By JOE HOLTZAPFEL
Most people remember coach Bob Lutz’s second stint as head coach of the Ironton
Fighting Tigers, but did you know there was a man who coached them at three different times?
Charlton “Shorty” Davies first coached the Fighting Tigers from 1922-1924. This was after playing football at Ironton and then moving on to Ohio State and West Virginia. Shorty also played a few games with the famous Ironton Tanks. I’ll talk a little more about that later but let’s continue on with his coaching career with Ironton. His second go around came in 1927-1931. His third try was from 1943-1952.
Penny Heighton is quick to tell about how Coach Davies was going to retire in 1950 and the town gave him a 1949 Chevy. He later decided to come back but he still kept the car. That last year wasn’t very good to him as he failed to win a game. His overall record was 82-58-12.
After Davies starred at Ironton in high school he played for the Buckeyes of The Ohio State University. He was a running back and played behind the great Chic Harley, the 1st consensus All-American at OSU.
Davies also moved on to West Virginia and played some running back for the Mountaineers. While at West Virginia he came to Ironton and played a very important game with the Ironton Tanks against arch rival Portsmouth Spartans.
Here is the way it was reported in the paper.
The Portsmouth team which had been playing all fall, was accompanied to Ironton by 300 confident fans. Ironton fans were confident also, because they had an ace up their sleeve: T.C. “Shorty” Davies, a former Ironton High School star and a running back at Ohio State and West Virginia Universities, returned home to play for the Tanks in the big game. (Davies refused his share of the gate receipts so he could retain his college eligibility). Davies proved to be an early problem for Portsmouth when three minutes into the game
he carried the ball around right end and down the sideline for a spectacular 50-yard touchdown run. Portsmouth could never seem to get going against the strong defense, and the game ended. Ironton 12, Portsmouth 0.
The history and tradition that resides in Ironton is so incredible, I never get tired of writing about it. Coach Davies is just another part of that tradition.
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