As a Southeastern Conference football referee, Ersell D. 'Red' Cavette was "as fair as anybody possibly could be," said former Louisiana State coach Charlie McClendon. "When they told you Red Cavette was going to call a game, you could just forget about (officiating) problems," McClendon said. "He was one of the best and most well-respected officials that we've ever had." And when the games were over, Cavette remained what retired Ole Miss coach John Vaught called "a great personal friend." Cavette, 89, who from 1952 until 1968 was the top-rated referee in the Southeastern Conference, died of heart failure Tuesday morning at Baptist Memorial Hospital East where he had been a patient since early June. Blending enforcement of rules with a practical balance of common sense, he earned respect of officials, coaches and players. "He was the best common sense official I think I've ever been around," said Memphian Jim Campbell, who officiated 31 years and now is supervisor of football officials for Conference USA. "Sometimes we'd drive to games together and it might be a 6- or 8-hour drive. He'd talk football all the way, and it was like going to school." Campbell recalled an example of the common sense approach. "Red was working a game and there was a fight on the field," Campbell said. "He didn't see exactly what happened so he asked the quarterback, 'Who threw the punch?' The quarterback wouldn't tell him. So he told the quarterback: 'If you don't tell me, then I'm going to throw you out.' Right away, the quarterback said it was number so-and-so and that was that." Memphian Bill Pittman, a long-time official said, "He could take a bad situation and make something good about it, and nobody would get mad. He had more common sense about officiating than anybody I've known. And he was always trying to help younger officials." When Cavette was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1981, it was announced that he worked a football game on every football weekend from 1945 through 1968. People who knew him weren't surprised. "He was the dean of officials at the time and everybody looked up to him," Campbell said. "I never heard anybody say a bad word about him. And he could tell so many stories that it was just wonderful to be around him." Cavette officiated 14 bowl games, including five Gator, three Orange, and three Sugar. Following his on-the-field work, he served as supervisor of the Missouri Valley Conference football officials from 1969 to 1971 and was an observer for the SEC from 1973 until 1979. Cavette refereed games that involved such distinguished coaches as Vaught, Paul 'Bear' Bryant, Bob Neyland, Ralph 'Shug' Jordan and Wally Butts, and managed to maintain peace and order. "He was an exceedingly fine official . . . he knew the game and called it like he saw it," Vaught said by phone from his Oxford, Miss. home. "I always enjoyed having him work for us because I felt the game was in great hands as far as fairness to both teams." After his retirement, Cavette was a regular at area municipal golf courses, usually at Galloway or Audubon, and he played with the same intense competitiveness as some of the football players he officiated. "What made it so neat was that everybody knew Red from some past association - from when he worked for the railroad, or from his days as an athlete or from when he was an official," said Galloway pro Cliff Frisby. "He was just a living legend around here." Born in 1905 on a small farm eight miles east of Como, Miss., Cavette attended a one-room, one-teacher school through the sixth grade. In 1916 his family moved to Memphis, where he went to A. B. Hill School in South Memphis, and later excelled in sports at South Side and Christian Brothers. After finishing high school at Christian Brothers, Cavette was offered a scholarship to Ole Miss, but went to work for Illinois Central Rail Road. In 1927 when local promoter Early Maxwell organized the Memphis Tigers pro team, Cavette joined the team as an end and later when Clarence Saunders took over the team, Cavette was captain in 1929 and '30. The team developed a widespread reputation for playing excellent football. The '29 team played exhibitions with the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears of the National Football League on consecutive Sundays and won both games. The Packers had just won the NFL title. Cavette got an introduction to officiating in 1931 when he and three other players from the Memphis Tigers pro team were recruited to call a game in Tiptonville, Tenn. Cavette later admitted that none of the four had ever seen a rule book. In 1937 Cavette joined the Southern Football Officials Association, and during World War II he worked service team games all across the South as a referee. In 1945 he became one of the first members of the SEC Football Officials Association. Services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at Memorial Park Funeral Home with burial in Forest Hill Cemetery Midtown. Cavette, the husband of Sue Cavette, also leaves a son, Don Cavette of Memphis; a sister, Willie Mae Yates of Arizona; a brother, Neil Cavette of Georgia, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The family requests that any memorials be sent to Lindenwood Christian Church or to a charity of the donor's choice. (By Bobby Hall, published in The Commercial Appeal 7/26/1995)
