Don Whitmire Famous Navy and Alabama...

July 1, 1922 - Giles County, Tennessee - Don Whitmire, who was with the University of Alabama in 1941 and 1942 as the Navy’s tackle from 1943 to 1944, was born.

The NFF’s bio on Don states that he made one All-America team for the NEA in 1942, was a consensus All-America in 1943, and was a unanimous All-America in 1944. Rip Miller, the Navy’s line coach, recruited him for the Midshipmen after spotting his picture in Street and Smith Football Magazine in 1943.    Don Whitmire was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1956 after the National Football Foundation tabulated its votes.

Right after this event, his hometown of Decatur, Alabama, held a parade, with 9,000 spectators lining the road to cheer the accomplishments of this gridiron legend. At his Hall of Fame induction, he said, "Football taught me the virtue of team play and enhanced my leadership qualities. These traits have been most valuable in my Navy career. Football taught me to take hard knocks and come up fighting."

This young man went to even greater heights after football. Whitmire was a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy and directed the evacuation of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. It was the biggest evacuation in world history, with 82,000 men, women, and children escaping to freedom.