Ed Sutton

Who was Ed Sutton?

Edward Wike Sutton was an American football halfback and defensive back in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants. He played college football at the University of North Carolina and was drafted in the third round of the 1957 NFL Draft.

Even while playing professional football, Sutton began attending medical school, then after graduation from the University of Tennessee, he began a practice in Gardena, California. He left the practice for two years when he was drafted into the U.S. Army Medical Corps, where he served two years in a M.A.S.H. unit in Vietnam. Relocating in 1978, he started his long-time occupational medicine practice in Fresno, California, known as Valley Industrial and Family Medical Group.

In 1999 Dr. Sutton was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. For decades he was active in the NFL Alumni Association, and was a recipient of the NFL Alumni Career Achievement Award. A few months prior to his death, he completed his autobiography entitled "Tales of the Comet: The Fast-Paced Life of Ed Sutton," in conjunction with Bob Terrell.

Sutton died September 20, 2008 at Sequoyah Cardiac Surgery Hospital in Redwood City, due to complications following heart bypass surgery.