Penn Biographies

Carlton Overton Tremper (1906-1996)

• B.S. in Economics, D.D.S. 1927
• Varsity baseball, 1925, 1926 and 1927

Major league baseball player, 1927-1928

High school coach and math teacher

Carlton Overton Tremper was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 22, 1906.

Tremper came from Brooklyn to enroll in the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in the fall of 1924. At Penn, Tremper played varsity baseball during all four of his undergraduate seasons, serving as team captain in his senior year. His other undergraduate activities included the Friars Club and the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity.

As soon as he graduated from Penn, Tremper made his major league debut for the Brooklyn Robins (later the Dodgers) on June 16, 1927. Tremper made a strong showing as a fielder and batter during his first season, but when his batting statistics slipped during his second season, the Dodgers optioned him out to the the Macon (Georgia) team in the Sally League.

After retiring from professional baseball in 1929, Tremper moved to Long Island to become a high school mathematics teacher (and later a guidance counselor) in Freeport, New York. He earned a master's degree in education from New York University in 1938 and also took courses in education and administration at Hofstra University on Long Island.

Tremper did not, however, quit baseball entirely. As a part of his job as a high school teacher he coached high school baseball, football and basketball. At the same time he was also playing on semiprofessional baseball teams: as an outfielder for the Bay Parkways (Brooklyn) in 1930 and the Bushwicks (Brooklyn) from1931 to 1934, and then as player-manager of the Springfield (New Jersey) Grays in 1935.

Tremper lived in Baldwin, New York, while teaching in Freeport. He later retired to Clearwater, Florida, where he died on January 9, 1996.

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