turf."<ref>{{cite news|title=Jack Wakefield Was Mythical Son of a Past Era|newspaper=Commercial Appeal|date= Oct 16, 1938}}</ref> Twenty-five years later, Centre head coach Charley Moran called Jack "the greatest football player I ever saw, barring nobody."<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1019&dat=19490915&id=qvIyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hQ4GAAAAIBAJ&pg=3017,1531974|title = Charlie Was Versatile Fellow|last = Rice|first = Grantland|date = September 15, 1949|work = The Roundup Record Tribune}}</ref> It was the only game Jack ever played with a varsity team at Vanderbilt. He soon left to play professional baseball with the Saint Louis Cardinals, but twice broke his leg in preliminary work with the Cardinals,<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://www.torranceca.gov/archivednewspapers/Herald/1922%20Sept%201%20-%201924%20July%2029/PDF/00000821.pdf|title = Spotlights On Sport|last = Keene|first = Jack|date = April 8, 1924|work = Torrance Herald|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140812212253/http://www.torranceca.gov/archivednewspapers/Herald/1922%20Sept%201%20-%201924%20July%2029/PDF/00000821.pdf|archive-date = August 12, 2014|url-status = dead}}</ref> leaving him out for the season. On December 10, 1924, after a quarrel with his fiancee, Jack went to the house of a friend in Memphis and committed suicide with a pistol.<ref>{{Closed access}} {{cite news|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=L6AH5AASMTQwNjA5NDY4OS4zOTIxOTM6MToxMzoxMzIuMTk4LjUwLjEz&p_action=doc&s_lastnonissuequeryname=8&d_viewref=search&p_queryname=8&p_docnum=2&p_docref=v2:122AFBBA107AC9E4@EANX-1261D3413259D416@2424132-12603343D7B8C7E9@22-126298A895F2658D@|newspaper=Cleveland Plain Dealer|title=Ball Player Kills Self|date=December 12, 1924}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Fred Russell|title=Bury Me In An Old Press Box: Good Times And Life Of A Sportswriter|page=46}}</ref>

====1924==== thumb|upright=1.65|Image from the Vanderbilt–Marines game. Wakefield is at the far right, number 14. Fred Russell's ''Fifty Years of Vanderbilt Football'' dubs 1924 "the most eventful season in the history of Vanderbilt football." Vanderbilt opened Wakefield's senior season in the rain on September 27, 1924, against Henderson-Brown at Dudley Field in Nashville, winning by a score of 13–0. Wakefield scored both touchdowns. The first came after captain and guard Tuck Kelly blocked a punt, the other on a pass into the end zone from quarterback Nig Waller.<ref name="50Years" /> In the game with the Quantico Marines, Vanderbilt was stymied by a 13–13 tie. A newspaper account describes Vanderbilt's first score:

<blockquote>It was Lynn Bomar's gigantic figure that broke up what looked like a Marine cakewalk. After receiving the kickoff, the Marines drove steadily to Vanderbilt's 10-yard line as Goettge repeatedly completed short passes. At the 10, Groves dropped back. The pass from center was low. He missed it. He reached for the ball. It trickled off his fingers. The Commodores were boring in. Wakefield was in there. Then Bomar came charging through. He picked up the ball and with a twist was out of Groves' grasp. He came out of the bunch with a long, charging run. Then he seemed a little undecided. One fleeting glance behind him and he struck out. Up came his free arm to brush off his headgear. His thin, yellow hair stood out. On he swept like a thundercloud of vengeance across the goal. Bedlam broke loose.<ref name="50Years" /></blockquote>

To open the second half, Waller fumbled the kickoff. The Marines recovered and were already near the goal. The Commodores' line held the Marines scoreless inside the 10-yard line on three separate occasions, mostly due to Wakefield, Bob Ledyard, and Jess Keene.<ref name="50Years" />

