1944 University graduate, football captain James Potts tragically lost life days before heading to Princeton
Sep. 8—The determination to which they pointed at University with James Potts can be found in an anecdote from March 1944.
The then-US senior — a four-sport student-athlete and the Preppers' football captain in 1943 — wanted to take his Navy V-12 examinations. That required Potts to travel to Washington, D.C., and find an area high school administering it.
Potts arrived late to D.C. on March 15, hailed a taxi and asked to be taken to the nearest high school. The driver honored his wish, taking the World War II-era White teenager and son of a prominent Cleveland attorney to a predominantly Black high school with 30 other young men taking the exam.
Coming from perhaps Greater Cleveland's most well-known all-boys private school of the day, such a dynamic was different from what Potts was accustomed. But it showed the character of the teenager who found a way to take that exam and didn't hesitate in a society then that may have normalized the idea he should.
"Because he is obviously naval officer material, I thought there might be a possibility that due to this unfortunate chain of circumstances there might have been some overlooking of his paper," US headmaster Harry Peters wrote the Chief of Naval Personnel in April. "May I say that this action is being taken entirely without Potts' knowledge, nor would he suggest that anything whatever be done with it."
It implied enough on its own.
Sadly, such a leader was in the final months of what could have been a promising life ahead, leaving a "what if" that resonates decades later.
Potts was born March 30, 1927, the son of Fred, the aforementioned prominent Cleveland attorney, and Marguerite. The family lived at 2844 Fairmount Boulevard in Cleveland Heights.
After attending Hathaway Brown for kindergarten, Potts enrolled at US for first grade in the fall of 1932.
His academic promise was seen early, including a perfect 20 in reading and spelling and 19 on arithmetic fundamentals on his Metropolitan Achievement tests as part of Miss Anderson's second-grade class. Or the B-plus average in a likely daunting curriculum in fifth grade.
In his file still sitting in the US archive in Hunting Valley today, there's a piece of his handwriting from elementary school. Jimmy, as he was called, wrote, "Come to my garden in springtime, and (hear) birds singing sweetly for summer."
Potts was not lacking in activities once he got to the US upper school in 1940.
He played freshman football and baseball and had such a talent for ice skating he was featured with his partner in two of the three Cleveland daily newspapers.
By his sophomore year, Potts lettered in football, hockey and baseball.
"Ever since Jim entered US in the first grade, he has been noticed for his persistence and determination to succeed in whatever he pursued," the US yearbook staff wrote in his senior profile in 1944.
He wound up a four-sport student-athlete. Because the hockey program folded amid World War II, Potts played hockey on an amateur team representing the Cleveland Skating Club.
He found a new winter venture for US, taking up diving.
But it was football and baseball where Potts was most at home athletically.
In the fall of 1942, Potts started every game at center for US, which went 5-2. The Preppers had five straight wins, including defeating Willoughby, Detroit Cranbrook and Buffalo Nichols, and posted three shutouts.
"University may well be proud of her 1942 football team, for not since 1935 has US compiled a record that can be compared with the 1942 eleven," it was written in the US yearbook in 1943.
The 1943 US football team had five returning lettermen, including Potts seeking his third letter as a 165-pound center wearing No. 26 who added defensive back duties.
Similar to the year prior, the Preppers struggled in a season-opening setback to Parma, but found their footing for three straight wins. Week 2 featured US' first night football game in school history at Willoughby, a 20-6 victory.
"Captain Jim Potts, backing up the line, played fine defensive football," the US News reported.
In a 7-0 win over rival Shaker Heights the following week, Potts blocked a punt to set up the game's lone touchdown by Rudy Schonitzer. He also recorded an interception as a DB in a 27-0 rout of John Hay.
Following a loss to Berea, in which Potts was named by US News as the "outstanding player in the game," the Preppers closed the year by defeating Shady Side (Pa.) and Hudson WRA to again finish 5-2.
