A “stalwart” of the 1915 Vanderbilt football team, Irby Rice “Rabbit” Curry made the offense and the scoreboard whirl. As quarterback for the Commodores, Curry earned a second nickname, “Spirit of Vanderbilt,” for his courageous and enthusiastic play. The justification for this nickname was never more clearly demonstrated than in the 1915 season finale against Sewanee, a football power in those days and Vanderbilt’s big rival at the time. Curry, playing with three broken ribs, dashed eighty yards for a touchdown to break open a close game and pave the way to a Commodore victory. Curry was chosen All-Southern in both 1915 and 1916. Sadly, Curry died in the summer of 1918 when the plane he piloted was shot down by the Germans in World War I. Famed Coach Dan McGugin said at the time: “In the four years of my intimate association with Rabbit, I never heard him utter a word his mother might not hear and approve. He had a lion’s heart, but he was as gentle as a dove.” In 1921 the day before Vanderbilt was to play the powerhouse University of Texas, Coach McGugin took his Commodores to Curry’s grave site in his hometown of Marlin, Texas. His words inspired his players to crush Texas, 20-0, a game in which the Longhorns were favored by two touchdowns. “[Rabbit] was all heart,” McGugin told his team at the gravest, “I have a feeling that his spirit is hovering over us now.” Unquestionably, “Rabbit” Curry’s memory will forever hover above the halls of Vanderbilt.
