Jennings B. Whitworth

Jennings Bryan "Ears" Whitworth (September 17, 1908 – March 3, 1960) was an American football player and coach of football and baseball. He served as the head football coach at Oklahoma A&M College, now known as Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, (1950–1954) and the University of Alabama (1955–1957), compiling a career record of 26–51–14. Whitworth also coached baseball at Alabama (1933–1934) and the University of Georgia (1943), tallying a mark of 22–21.

Coaching career
From 1950 to 1954, he coached at Oklahoma A&M, and compiled a 22–27–1 record. From 1955 to 1957, he coached at Alabama, where he posted a 4–24–2 record that included a 14-game losing streak from 1955 to 1956. In his first year at Alabama, Whitworth was only allowed to hire only two of his own coaches and forced to retain the rest of former coach Harold Drew's assistants. This included athletic director Hank Crisp, Whitworth's boss, who was in charge of the defense. Whitworth brought assistant coach Moose Johnson with him from Oklahoma A&M. Following successive 2–7–1 seasons in 1956 and 1957, Whitworth was fired and replaced by Bear Bryant. In 1951, while Whitworth was coaching Oklahoma A&M, he instigated the infamous Johnny Bright Incident, which occurred in the football game in Stillwater, Oklahoma, against the visiting Drake University Bulldogs.

Whitworth was an Alabama graduate and had played tackle on the football team alongside Fred Sington. He was an assistant football coach at Alabama, Louisiana State University, and the University of Georgia prior to becoming a head coach. In 1959, Whitworth returned as a line coach for Wally Butts' SEC champion Georgia team.

Whitworth was the head baseball coach at Georgia in 1943, compiling a 1–10 won-loss record.

Family
Jennings Bryan Whitworth was born September 17, 1908 in Arkansas to parents James Ervin Whitworth (1870 – ?) and Lila Lee ? (1882 – ?). He married Virginia Ann Calvert (May 7, 1911 in West Monroe, Louisiana – May 11, 2003 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma) on July 21, 1936 in West Monroe, La. She was the daughter of Emmitt Griffin Calvert (1868 – 1951) and Johnnie Fletcher Tooke (1880 – 1926). Jennings died on March 3, 1960 in Athens, Georgia.

Additional sources

 * Stoddard, Tom, Turnaround, 1996, The Black Belt Press, ISBN 1-881320-70-7
 * Hooper, Matt (June 10, 2009) "Low Tide: 'Ears' Whitworth & the Lost History of Alabama Football". Birmingham Weekly