Rodman, George

George Rodman – (1980)

 

GEORGE RADMAN
Inducted April 30, 1980

An exceptionally talented athlete, he excelled in football, baseball and basketball at Lorain High, and earned All-America gridiron honors in 1938 as a halfback for the University of North Carolina Tarheels.

As a tailback in the single wing attack of the Kiski Prep football team in 1935, he was elected Captain by his teammates. He received an athletic scholarship to the U. of North Carolina in 1936, where he garnered six varsity letters, three apiece in football and baseball.

Selected as Most Valuable Player by his Tarheel teammates in 1938, he was described thusly by an admiring sportswriter: “Halfback George Radman is one of the smartest players in Tarheel history, possessing not only a great fighting heart but an uncanny football sense as well.”

He captained the North Carolina baseball squad in 1940, leading the team in hitting with a .400 average. He pitched and played the outfield for three varsity seasons. His clutch 3-for-4 performance at the plate against Duke in his final baseball game for coach Bunn Hearn enabled him to reach the lofty .400 plateau. Later he signed a pro baseball contract and performed for a minor league team in Glen Falls, N.Y.

Following graduation from North Carolina, he put in a brief stint with a pro football eleven in Charlotte (N.C.). He entered the coaching profession, serving as a graduate football assistant at U.N.C. in 1940, assistant football coach at the U. of Oklahoma in 1946, and as an assistant gridiron mentor at U. of North Carolina from 1947-54.

Mr. Radman’s years of college coaching provided many memorable moments. He participated in the Gator Bowl, defeating North Carolina State; in the Cotton Bowl against Rice Institute; and in the Sugar Bowl versus U. of Oklahoma.