54 Days until Catamount Football Kickoff - #54 Art Byrd, Retired

It's now 54 days until the kickoff of Catamount football on Saturday, September 2nd, 2023, against the Arkansas Razorbacks in the War Memorial Stadium, Little Rock, AR.

#54 was retired in 1990, it belongs to Art Byrd.  

Art Byrd

Class: 1950
Sport: Football
Induction to WCU Hall of Fame: 1990

Jersey Retired: His jersey and number - 54 - was the first to be retired in Western Carolina's athletic history.



Byrd was Western Carolina's first football All-American Selection in 1949 when he helped lead the Catamounts to the North State Conference championship, the school's first football title. He was a two-way player as an offensive and defensive lineman who amazingly was in on every play of every game in the 1948 season. According to his head coach, Tom Young, Byrd "epitomized the spirit of those fine football teams that put us on the map." Byrd was a catalyst of three winning records in his four seasons (1946-49).

First football All-America selection at Western Carolina University, playing guard on both the offensive and defensive side of the football ... Helped the Catamounts to an 8-2 regular season mark in 1949 and their first North State Conference title ... That team additionally holds the distinction of being WCU's first to earn a postseason bid, playing in the Smoky Mountain Bowl in Bristol, Va