University of North Carolina Athletics
Former Tar Heel Standout Ed Sutton Passes Away
September 24, 2008 | General
Sept. 24, 2008
Ed Sutton, who lettered at Carolina in football, basketball and track in the mid-1950s, died on September 20, in Redwood City, Calif. Sutton was one of the first eight undergraduates to attend UNC on a Morehead Scholarship. He played two years on the basketball team, ran track for three years and was a standout running back on the football team from 1954-56. He ran the ball 193 times for 1,334 yards, an average per carry of 6.9 yards. That is a school record that stands even today, more than 50 years later.
Sutton played in three senior all-star games, then went on to a five-year career in the National Football League. In 1961, he played for Coach Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers, who won the NFL title.
He served in a M.A.S.H. unit in Vietnam and later practiced medicine in California. He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
A book about his life, "Tales of the Comet: The Fast-Paced Life of Ed Sutton," was recently published. Call 910-471-3723 if you are interested in purchasing a copy of the book.
