Tommy Prothro - Coaching

Tommy Prothro is widely regarded as Oregon State’s most successful football coach, having led the Beavers to the Rose Bowl twice in 10 years.

Born in 1920, Prothro grew up in Memphis, Tenn., and played quarterback and halfback at Duke University during his four seasons there, 1938-41. He helped the Blue Devils reach the 1942 Rose Bowl, which was played at Duke following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Duke played Oregon State, which won 20-16. He also played lacrosse and baseball.

Prothro turned to coaching immediately after college, becoming an assistant at Western Kentucky in 1942. Following military service in the Navy, Prothro became an assistant at Vanderbilt for three seasons and moved to UCLA along with head coach Henry Russell Sanders in 1949. As backfield coach, Prothro fine-tuned the single-wing offense and UCLA won the national title in 1954. Oregon State, which had won just six games the previous three seasons, hired him as head coach in 1955.

Oregon State won six games in Prothro’s first season, and then reached the Rose Bowl in his second. The Beavers, behind Heisman Trophy winner Terry Baker, played in the Liberty Bowl in 1962 and again in the Rose Bowl in 1965. In 10 years, Prothro led the Beavers to a 63-37-2 record.

In 1965, UCLA hired Prothro and he guided the Bruins to the Rose Bowl in the first of his six seasons at the school. Prothro went on to coach in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams (1971-72) and the San Diego Chargers (1974-78).

In 16 seasons as a college head coach, Prothro compiled a 104-55-5 record. He was inducted to the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1989 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1991.