On this date 64 years ago, Ira Carrithers, one of the University of Illinois' most prominent athletes of the George Huff coaching era, died in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at the age of 70.
The stocky and powerfully built athlete of the early 1900s was a native of Pontiac. Carrithers played halfback for the football team, threw the shot put for Harry Gill's exceptional track and field squad and patrolled the outfield for Huff's baseball team. He served as captain in each sport and three of the five Illini units on which he lettered won Big Ten championships.
Carrithers also was very active on campus, serving as vice president of the YMCA and carrying memberships in both the Phoenix Senior Society and the Philomathean Literary Society.