EDITOR’S NOTE: Everyone has a story — some more well-known than others. Across Western North Carolina, so much history is buried below the surface. Six feet under. With this series, we introduce you to some of the people who have left marks big and small on this special place we call home.
Cullowhee High School’s only graduate to reach the NFL, Edward “Ed” Sutton, M.D. (1935-2008) made a name for himself as a three-sport athlete at the University of North Carolina and roster member of three NFL teams. After his career in sports, Sutton turned to helping others as a doctor in California.
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Early life
Born on March 16, 1935, in Sylva, N.C., Ed, as he was known by all, attended Cullowhee Elementary and High School, from which he graduated as the valedictorian in 1953. While in primary education, he excelled in athletics, playing baseball, basketball and football. While starring on Sylva High School’s team, Ed clinched the Smoky Mountain Football Championship in 1952.
UNC superstar
At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), Sutton dawned the #30 jersey for three seasons from 1954-1956. The “Cullowhee Comet” was billed at 6’1” and 200 pounds. On the football squad, he played as a halfback and defense back. Off the field, Sutton could often be found sporting other jerseys for basketball and track and field. According to an obituary released by UNC Athletic Communications, Sutton “lettered at Carolina in football, basketball and track” while at the school.
In his final year at UNC, Sutton played 10 football games, achieved 748 rushing yards and managed seven touchdowns for a total of 42 points. That year in the AAC, Sutton had the most rushing yards per attempt and touchdowns from scrimmage, second most receiving touchdowns and points scored, and third most of rushing touchdowns, receptions, rushing yards and total yards. He also ranked tenth overall in the NCAA for yards from scrimmage.
70 years after his college career, Sutton remains in UNC’s record book. “He ran the ball 193 times for 1,334 yards, an average per carry of 6.9 yards,” Sutton’s alma mater wrote. “That is a school record that stands even today.”
NFL career
In the 1957 NFL draft, Sutton was selected by the Washington Redskins in the third round as the thirty-third overall pick. He would play five seasons in the professional league from 1957-1961. For the first three, he stayed with the Redskins. For his final year on the field, Sutton was traded to the New York Giants. During the 1961 season, he sat on the bench due to an injury as his coach, the legendary Vince Lombardy, took the Green Bay Packers to a championship victory.
During his professional career, Sutton played 45 games, gaining a total of 1109 rushing yards, catching 14 passes and achieving 10 touchdowns. Sutton concluded his NFL tenure having scored 60 points.
Medical professional
Taking classes off and on while playing in the NFL, Sutton paid his way through medical school with his football earnings. In 1962, he graduated from the University of Tennessee.
According to Sutton’s most detailed obituary, “He did his internship in Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in 1962-63. Then he went into general practice with Dr. Harlan Goldwater in 1964 in Gardena, California.”
In 1966, Sutton was drafted to the Army. Lending his medical skills to the war effort, Sutton served as a doctor in a M.A.S.H. unit in Vietnam. His tour oversees concluded in 1968 after a stent as an orthopedic physician in Japan.
After relocating to Fresno in 1978, Sutton purchased a quarter of Fresno Industrial Medical Group. Later purchasing it outright, he expanded the business to 11 locations and renamed it to Valley Industrial and Family Medical Group.
In 2006, the aging doctor retired from his medical practice.
Legacy and death
Sutton was inducted to the Western North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1982 and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
On Sep. 20, 2008, at the age of 73, Dr. Ed Sutton died at the Sequoyah Cardiac Surgery Hospital in Redwood City, California.
“He had triple bypass surgery, which he came out of in good shape, but suffered a massive stroke and passed away,” wrote Sutton’s biographer on Sep. 25, 2008, in the Asheville Citizen-Times. Finished but not yet off the press when Sutton passed, “Tales of the Comet: The Fast-Paced Life of Ed Sutton” chronicles the football player’s life.
“Anyone who knew Ed Sutton knew he was a talker. He could talk on and on about almost any subject,” Terrell wrote of his lifelong companion. “He made friends as easily as he ran the ball for Carolina, and his friends numbered in the thousands… As far as Ed knew, he didn’t have an enemy in the world, but everyone he met became his friend. And that, folks, is the mark of a man.”
A memorial service was held for Sutton on Oct. 20, 2008, at Cullowhee United Methodist Church, according to his obituary in Raliegh’s The News & Observer. The author explained, “Following cremation, part of his ashes will be spread near his vacation home at Avila Beach, California and later in October, the remainder of his ashes will be buried with his parents in Sylva.”
Sutton’s tombstone is in Keener Cemetery. It lists both his life dates and his wife’s, although her life dates are incomplete. Sharon Zahachevski Sutton, born in 1943, still lives in Fresno, California. She is now 81 years old.
Do you know of someone buried in Western North Carolina with an intriguing or uplifting story? Let us know by sending us an email.
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