As a Southeastern Conference football referee, Ersell D. 'Red' Cavette was "as fair as anybody possibly could be," said former Louisiana State coach Charlie McClendon. "When they told you Red Cavette was going to call a game, you could just forget about (officiating) problems," McClendon said. "He was one of the best and most well-respected officials that we've ever had." And when the games were over, Cavette remained what retired Ole Miss coach John Vaught called "a great personal friend." Cavette, 89, who from 1952 until 1968 was the top-rated referee in the Southeastern Conference, died of heart failure Tuesday morning at Baptist Memorial Hospital East where he had been a patient since early June. Blending enforcement of rules with a practical balance of common sense, he earned respect of officials, coaches and players. "He was the best common sense official I think I've ever been around," said Memphian Jim Campbell, who officiated 31 years and now is supervisor of football officials for Conference USA. "Sometimes we'd drive to games together and it might be a 6- or 8-hour drive. He'd talk football all the way, and it was like going to school." Campbell recalled an example of the common sense approach. "Red was working a game and there was a fight on the field," Campbell said. "He didn't see exactly what happened so he asked the quarterback, 'Who threw the punch?' The quarterback wouldn't tell him. So he told the quarterback: 'If you don't tell me, then I'm going to throw you out.' Right away, the quarterback said it was number so-and-so and that was that." Memphian Bill Pittman, a long-time official said, "He could take a bad situation and make something good about it, and nobody would get mad. He had more common sense about officiating than anybody I've known. And he was always trying to help younger officials." When Cavette was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1981, it was announced that he worked a football game on every football weekend from 1945 through 1968. People who knew him weren't surprised. "He was the dean of officials at the time and everybody looked up to him," Campbell said. "I never heard anybody say a bad word about him. And he could tell so many stories that it was just wonderful to be around him." Cavette officiated 14 bowl games, including five Gator, three Orange, and three Sugar. Following his on-the-field work, he served as supervisor of the Missouri Valley Conference football officials from 1969 to 1971 and was an observer for the SEC from 1973 until 1979. Cavette refereed games that involved such distinguished coaches as Vaught, Paul 'Bear' Bryant, Bob Neyland, Ralph 'Shug' Jordan and Wally Butts, and managed to maintain peace and order. "He was an exceedingly fine official . . . he knew the game and called it like he saw it," Vaught said by phone from his Oxford, Miss. home. "I always enjoyed having him work for us because I felt the game was in great hands as far as fairness to both teams." After his retirement, Cavette was a regular at area municipal golf courses, usually at Galloway or Audubon, and he played with the same intense competitiveness as some of the football players he officiated. "What made it so neat was that everybody knew Red from some past association - from when he worked for the railroad, or from his days as an athlete or from when he was an official," said Galloway pro Cliff Frisby. "He was just a living legend around here." Born in 1905 on a small farm eight miles east of Como, Miss., Cavette attended a one-room, one-teacher school through the sixth grade. In 1916 his family moved to Memphis, where he went to A. B. Hill School in South Memphis, and later excelled in sports at South Side and Christian Brothers. After finishing high school at Christian Brothers, Cavette was offered a scholarship to Ole Miss, but went to work for Illinois Central Rail Road. In 1927 when local promoter Early Maxwell organized the Memphis Tigers pro team, Cavette joined the team as an end and later when Clarence Saunders took over the team, Cavette was captain in 1929 and '30. The team developed a widespread reputation for playing excellent football. The '29 team played exhibitions with the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears of the National Football League on consecutive Sundays and won both games. The Packers had just won the NFL title. Cavette got an introduction to officiating in 1931 when he and three other players from the Memphis Tigers pro team were recruited to call a game in Tiptonville, Tenn. Cavette later admitted that none of the four had ever seen a rule book. In 1937 Cavette joined the Southern Football Officials Association, and during World War II he worked service team games all across the South as a referee. In 1945 he became one of the first members of the SEC Football Officials Association. Services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at Memorial Park Funeral Home with burial in Forest Hill Cemetery Midtown. Cavette, the husband of Sue Cavette, also leaves a son, Don Cavette of Memphis; a sister, Willie Mae Yates of Arizona; a brother, Neil Cavette of Georgia, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The family requests that any memorials be sent to Lindenwood Christian Church or to a charity of the donor's choice. (By Bobby Hall, published in The Commercial Appeal 7/26/1995)
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54302740/ersell_d-cavette: accessed
), memorial page for Ersell D. “Red” Cavette (5 Oct 1905–25 Jul 1995), Find a Grave Memorial ID 54302740, citing Forest Hill Cemetery Midtown, Memphis,
Shelby County,
Tennessee,
USA;
Maintained by Carole McCaig (contributor 46785778).
