Former UCLA, Ram Coach Prothro Dies

Tommy Prothro, a former football coach with UCLA, the Rams, the San Diego Chargers and Oregon State, died Sunday at his home in Memphis after a long bout with cancer. He was 74.

Prothro was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1985, but after it worsened in January of 1993, spreading throughout his body, he flew to Los Angeles to undergo experimental treatments at the UCLA Medical Center.

“I have cancer and nobody knows how it’s going to go from there,” Prothro said at the time. “It’s certainly nothing to give up on, but it’s certainly something to worry about. I certainly don’t intend to give in.”

Prothro is survived by his wife, Shirley, and daughter, Ann.

He last visited Southern California in November, when he was honored, along with UCLA’s 1954 national champions, at a banquet the night before the UCLA-USC game. It was, he said, “one of the great events in my life.”

Prothro was a Bruin assistant in 1954, working with Red Sanders, and loved talking about that team.

“Relative to its time, I think it’s the best college team I’ve ever seen,” he said.

He spoke with the 1994 Bruins at practice during that week, telling them “there are a certain number of things you’ll do in your life that you’ll remember for the rest of your life and beating SC would be one of them.”

UCLA won the game, 31-19.

“He spoke very briefly, but very powerfully,” said Bruin Coach Terry Donahue, who had played for Prothro, began his coaching career with him and invited Prothro to speak. “That was like him. He was a powerful man. . . . UCLA has lost a huge figure in its sports history.”

Prothro was a colorful figure on the sidelines for 22 seasons as a college and NFL head coach. Rarely without his trademark briefcase and a cigarette, Prothro approached football like the master bridge player he was.

A former UCLA player once said Prothro used players like pawns.

Asked if players are “in a sense, really just equipment,” Prothro said in a 1972 interview: “That’s right. Yet I don’t think of players in that way--particularly off the field. . . . I develop a real affection for football players that play for me. They put out such a tremendous effort that I’ve got to. But winning is the most important thing to most football players. I think a coach has to blot out any sentiment that would affect his judgment or his efforts toward helping the team win.”

Born in Memphis, Prothro, whose father, Jefferson Thompson (Doc) Prothro, once managed the Philadelphia Phillies and later owned several minor league teams, almost followed his father into baseball.

The blocking back for Duke’s 1942 Rose Bowl team, Prothro’s playing career ended when he entered the Navy in October of 1942. After being discharged in 1945, Prothro became a pitcher for his father’s minor league team.

However, Sanders, who had coached Prothro at Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, Ga., came out of the stands after a game one night and persuaded him to take a job as an assistant on Sanders’ staff at Vanderbilt.

Prothro accompanied Sanders to UCLA in 1949, serving as backfield coach until he was named the head coach at Oregon State in 1955.

Prothro compiled a record of 104-45-5 in 16 seasons at Oregon State and UCLA. At Oregon State he coached Terry Baker, a Heisman Trophy winner, and at UCLA he had Heisman winner Gary Beban.

Asked what he would have done if he hadn’t become a football coach, Prothro told former Times sportswriter Charles Mahrer, “I’ve always thought there were three things I’d be happy doing. First, what I’m doing now. Second, I think I would have been happy being a lawyer. Third, and this shocks my family when I say it, I’d enjoy being a cardsharp.”

After 10 seasons at Oregon State, where he coached the Beavers to two Rose Bowls and the Liberty Bowl and compiled a record of 63-37-2, Prothro was hired by UCLA in 1965 after Oregon State lost to Michigan in the 1965 Rose Bowl.

The Bruins, who hadn’t had a winning season in four years, went to the Rose Bowl in their first season under Prothro and upset No. 1-ranked Michigan State, 14-12. The Bruins were 41-18-3 in six seasons under Prothro.

Prothro is the only man to coach in successive Rose Bowls with different teams.

Donahue, who played on Prothro’s first two Bruin squads, said, “He was extremely instrumental in my playing career. I think he, along with Pepper Rodgers and Dick Vermeil and John Wooden, have all influenced me. Coach Prothro gave me a true appreciation and a true feeling for fundamentals.”

Prothro left UCLA in 1971 to succeed George Allen as coach of the Rams.

“If there was one thing Tommy didn’t like about college football, it was the recruiting,” said Rodgers, who succeeded Prothro at UCLA. “In pro football, of course, it’s not important. You’ve got the chance to draft and trade. I think Tommy will be as good as anybody at that. I think he’ll show he’s one of the all-time coaches.”

