Harold Lahar, 84; Pro Football Player Coached at Colleges

Harold “Hal” Lahar, twice the football coach at Colgate University after a brief career as a pro player, has died at 84.

Lahar, who died Monday in Dallas, graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1941 and spent one season with the Chicago Bears as a guard before serving with the Navy in the South Pacific during World War II.

After the war, he played for the Buffalo Bills of the All-America Conference from 1947 to 1949, then began coaching at the University of Arkansas in 1950.

Lahar became Colgate’s head football coach in 1952 and stayed five seasons before taking the football job at the University of Houston. He posted a 24-23-2 record in five seasons there.

Colgate rehired Lahar in 1962 as both athletic director and coach. In 11 seasons, he went 53-40-8.

Lahar also was assistant commissioner of the now-defunct Southwest Conference from 1973 until his retirement in 1983.