Hometown: Ashland, KY (High)
Position: G Playing Height: 5-11
Date of Birth: August 31, 1893
Date of Death: November 30, 1984
Additional Photos: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12)
Kentucky Career Notes:
Multi-Sport Player [Football and Baseball]
Brother of Kentucky players George Zerfoss and Tom Zerfoss
Post-UK Career Notes:
Served in the Military

Season	Games Played	Total Points
1912-13	6	4
1913-14	8	45
1914-15	12	44
1915-16	14	40
Total	40	133

Obituary - Karl P. Zerfoss, Chicago Tribune (December 13, 1984)

A memorial service for Karl P Zerfoss, 91, a retired professor of psychology at George Williams College, will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday in Hyde Park Union Church, 5600 S. Woodlawn Ave.

Mr. Zerfoss, a former resident of Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, died Friday in a Schaumburg retirement home.

He was on the faculty of George Williams from 1930 to 1958 when the school, now in Downers Grove, was at 53d Street and Drexel Avenue in Hyde Park. He spent several years working for the YMCA before joining the George Williams faculty.

Mr. Zerfoss is survived by a son, Karl Jr.; a brother; and two grandchildren.

Newspaper Article Lexington Leader (March 9, 1973)

Remember Back When . . . Jim Park, Doc Rodes, Tuttle Were Athletes Par Excellence

by Karl P. Zerfoss

Remember the hair clipping and other events at UK many years ago ?

The recent comments on basketball in 1915, have prompted me to set down some similar one from this period (1912-1916).

During my first year at UK (1912) the practice of cutting the hair of "frosh" was in vogue, thought strictly prohibited by the administration. One night a crowd of students had gathered in front of the Administration Building to observe the seniors at work with their shears. One "victim" was being clipped, when back of the old cannon (a landmark for years) Lt. Arthur Underwood (commandant) appeared and, taking in the situation, he flew into action by vaulting over the cannon (some vault!) to land astride the back of the senior "barber." Of course, this broke up the party, ending the rather innocent hazing - at least for that night.

William "Doc" Rodes in a UK football uniform in 1916. Later he was prominent in Lexington business and an official of Union Transfer and Storage Co. See Remember Back When.

Perhaps no more stirring event in athletics ever happened at UK in my time than that involving the late Howard Kinne (brother of Mrs. Brinkley Barnett) when he scooped up a Purdue fumble and ran for the winning touchdown. To beat Purdue was a great victory. This was in 1915.

Many of us in those days were of the opinion, and time has underscored the belief, that the late Jim Park and "Doc" Rodes and Bill Tuttle were athletes par excellence. I have seen many of the Chicago Bears in action over the years, including the great Gail Sayers, and I am convinced that "Doc" Rodes could have matched him, given a line just as superior.

James Park as a UK basketball player in 1915. A prominent Lexington attorney, he was the father of Circuit Judge James Park Jr. See Remember Back When.

Jim was a multigifted athlete, excelling especially in baseball and football. Few in his day were able to throw the "bomb" (long pass in football), now somewhat commonplace. Against Louisville 58 years ago, I saw him throw one far down field to my brother Tom who, running at full speed, caught it over his shoulder, without breaking stride and carried it in to score.

In my freshman year I was introduced to an interesting phenomenon in the realm of politics. At our first class meeting we quickly elected George R. Smith as president, a seemingly spontaneous choice. Mr. Smith now is a prominent Lexington lawyer, known and admired by scores of alumni. Later we became aware that George R. and other grads of the UK Prep School (theirs was the last prep class, I believe) had planned this "spontaneous" election well ahead of the occasion.

Moving across the pages of history of this period was one figure never to be forgotten - Dr. John J. Tigert. He was scholar, teacher, coach and friend, affectionately known as "Old Tige." At Vanderbilt he was an All-Southern fullback and a Rhodes Scholar designate.

He came to UK from Kentucky Wesleyan College where he was president of the college. At UK he was a respected faculty member and coach of several teams. From UK he went on to become U.S. Commissioner of Education and later president of the University of Florida.

Close association with Dr. Tigert and other superior teachers and administrators at UK was a value of high order for scores of students in this period of long ago. Time passes but memories linger on.

(Editor's note: Mr. Zerfoss now lives in Chicago. He and his brothers, Tom and George, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. L.F. Zerfoss, are remembered fondly by many Lexingtonians. He and his brothers were superior athletes. His father was both a teacher and an attorney, serving as superintendent of Trimble County schools before practicing law at Ashland.)

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