Cancer Kills Ex-Coaching Standout Prothro Directed Oregon State, Ucla Football Teams To Rose Bowl

Former NFL head coach Tommy Prothro, who took Oregon State and UCLA to the Rose Bowl in consecutive years, died Sunday at his home after a three-year bout with cancer. He was 74.

Prothro, a 1991 inductee into the National Football Foundation’s Hall of Fame, coached Heisman Trophy winners Terry Baker (Oregon State, 1962) and Gary Beban (UCLA, 1967).

He was the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams for two seasons, 1971 and 1972, finishing with a 14-12-2 record. He went to the San Diego Chargers the next season and resigned early in the 1978 season with a 21-39 record.

Prothro, who was a standout lineman at Duke, took over at Oregon State in 1955 and was 63-37-2 in 10 seasons there, losing the 1957 Rose Bowl to Iowa and the 1965 game - the Beavers’ last appearance there - to Michigan.

He went to UCLA the next season and the Bruins capped the season by beating Michigan State in the Rose Bowl, making Prothro the only coach to bring different teams in successive years to the New Year’s Day game. He complied a 41-18-3 record through 1970, the third-best career winning percentage in UCLA history.

Prothro started his coaching career at Vanderbilt under Red Sanders and went to UCLA on Sanders’ staff. He was part of the 1954 team that went 9-0 and was ranked second in the final poll.

Last November, Prothro and his wife attended a reunion in Los Angeles of that team and he recalled the season as “one of the great events in my life.”

A few years ago, Baker was asked about winning the Heisman Trophy despite playing in Corvallis, Ore., far from a national media capital.

“A lot of credit has to go to Tommy Prothro and (sports information director) Johnny Eggers,” Baker said. “I think Tommy liked having a star. He liked the big time and having an All-America would bring glamour to the program. You had to run a little bit of a campaign and then you had to have the luck of the draw.”

Prothro is survived by his wife, Shirley Seagle Prothro, and a daughter, Ann. Funeral services will be Wednesday at the Memphis Funeral Home East.