Harry Clifton "Curley" Byrd (February 12, 1889 – October 2, 1970) was an American university administrator, educator, athlete, coach, and politician. Byrd began a long association with the University of Maryland as an undergraduate in 1905, and eventually rose to the position of university president from 1936 to 1954.
In the interim, he had also served as the university's athletic director and head coach for the football and baseball teams. Byrd amassed a 119–82–15 record in football from 1911 to 1934 and 88–73–4 record in baseball from 1913 to 1923. In graduate school at Georgetown University, he became one of football's early users of the newly legalized forward pass, and he had a brief baseball career including one season as pitcher for the San Francisco Seals.
Byrd resigned as university president in order to enter Democratic Party politics in the 1954 gubernatorial election. He ran an unsuccessful campaign as the Democratic candidate for Maryland governor against Theodore McKeldin. Byrd later received appointments to state offices with responsibilities in the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. In the 1960s, he made unsuccessful bids for seats in each chamber of the United States Congress. 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 Byrd Stadium (now SECU Stadium) because they noted that Byrd was "a racist and a segregationist" who "barred blacks from participating in sports and enrolling into the University until 1951". On September 28, 2015, University of Maryland President Wallace Loh appointed a task force to develop viewpoints and options. The University President then made a recommendation to the University System of Maryland Board of Regents — the governing body of Maryland state universities — to change the name to "Maryland Stadium". The ultimate decision on any name change rests with the Board of Regents. On December 11, 2015, the Board of Regents voted 12–5 to remove the "Byrd" from the stadium's name, renaming it Maryland Stadium temporarily before its naming rights were sold.
Early life Harry Clifton Byrd was born on February 12, 1889, in Crisfield, Maryland. He was one of six children of oysterman and county commissioner William Franklin Byrd and his wife Sallie May Byrd. In his youth, Byrd worked in the Chesapeake Bay fishing industry, where he saved most of his money to finance his college education.Jason Rhodes, Somerset County, Maryland: A Brief History, pp. 111–a112, The History Press, 2007, . He attended Crisfield High School, where he excelled on the baseball diamond, and was also known as his hometown's first recreational jogger.
A later source described how he appeared in 1905
He was tall, and as the saying goes, built like a whip. He had a startlingly handsome face, with big, flashing eyes, a splotch of florid red on each cheek, and a mane of black curly hair ... He looked like Rupert of Hentzau, and had all of that worthy's cold, sinister resolution about everything that he did.James Mallahan Cain, 60 Years of Journalism, p. 120, Popular Press, 1985, .
College career
In 1905, Byrd graduated from Crisfield High School and enrolled at the Maryland Agricultural College, which is now known as the University of Maryland. Byrd was a star college athlete and participated in varsity football, baseball, and track. He 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. Before leaving Crisfield, Byrd's father warned him not to "try to play that thing called football."Morris Allison Bealle, Kings of American Football: The University of Maryland, 1890–1952, p. 50, Columbia Publishing Co., 1952. He ignored the advice and reported for football practice where head coach Fred K. Nielsen told the undersized Byrd to "play with the kids" and that "football's a man's game."Bealle, p. 49. He was allowed, however, to fill in as an end on the scout team due to a shortage of players. After sitting out the first three games, Nielsen sent Byrd in as a substitute against Navy, and his play was impressive enough to earn a position on the first team. After the elder Byrd read of his son's newfound stardom in the newspaper, he wrote, "Since you're going to play football, I'm glad to see you're doing it well."Bealle, pp. 50–53. During the summers and on weekends, Byrd supplemented his income by continuing work as a fisherman. He graduated second in his class with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering in 1908.Harry Clifton Byrd papers, University of Maryland Libraries, retrieved July 4, 2010.
After graduation from Maryland, Byrd spent the next three years doing graduate work in law and journalism at George Washington University, Georgetown University, and Western Maryland College (now known as McDaniel College). In a time before eligibility limitations, he played football at George Washington and Georgetown and ran track at Western Maryland. At Georgetown in 1909, he was called the first quarterback in the East to master the forward pass, several years before Gus Dorais of Notre Dame did so in 1913.Ted Patterson and Edwin H. Remsberg, Football in Baltimore: History and Memorabilia, p. 41, JHU Press, 2000, .Georgetown Football Timeline , Hoya Saxa, retrieved March 21, 2009. According to The Georgetown Hoyas: A Story of A Rambunctious Football Team, Dorais's "end-over-end 'discus' throw was an exact copy" of Byrd's passing technique, and the Irish "got the headlines because they had a press agent and Georgetown didn't."Morris Allison Bealle, The Georgetown Hoyas: A Story of A Rambunctious Football Team, p. 75, Columbia Pub. Co., 1947.
