inductees

The Class of 1973

	HUNTER CARPENTER C. Hunter Carpenter entered Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1898. He used the alias of the fictitious Walter Brown during his early days at VPI because his father had forbidden him to play football. Carpenter, who, as Brown, had become known as “The Greatest Gobbler Of Them All,” was born in 1883 and raised in Clifton Forge, Virginia. Carpenter starred as halfback at VPI from 1900-1903. In 1903, the only time VPI had ever beaten the U.S. Naval Academy in football, Carpenter kicked a 46-yard field goal. The ball carried 15 yards beyond the goal post for an actual 61-yard kick. He played the entire game, most of the time without a jersey or stockings because they had been torn from his body. Carpenter’s chief ambition in those days was to beat Virginia. He accomplished that ambition when he left VPI in 1904 to captain North Carolina and led them to a glorious victory over Virginia. Carpenter returned to VPI the following year (1905) and was elected captain of the team. This Gobbler team was said to be the best in VPI history. Carpenter again achieved his greatest ambition by leading VPI to an 11-0 victory over Virginia. At the time Carpenter played, Walter Camp, the Father of American Football, named the All-American Team. Camp stated that Carpenter was probably the best football player in the United States, but refused to name him to the All-American Team because he wouldn’t pick any player that he had not personally seen. Despite the All-American slight by Camp, Carpenter was named to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1957.