As an interim team captain following the loss of both Kelly and Bomar to injuries, Wakefield scored twice in the Commodores' 13–0 win over the Auburn Tigers, and defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 3–0 with a 37-yard drop-kick field goal.<ref name="vufactbook" /> He also played every minute of an inspired game against Minnesota, resulting in Vanderbilt's first win over a Northern school: "Wakefield chose his plays with excellent judgement. His tackling forced the Gophers frequently to take time out, and he repeatedly threw Minnesota back for losses", reported the ''Nashville Tennessean''.<ref name="Traughber">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-GEVBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA84|author=William L. Traughber|page=83|title=Vanderbilt Football: Tales of Commodore Gridiron History|isbn=9781625842312|date=2011-09-08|publisher=History Press}}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The final game with Sewanee saw the Tigers win for the first time in years, 16 to 0. In the first few minutes of play, Wakefield suffered a broken leg, yet played for ten more minutes before hobbling to the bench, joining Kelly and Bomar.<ref name="50Years" /> Following his senior season, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American, having received first-team honors from the International News Service (INS), the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), and Billy Evans.<ref name="ncaarecordsbook">''2014 NCAA Football Records Book'', [http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2014/Awards.pdf Award Winners] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126094941/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2014/awards.pdf |date=2018-11-26 }}, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Indianapolis, Indiana, pp. 5 & 17 (2014). Retrieved August 17, 2014.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Traughber|first=Bill|title=Vanderbilt Football: Tales of Commodore Gridiron History|isbn=978-1-60949-423-0|publisher=The History Press|year=2011|page=83}}</ref> Wakefield was selected a second-team All-American by Walter Camp of ''Collier's Weekly'', who said, "The south has been entirely overlooked this year on the first eleven. It is a well known fact that the experts in that section were positive Wakefield of Vanderbilt would draw one of the ends."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1938571/wakefield_evans/|title=Camp Springs Annual Surprise By Passing Up Big Three Squads|access-date=March 8, 2015|date=December 30, 1924|page=5|work=Mount Carmel Item|via=Newspapers.com|author=Billy Evans|author-link=Billy Evans}} {{Open access}}</ref> Billy Evans, who selected Wakefield first-team All America, claimed that "Wakefield is one of the best ends I have seen in years. Southern experts rate him the greatest end the south has ever produced."<ref>{{cite news|work=Iowa City Press-Citizen|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1938589/evans_all_america/|page=11|date=December 11, 1924|title=2 Notre Dame Meb Selected For 1st Team|access-date=March 8, 2015|via=Newspapers.com|author=Billy Evans|author-link=Billy Evans}} {{Open access}}</ref>

===Track=== Wakefield was also a member of Vanderbilt's track team.<ref name=obitu/>

===Coaching career=== After graduating from Vanderbilt, Wakefield became an assistant coach under McGugin from 1925 to 1928.<ref>''The Commodore'', Vanderbilt yearbook. 1926, p. 110.</ref> He coached the ends. Larry Creson was cited as an example of a Wakefield protégé.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/speccol/digcoll/pubs/1927_VU-Football.pdf|title=1927 Vanderbilt Commodores|access-date=2014-12-28|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304192114/http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/speccol/digcoll/pubs/1927_VU-Football.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

<!--Edwin Pope's ''Football's Greatest Coaches'' tells us this story about coach Henry Russell "Red" Sanders: "Or if you knew him back when, you might have been with him some 2:00 A. M., when he'd telephone old Vanderbilt hero Heck Wakefield, disguise his voice, and insist that Wakefield buy an insurance policy–at such length that Wakefield finally ripped his telephone from the wall."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/fottballsgreates00pope#page/208/mode/2up/search/wakefield|title=Football's Greatest Coaches|author=Edwin Pope|author-link=Edwin Pope|page=209}}</ref>

-->

==Post-coaching career and death== Wakefield went into banking in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1929. On June 17, 1929, he was shot twice, but survived.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4777028/the_indianapolis_news/|work=The Indianapolis News|page=11|title=Hek Wakefield Shot|date=June 21, 1929|access-date=March 29, 2016|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref> In 1936, coach McGugin died, and Wakefield was a pall bearer.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2402408/kingsport_times/|work=Kingsport Times|page=6|title=Pay Last Tribute To Grand Old Man|date=January 21, 1936|access-date=January 25, 2017|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref> The same year, Wakefield suffered a broken jaw in a car crash.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8555531/kingsport_times/|work=Kingsport Times|page=8|title=Seven Die In Tenn. During Week End|date=April 20, 1936|access-date=January 25, 2017|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref>

===Death=== In 1962, Wakefield was found dead, lying in the doorway of his motel room near his parked car which had apparently been involved in a crash.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2072051//|work=The Times Record|title=Former Vanderbilt Football Star Found Dead|access-date=March 26, 2015|page=16|via=Newspapers.com|date=November 20, 1962}} {{Open access}}</ref> The car was badly damaged; the seat stained with blood.<ref name=obitu/> The investigator said Wakefield had likely crashed into a utility pole and managed to drive back to his motel before collapsing.<ref name=obitu/>

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== *{{Find a Grave}}

{{Navboxes | title = Henry Wakefield – championships, awards and honors | list1 = {{1921 Vanderbilt Commodores football navbox}} {{1922 Vanderbilt Commodores football navbox}} {{1923 College Football Composite All-Southerns}} {{1924 College Football Composite All-Southerns}} {{1924 College Football Consensus All-Americans}} {{Walter Camp Southern All-Americans navbox}} }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakefield, Henry}} Category:1899 births Category:1962 deaths Category:American football drop kickers Category:American football ends Category:American football fullbacks Category:Vanderbilt Commodores football coaches Category:Vanderbilt Commodores football players Category:All-American college football players Category:All-Southern college football players Category:Sportspeople from Birmingham, Alabama Category:People from Lincoln County, Tennessee Category:Players of American football from Nashville, Tennessee Category:Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama Category:Road incident deaths in Tennessee Category:20th-century American sportsmen

Henry Wakefield (American football)

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