Fred Graham played on Dr. Clarence Spears’ outstanding West Virginia teams of 1922, 1923 and 1924, serving captain on the 1924 Mountaineer squad that won eight of nine games, defeated Centre College 13-6 at the Polo Grounds in New York City and finished the year with a resounding 40-7 victory over rival Washington & Jefferson.
All that separated West Virginia from an undefeated season and an invitation to the Rose Bowl was a 14-7 loss to Jock Sutherland’s Pitt team in Pittsburgh.
West Virginia did go to a bowl game in 1922 with Graham starting at left end. The Morgantown High and Indiana Normal High product led the team in receiving yardage that year and helped the Mountaineers to a 10-0-1 record, the lone blemish being a 12-12 tie against underdog Washington & Lee at Laidley Field in Charleston. WVU defeated Pitt, 9-6, and also claimed a 14-0 triumph of Washington & Jefferson in the regular season finale before defeating Gonzaga, 21-13, in the East-West Christmas Classic played in San Diego, California.
Graham missed a portion of the 1923 season with tonsillitis and when it became apparent that his services would be needed for the entire 1924 season Spears took matters into his own hands and performed surgery to remove his tonsils to make sure he didn’t miss any action. Spears also performed a similar operation on fullback Gus Ekberg as well.
Graham, who lettered in basketball as a backup forward in 1925, was named to referee Tom Thorp’s All-America team and also earned All-America special mention from several Eastern newspapers following his senior year in 1924.
He was one of four West Virginia University players selected for an East-West all-star football game played in Cleveland, Ohio to generate funds to build Cleveland Stadium. The East team was coached by Spears while the West team was coached by Notre Dame’s Knute Rockne. West Virginia’s Nick Nardacci scored both touchdowns and Graham started at left end in the East team’s 13-12 victory.
Graham was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon National Fraternity and received his engineering degree from WVU in 1925. He turned down an offer to join Spears’ staff at Minnesota to assist new Mountaineer coach Ira Errett Rodgers for the 1925 season. He also played one season of professional football with the Frankford Yellow Jackets, Providence Steam Rollers and the Chicago Bulls in 1926. Graham later worked as a manufacturer’s representative for Graham Products until his death of a heart ailment at age 51 on Aug. 29, 1952.
In 1935, the Pittsburgh Press selected a 22-member all-time West Virginia football team and Graham was listed as one of the two starting ends on the squad.
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He was named an inaugural member of WVU’s Mountaineer Legends Society in 2016.