Byrd also played for Maryland-based semi-professional baseball teams while pursuing his graduate studies. In 1910, the Chicago White Sox signed Byrd, but he was soon traded to the San Francisco Seals, a semi-professional Pacific Coast League baseball team for whom he pitched in 1912. He returned to Maryland later that year, and in 1913, married Katherine Dunlop Turnbull. Before they divorced twenty years later, the couple had three sons and a daughter: Harry, Sterling, William, and Evelyn.
Coaching career
In 1911, injuries claimed enough Maryland Agricultural football players that the team could no longer field a practice squad to scrimmage against. The college turned to Byrd, who was serving as coach at Western High School in Georgetown, and he was willing to help his alma mater with scrimmages. Byrd later replaced head coach Charley Donnelly, who resigned mid-season after accumulating a 2–4–2 record.1911 , College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved October 9, 2011. Byrd led the Aggies to wins in both of their final games of the season, against Western Maryland, 6–0, and Gallaudet, 6–2.David Ungrady, Tales from the Maryland Terrapins, pp. 18–20, Sports Publishing LLC, 2003, .
In 1913, the Maryland Agricultural College hired Byrd as an instructor in English and history, and he was named the head coach of the track and baseball teams, the latter of which he coached through 1923.2009 Maryland Baseball Media Guide, p. 25, University of Maryland, 2009. According to author David Ungrady in Tales from the Maryland Terrapins, the university initially offered Byrd $300 to coach football, but he demanded $1,200. The two parties came to agree upon that salary for all of his coaching and teaching duties which spanned nine months of the year. Byrd also worked as a sportswriter for The Washington Star, a job he held until 1932.
As football coach, he developed a unique offensive scheme called the "Byrd system", which combined elements of the single-wing and double-wing formations.Old Liners Need New Backfield This Season, The Evening Independent, August 30, 1935. One of Byrd's track and football players, Geary Eppley, said, "He never yelled in practice or at a game ... He pointed out mistakes and explained what you did wrong. He took a calm approach. The strongest thing he'd say was 'for cripes sake.'"
In 1915, his duties were expanded to include those of athletic director. That same year, he requested funds for the construction of the campus's first dedicated football stadium, which was named in his honor.Ungrady, p. 24. During his tenure as head football coach from 1911 to 1934, he compiled a 119–82–15 record.All-Time Coach Records by Year: Curley Byrd , College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved July 4, 2010.
Administrative career
Byrd was appointed to the post of assistant university president in 1918. He 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. 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, Byrd was promoted to vice president of the university. In July 1935, he was named the acting president of the university, and was officially appointed to the presidency in February 1936. During his tenure, the budget, facilities, faculty, and enrollment increased significantly. The school budget was increased and the campus expanded largely due to Byrd's deft political maneuvering in Annapolis and Washington. The school also saw a large growth in enrollment, due in part to returning veterans making use of the G.I. Bill after World War II.David Scott Brown, Richard Hofstadter: an Intellectual Biography, p. 37, University of Chicago Press, 2006, .C. Fraser Smith, Lenny, Lefty, And The Chancellor: The Len Bias Tragedy And The Search For Reform In Big-Time College Basketball, p. 27, Bancroft Press, 1992, . From 1945 to 1948, the university budget increased from $4.8 million to $9.8 million. Between 1935 and 1954, student enrollment grew from 3,400 to 16,000. Over that same time period, the value of the campus rose from $5 million to $65 million. Byrd, however stood fast on faculty salaries. He reportedly said, "Ph.D.s are a dime a dozen."Roger J. Brugger, Maryland, A Middle Temperament: 1634–1980, p. 565, JHU Press, 1996, . For years, Byrd refused to release the university's financial records to state legislators,C. Fraser Smith, William Donald Schaefer: a Political Biography, p. 125, JHU Press, 1999, . and how exactly he secured funding for many of his projects was largely a mystery.McMullen, p. 11. According to booster Jack Heise, Byrd financed a new basketball arena through the out-of-state tuition, paid by the federal government, for Maryland high school graduates who attended the university on the G.I. Bill. The General Accounting Office calculated that the extra fees totaled more than $2 million, but determined that they were within the bounds of legality.McMullen, p. 12.