- Name
- Henry Wurtele
- Position
- Forward
- Hometown (Last School)
- Shively, KY
- Ht
- 5'10"
- Seasons
- 1902-03, 1903-04
- Birthday
- January 8, 1884
Legal Name: Henry Joseph Wurtele
Date of Death: September 15, 1973
Member of Kentucky’s first basketball team. Member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.
Henry Joseph Wurtele was a Louisville, Kentucky native and graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1904. Married Ida Reid Huey on January 5, 1910.
At the completion of his college work, Wurtele was employed for several months on a surveying project for a traction line between Versailles and Frankfort, Kentucky. He spent two years with the Chicago & Alton Railroad at Springfield, Illinois then went to work for the Gary Works of the Indiana Steel Co. in Gary, Indiana. He was employed in the construction department of the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company in 1907 and was appointed general superintendent of the company’s transportation department on September 6, 1935. In 1937, Mr. Wurtele was named vice president and director of the Birmingham Southern Railroad, a position he held until his retirement in 1952.
His daughter, Lolla Catherine Wurtele Wright, served 25 years as the first lady of Samford University and was caretaker for a series of mascot bulldogs for the university.