Add Photos for Ersell D. “Red” Cavette
Fulfill Photo Request for Ersell D. “Red” Cavette
Photo Request Fulfilled
Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request
There is an open photo request for this memorial
Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request?
Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s).
Oops, something didn't work. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again.
Make sure that the file is a photo. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced.
All photos uploaded successfully, click on the <b>Done button</b> to see the photos in the gallery.
General photo guidelines:
Photos larger than 8.0 MB will be optimized and reduced.
Each contributor can upload a maximum of 5 photos for a memorial.
A memorial can have a maximum of 20 photos from all contributors.
The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional 10 photos (for a total of 30 on the memorial).
Include gps location with grave photos where possible.
No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments.)
You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial.
Memorial Photos
This is a carousel with slides. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel.
Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried.
Show Map
If the memorial includes GPS coordinates, simply click 'Show Map' to view the gravesite location within the cemetery. If no GPS coordinates are available, you can contribute by adding them if you know the precise location.
Photos
For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab.
Photos Tab
All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer.
Flowers
Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button.
Family Members
Family members linked to this person will appear here.
Related searches
Use the links under See more… to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc.
Sponsor This Memorial
Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option.
Share
Share this memorial using social media sites or email.
Save to
Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print.
Edit or Suggest Edit
Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager.
Have Feedback
Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you.
You may not upload any more photos to this memorial
"Unsupported file type"
Uploading...
Waiting...
Success
Failed
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
Invalid File Type
Uploading 1 Photo
Uploading 2 Photos
1 Photo Uploaded
2 Photos Uploaded
Added by
GREAT NEWS! There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery.
Sorry! There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request.
Enter numeric value
Enter memorial Id
Year should not be greater than current year
Invalid memorial
Duplicate entry for memorial
You have chosen this person to be their own family member.
Reported!
This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates.
0% Complete
Saved
Sign in or Register
Sign in to Find a Grave
Sign-in to link to existing account
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
We’ve updated the security on the site. Please reset your password.
Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Please contact Find a Grave at [email protected] if you need help resetting your password.
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
Email not found
Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person.
Sign in to your existing Find a Grave account. You’ll only have to do this once—after your accounts are connected, you can sign in using your Ancestry sign in or your Find a Grave sign in.
We found an existing Find a Grave account associated with your email address. Sign in below with your Find a Grave credentials to link your Ancestry account. After your accounts are connected you can sign in using either account.
Please enter your email to sign in.
Please enter your password to sign in.
Please enter your email and password to sign in.
There is a problem with your email/password.
A system error has occurred. Please try again later.
A password reset email has been sent to EmailID. If you don't see an email, please check your spam folder.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
Password Reset
Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code.
Registration Options
Welcome to Find a Grave
Create your free account by choosing an option below.
or
Ancestry account link
To create your account, Ancestry will share your name and email address with Find a Grave. To continue choose an option below.
or
If you already have a Find a Grave account, please sign in to link to Ancestry®.
New Member Registration
Email is mandatory
Email and Password are mandatory
This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Resend Activation Email
Your password is not strong enough
Invalid Email
You must agree to Terms and Conditions
Account already exists
Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox
Internal Server error occurred
If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map
You must select an email preference
We have sent you an activation email
Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters.
We just emailed an activation code to
Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account.
cemeteries found in will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
Within 5 miles of your location.
Within 5 kilometers of your location.
0 cemeteries found in .
0 cemeteries found.
Add a cemetery to fulfill photo requests
You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below.
Search above to list available cemeteries.
Getting location…
Loading...
Loading...
No cemeteries found
Find a Grave Video Tutorials
Default Language
Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [email protected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Thanks for your help!
Preferred Language
We have set your language to based on information from your browser.