Photo of John Shelburne on the football field during his senior year.
Early Life
John Andrew Shelburne, born on September 26, 1896, came from a family of 10 children in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a 5”11, 200 pound bruising fullback and track star at English High School before attending Colby Academy in New London, NH for a year. He made a name for himself as the “hardest plugging fullback in schoolboy circles” and eventually went on to matriculate to Dartmouth College where he starred in the gashing backfield for the Big Green.
AEGIS Yearbook Photo of John Shelburne with Dartmouth’s 1920 Varsity Football Team.
Life at Dartmouth
John Shelburne had an illustrious athletic career at Dartmouth setting records in track & field and shaping some of Dartmouth’s most formidable backfields in its history. Shelburne set Dartmouth records in both the 100 yard dash and shot put in track and field. On the football field, Shelburne started at fullback, left tackle, and linebacker. Shelburne gained acknowledgement as an All-American for shoring up Dartmouth’s bruising backfield, offensive line, and defense in his time there.
Photo of John Shelburne and his football teammate during his sophomore year at Dartmouth.
Post-Dartmouth
Shelburne continued his football career, playing six games professionally for the Hammond Pros in 1922. He then proceeded to accept a head coaching position at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania for a few years during the late 1920s. Then, in his return to Roxbury, Massachusetts in the 1930s, Shelburne goes on to become an active social worker as Youth Director at Robert Gould Shaw House.
