Who is the greatest athlete in University of Miami history? There are so many worthy candidates. Names like Michael Irvin, Rick Barry, Ray Lewis, Ted Hendricks, Pat Burrell or even Olympic diver Greg Louganis immediately come to mind. But none of them excelled in as many sports or earned as many varsity letters than Whitey Campbell. Campbell (#34) is pictured below on the sidelines during a game in 1949. UM head coach Andy Gustafson is standing at the far right. Born Alexander Carr Campbell in Caldwell, NJ, Campbell lettered in football, baseball, basketball and even competed in boxing from 1946 to 1949. He didn’t just play 4 different sports, he was good at all of them. In addition to being a standout football player, Campbell was the first UM basketball player to score 1,000 points. In baseball, he hit .301 as a freshman, .412 as a sophomore, .328 as a junior and .428 as a senior. His 12 varsity letters are the most of any UM athlete.
After his playing career, Campbell went into coaching. He was an assistant football coach at Miami Jackson High School in the early 1950s, where he mentored Lee Corso and Joe Brodsky. Campbell later became UM’s head baseball coach in 1958 and from 1960-62, compiling a 69-36-3 record before Ron Fraser took over. He was also an assistant football coach at UM under Andy Gustafson. The Campbell family has remained prominent in South Florida sports. His son-in-law Dave Mosure was a longtime high school coach in Miami-Dade County. Campbell’s grandson John Mosure was a standout running back at Miami’s Columbus High School and won the Kotys Award as Dade County’s Player of the Year in 2005. John Mosure went on to play collegiately at Colorado State University. Whitey Campbell passed away in 2015 after battling Alzheimer’s Disease. He was 89 years old. To read more stories about the Orange Bowl, visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ghostsoftheorangebowl
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