40 Facts About Curley Byrd

Harry Clifton "Curley" Byrd was an American university administrator, educator, athlete, coach, and politician.

Curley Byrd resigned as university president in order to enter politics in 1954.

Curley Byrd ran an unsuccessful campaign as the Democratic candidate for Maryland governor against Theodore McKeldin.

Curley Byrd later received appointments to state offices with responsibilities in the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay.

Curley Byrd was a proponent of a "separate but equal" status of racial segregation in his roles as both university administrator and political candidate.

In 2015, the Student Government Association agreed to a resolution in support of changing the name of Curley Byrd Stadium because they noted that Curley Byrd was "a racist and a segregationist" who "barred blacks from participating in sports and enrolling into the University until 1951".

Harry Clifton Curley Byrd was born on February 12,1889, in Crisfield, Maryland.

Curley Byrd attended Crisfield High School, where he excelled on the baseball diamond, and was known as his hometown's first recreational jogger.

Curley Byrd was tall, and as the saying goes, built like a whip.

Curley Byrd looked like Rupert of Hentzau, and had all of that worthy's cold, sinister resolution about everything that he did.

In 1905, Curley Byrd graduated from Crisfield High School and enrolled at the Maryland Agricultural College, which is known as the University of Maryland.

Curley Byrd was a star college athlete and participated in varsity football, baseball, and track.

Curley Byrd served as the football team captain in 1907, as the pitcher on the baseball team, and set a school record 10.0-second 100-yard dash in track.

Curley Byrd graduated second in his class with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering in 1908.

Curley Byrd played for Maryland-based semi-professional baseball teams while pursuing his graduate studies.

Curley Byrd returned to Maryland later that year, and in 1913, married Katherine Dunlop Turnbull.

The college turned to Curley Byrd, who was serving as coach at Western High School in Georgetown, and he was willing to help his alma mater with scrimmages.

Curley Byrd worked as a sportswriter for The Washington Star, a job he held until 1932.

Curley Byrd pointed out mistakes and explained what you did wrong.

Curley Byrd was appointed to the post of assistant university president in 1918.

Curley Byrd became a proponent of unification of the Maryland Agricultural College and the Baltimore professional schools into a single public University of Maryland, and he was instrumental in what became the Consolidation Act of 1920.

Curley Byrd named the student newspaper The Diamondback in 1921, and in 1933, he was the lead advocate for the adoption of the diamondback terrapin as the university's official nickname and mascot.

In 1932, Curley Byrd was promoted to vice president of the university.

Curley Byrd was a staunch supporter of a "separate but equal" state university system.

Curley Byrd acceded to McKeldin and secured approval from the board for both the Princess Anne expansions as well as a sizable increase to the university budget.

In 1945, Curley Byrd hired 32-year-old Paul "Bear" Bryant to his first head coaching post.

The tensions came to a head when Curley Byrd reinstated a player Bryant had suspended for violating team rules.

Two years later, Curley Byrd hired Jim Tatum as football coach.

Maryland was the only Sinful Seven school that was a major football power with eighty scholarship players, and Curley Byrd led them in their stand against the Sanity Code.

Curley Byrd had Maryland accept the bowl invitation, despite Tatum's objections.

Opponents in The Baltimore Sun alleged that Curley Byrd emphasized athletics over academics and belittled him as the only college football coach to rise to the position of university president.

Curley Byrd built the University of Maryland Golf Course in 1959.

Curley Byrd resigned from the post in 1953 and his tenure ended effectively on December 31.

Curley Byrd resigned from the presidency in January 1954 to embark upon an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of Maryland.

McKeldin won comfortable majorities in Baltimore's black, Jewish, and upper-middle class white districts, while Curley Byrd took all of the blue-collar white South and East Baltimore neighborhoods, including McKeldin's boyhood home along Eutaw Street.

Curley Byrd went on to make unsuccessful bids for the Democratic nominations to the US Senate in 1964 and the US Congress in 1966.

Curley Byrd ignored Tawes' warning to "stay away from private planting" by promoting the formation of leasing cooperatives, but his plan failed due to opposition in the Maryland General Assembly.

Curley Byrd organized the College Park Rotary Club and served as its first president.

Curley Byrd was a member of the Defense Orientation Conference Association, an organization which educates civilians on the Defense Department's programs and policies.

Curley Byrd died of a heart condition on October 2,1970, at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.