University of Tennessee Athletics
Former Vols Tight End Canale Dead at 69
September 21, 2011 | Football
John Whitfield "Whit" Canale, a University of Tennessee football letter winner in 1962 and 1964, died on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011, in Memphis, at St. Francis Hospital.
A 1960 graduate of Catholic High School for Boys in Memphis, he was a starting tight end in 1964. He had missed the 1963 season with a knee injury. He earned a bachelor's of science degree from Tennessee in 1970.
He was the third of three Canale brothers to play at Tennessee, following George (a letter winner from 1960-62) and Frank (1962).
"We were in the same class all the way through UT," teammate Bert Ackermann said. "We went through three head coaches, and you don't forget that."
Ackermann remember Whit being called for slugging in the 1964 game against Auburn on a play that moved the Vols close to the Tiger goal.
"Whit flattened the offside linebacker, a real pancake block," he said. "That block freed the play up. From behind the play, the umpire called him for slugging, unsportsmanlike conduct. He came out of the game, and he and coach Dickey argued about the play.
"When we looked at the film the next day, it showed he had used his hand to right himself and look for somebody else to block. Coach Dickey apologized into Whit in front of the team."
Whit is survived by five siblings, three daughters, five grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.
Services were held Wednesday, Sept. 21, in Memphis. Memorials may be made to the Monastery of St. Clare, 1310 Dellwood Avenue, 38127.
