Jeepers creepers!

By KEITH NIEBUHR
Published September 9, 2007

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During the century Hillsborough High has fielded a football team, the Terriers have produced their share of memorable names. Guys such as Jimmy Dunn, Marcelino "Chelo" Huerta, Steve Kiner and Maurice Crum.

And don't forget about Rondo Hatton.

What, never heard of him?

Well, you're probably not alone.

But trust us, Hatton had game. Or at least, so the legend goes.

Hatton played for the Terriers in 1913 (we were not able to locate his Rivals.com DVD highlight reel, so we're not sure what position he played) and was good enough to be inducted into the school's football Wall of Fame 88 years later.

Hatton's "stardom," however, didn't come on the gridiron. It came in cinema.

Not long after serving in World War I, Hatton was stricken by a disfiguring disease called acromegaly that caused the bones of his face, hands and feet to continue to grow. While working as a reporter for the Tampa Tribune in the 1920s and '30s, he was spotted by a movie director on the set of Hell Harbor. Before long, Hatton was living in Hollywood and starring in B-grade monster movies (including one called House of Horrors) as a bad-guy character called The Creeper.

He died at age 51 in 1946.

Hatton was returned to Tampa for burial; his final resting spot is the American Legion Cemetery on Kennedy Boulevard.