However, Prothro, who had only three losing seasons in 16 seasons as a college coach, had only one winning season in six as an NFL coach, compiling a record of 35-51-2.

Prothro’s first Ram team finished half a game behind the division champion San Francisco 49ers with an 8-5-1 record.

He was fired after the Rams fell to 6-7-1 in 1972 amid complaints that he was unable to motivate and communicate with NFL players.

Prothro, who had three years remaining on a five-year contract, filed a $1.9 million breach of contract suit against the Rams. Former Ram owner Dan Reeves, who signed Prothro, had inserted a clause in the contract that stipulated that in the event of Reeves’ death, Prothro could not be terminated without cause.

Reeves died in 1971, and the late Carroll Rosenbloom, after becoming the Rams’ owner, fired Prothro and hired Chuck Knox. Prothro and the Rams settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Although Prothro, who owned several soft drink bottling franchises and had extensive real estate holdings in Tennessee and Arkansas, was financially secure, he returned to the NFL as coach of the San Diego Chargers in 1974 because he felt he had something to prove.

“I enjoy being a coach,” Prothro said in a 1974 interview, “so the way my last job ended certainly influenced me some in deciding to come back. If I could have walked away on top, I wouldn’t have been as inclined to return. I do have something to prove.”

Prothro was unable to revive the Chargers, who had finished with their worst record ever the season before he arrived amid newspaper reports of widespread drug abuse by the players. Prothro compiled a 21-39-0 record.

The Chargers finished last in the AFC West in Prothro’s first two seasons. After leading the Chargers to a 7-7 record in 1977, their first .500 record in eight seasons, Prothro abruptly quit after the Chargers lost three of their first four games in 1978.

Tired of coaching, Prothro was named executive vice president of the Cleveland Browns in 1979. He retired in 1981.

After leaving football, Prothro, ranked as one of the world’s top bridge players, concentrated on playing in tournaments.

Rodgers, who also lives in Memphis and has spent much time with Prothro in the past few years, organized a dinner for him there a year ago, and more than 100 former Oregon State and UCLA players attended.

“At the dinner, he certainly knew his fate,” said Rick Purdy, who played for Prothro at UCLA in 1965-67. “We wanted to get together while he was still alive and could appreciate it. My biggest memory of him was that he was one of the most articulate and well-versed men I’ve ever met in my life.”

Funeral services are set for 1 p.m. CDT Wednesday at the Memphis Funeral Home East in Tennessee. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be sent to either the Regents of UCLA, Division of Urological Research, Tommy Prothro Memorial, P.O. Box 951738, Los Angeles 90095-1738 or the Oregon State University Foundation, 517 Snell Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore. 97331.

Times staff writer Jim Hodges contributed to this report.

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Tommy Prothro’s Coaching Record

COLLEGE

Year Team W L T Pct 1955 Oregon St. 6 3 0 .667 1956 Oregon St. 7 3 1 .700 1957 Oregon St. 8 2 0 .800 1958 Oregon St. 6 4 0 .600 1959 Oregon St. 3 7 0 .300 1960 Oregon St. 6 3 1 .667 1961 Oregon St. 5 5 0 .500 1962 Oregon St. 9 2 0 .818 1963 Oregon St. 5 5 0 .500 1964 Oregon St. 8 3 0 .727 1965 UCLA 8 2 1 .800 1966 UCLA 9 1 0 .900 1967 UCLA 7 2 1 .778 1968 UCLA 3 7 0 .300 1969 UCLA 8 1 1 .889 1970 UCLA 6 5 0 .545 Total 104 55 5 .654

Career Highlights

1957--Lost to Iowa in Rose Bowl, 35-19

1962--Defeated Villanova in Liberty Bowl, 6-0

1964--Lost to Michigan in Rose Bowl, 34-7

1965--Defeated Michigan St. in Rose Bowl, 14-12

NFL

Year Team W L T Pct. 1971 Rams 8 5 1 .615 1972 Rams 6 7 1 .464 1974 San Diego 5 9 0 .357 1975 San Diego 2 12 0 .143 1976 San Diego 6 8 0 .429 1977 San Diego 7 7 0 .500 *1978 San Diego 1 3 0 .563 Total 35 51 2 .407

* Replaced by Don Coryell on Sept. 25