Harry P. Gamble

Harry Pollard "Hubby" Gamble, Jr. (March 22, 1904 – April 9, 1995) was a college football player, boxer, and attorney.[1][2][3] He also participated in swimming and gymnastics.[1] He then coached all these sports at his high school. Gamble was inducted into the Tulane University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.[1][2][4]

Not to be confused with Harry Gamble.
Harry P. Gamble, Jr.
Tulane Green Wave – No. 7; 26; 77
PositionEnd
ClassGraduate
MajorLaw
Career history
College
High schoolWarren Easton
Personal information
Born:(1904-03-22)March 22, 1904
New Orleans, Louisiana
Died:April 9, 1995(1995-04-09) (aged 91)
New Orleans, Louisiana
Weight165 lb (75 kg)
Career highlights and awards
  • SoCon championship (1925)
  • All-Southern (1926)
  • Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame
  • Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame

Early years

Harry Pollard Gamble, Jr. was born on March 22, 1904 in New Orleans, Louisiana, the third child of Harry Pollard Gamble, Sr. and Dorothy Edna Brian.

His father Harry Senior was a politician. He played on LSU football teams in 1894–95 and served in the Spanish–American War. He was appointed assistant attorney general in the state of Louisiana under Ruffin G. Pleasant. Following the Supreme Court ruling on Brown v. Board of Education, Gamble Senior devoted himself to the cause of segregation and preservation of state's rights, founding the American Society for the Preservation of State Government and Racial Integrity in 1955.[5] Gamble, Jr. described himself and his father as "segregationists up to the hilt."[6]

Tulane University

Football

Gamble was a prominent end for the Tulane Green Wave football team of Tulane University.[7] He was once a law partner of former teammate and famed Tulane quarterback Lester Lautenschlaeger.[3][8] Gamble was president of the Tulane Alumni Association from 1957 to 1958.[9][10]

1925

When Tulane beat Northwestern in 1925, a year in which it was Southern Conference Co-Champion, Chicago sportswriters "agreed that it was the best blocking team displayed there in ages, and it was Harry Gamble who did the lion's share of cutting down the opponents."[11] "That year, with his girl bride in the stands, he played like a demon. Not an inch was gained around him all season."[12] Tulane Stadium was dedicated to the 1925 team.[13]

1926

Gamble was captain and All-Southern in 1926,[1][14][15][16] the first season of Tulane Stadium. He played across from Gordon "Doc" Wilson at end. Gamble was the only captain in major football to be married, eloping to marry a miss Gretchen Bush. Coach Clark Shaughnessy joked, "If I ever get a bad Tulane team I think I'll hold eleven weddings and make them champions."[17] One description of his play reads "Not an inch was gained around his end last year by any Tulane enemy. And many a touchdown was scored around that end through Harry Gamble's magnificent interference."[17] Gamble was also called "a wizard at picking forward passes out of the ether."[18]

Boxing

Gamble coached boxing at Tulane for four years.[19]

Swimming and gymnastics

He was also on the varsity swimming and gymnastics teams.

High school coach

After college, Gamble coached football, gymnastics, swimming and diving at his alma mater, Warren Easton High School.[1][20][21] He is listed among the great coaches in New Orleans high school football history.[22] One source labels him "an expert gymnast" for coaching a seven time rope climbing champion.[23]

References
  1. "Harry P. Gamble, Jr. (Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame)". Allstate Sugar Bowl. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  2. "Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame".
  3. Clarence L. Mohr (March 2001). Tulane: The Emergence of a Modern University, 1945-1980. pp. 148, 228. ISBN 9780807125533.
  4. "Hall of Fame". Tulane University Athletics. Archived from the original on February 28, 2010. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  5. "Harry Pollard Gamble, Sr. Papers" (PDF). Retrieved January 28, 2015.
  6. "Kim Lacy Rogers collection, 1959–1996". Archived from the original on February 3, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  7. Fraternity, Kappa Sigma (1926). "Kappa Sigma Fraternity". Caduceus. 41 (5): 410.
  8. Roger Geiger (1999). History of Higher Education Annual: 1999: Southern Higher Education in the 20th Century. p. 97. ISBN 9781412825207.
  9. "Past Presidents". Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  10. "Waechter Named". Monroe News Star. September 12, 1958. p. 19.
  11. "Gridiron Leaders of 1926". The Salt Lake Tribune. September 4, 1926.
  12. "Tulane's Football Captain Becomes Star With Bride Cheering Him On". The Zanesville Signal. September 11, 1926.
  13. "Tulane University Football Program; Tulane vs. Virginia". November 18, 1950. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  14. "Football Captains". Ironwood Daily Globe. November 1, 1926. p. 7. Retrieved August 21, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Alabama Places 4 Men On Newspaper All-Southern Team". The Kingsport Times. November 28, 1926.
  16. "Year by Year Records". Archived from the original on January 29, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
  17. "Married Man Leads Tulane". St. Petersburg Times. September 13, 1926.
  18. "Green Wave of Tulane Will Invade New York For Game With N. Y. U." Shamokin News-Dispatch. October 13, 1926. p. 6. Retrieved March 2, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. Wilfrid Smith (July 23, 1939). "O'Brien Makes A Hit With Boys In Summer Camp". Chicago Sunday Tribune.
  20. Ron Brocato (December 2, 2014). "Jesuit Played for its first championship in 1931". Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  21. "Harry Gamble Will Coach Football at Warren Easton". Times-Picayune. December 21, 1926.
  22. Ron Brocato (August 12, 2010). "Best of New Orleans area high school football by position, Part 4 (Wide Receivers, Tight Ends & Coaches)". Retrieved January 28, 2015.
  23. "Rope Climber Never Beaten Over 7 Years". The Milwaukee Journal. July 30, 1937.
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