"Jim Potts, captain and center on this year's University School grid team, last night was selected as the team's most valuable player and given the Dan R. Conway award at a banquet honoring the Prepper squad at the University Club," the Cleveland Press reported Dec. 5, 1943. "... The lettermen were guests of Fred Potts, former University School coach and father of Jim, and Dr. Robert Way at the dinner and the Cleveland-Indianapolis hockey game at the Arena."
Added the US News staff following the honor: "Jim has been outstanding on defense and has contributed greatly to the team's success. He is one of the most popular boys in school."
Potts earned his third baseball letter in the spring of 1944 as US went 6-6. Highlights for the outfielder included scoring the opening run after a leadoff single in a 2-0 win over Shaw, the Preppers' first over the East Cleveland power in five years, and a one-handed catch and two key singles as US defeated Benedictine, 3-1.
Across three sports, because he didn't letter in diving, Potts earned seven letters over three years, three each in football and baseball and one in hockey.
Believing the Navy was not responding on Potts' tests due to the slight lack of punctuality in D.C., Peters wrote twice to the Chief of Naval Personnel in Arlington, Va.
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"May I say first that Potts is one of the ablest boys in the school, having been an excellent captain of last year's football team, being chairman of the board of prefects, the most important student governing position in school, being a member of the swimming team and the baseball team, captain of company one in our University School battalion, member of the senior honorary societies as well as ranking scholastically eighth in a class of 47," Peters wrote.
The answer, as it turned out, was Potts didn't score high enough on his V-12 qualifier.
So Plan B after graduating from US in 1944 became for Potts to enter Princeton in the fall and enroll in a Navy V-5 program, with recommendation in hand from Peters, and pursue his Navy aspirations from there.
He never got there.
At around 1:45 a.m. on Aug. 24, 1944, Potts had just finished visiting a friend who was on furlough from the Marines.
Driving alone in a 1941 Cadillac sedan, he lost control of the car at the corner of Shelburne and Belvoir in Shaker Heights. According to the Cleveland News, the car bounded over a tree lawn and directly struck a tree.
James Potts' 1941 Cadillac is shown in the Cleveland News following the crash in 1944 that took his life. (Courtesy University School)"In my 20 years' experience, I have never seen an automobile smashed as badly as this car," Shaker Heights police detective Joseph Eddy told the Cleveland Press.
In turn, according to the News, police had difficulty extracting Potts from the wreckage to get him medical assistance.
Potts was taken to St. Luke's Hospital, where he died four hours later from a skull fracture and internal injuries.
He was 17 years old.
"He was to have entered Princeton University in a few days, according to his father," the News wrote.
His funeral was held Aug. 26, and Potts was laid to rest in the family plot in Section 42 at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.
Today, the family plot is covered entirely by greenery, with headstones jutting out at the top.
His classmates donated a sportsmanship trophy for US in 1944, naming it in his honor posthumously and making him the first recipient. It was given for "outstanding sportsmanship, forceful leadership and ability."
In 1946, Fred Potts donated a new electric scoreboard to the school, writing a check for $1,197.56 to cover the cost.
"I tried mighty hard to make myself go to your Cranbrook game last Saturday but wasn't up to it," Fred wrote to US administrator and coach J.D. McCarraher. "We are always glad when your teams win and satisfied when they lose if they have done their best."
McCarraher responded: "We hope that as time goes on, you can come and get some use of it. I can understand your feeling perfectly."
James Potts' life seemingly had so much promise, from the gridiron to the diamond to the classroom and that March day in D.C.
Just like that, he was gone.
But as the US yearbook staff wrote in the months prior to his far-too-early death, his place in its community was clear.
"A painful, solid thud of shoulder pads, a rousing cheer from the home stands — Captain Jim has just stopped another aspiring fullback for a yard loss," his senior profile read. "This sturdy red top was an invaluable center on this year's successful football team and, as such, was chosen the most valuable player, and to top it all, he was also the guiding light of captains.
"We feel sure that his pleasing manner and brawny physique will make him well liked by all those he comes in contact with as he was by all his classmates."
