OBITUARIES - Nov. 4, 2009

Forest Evashevski, 91, a college football star at Michigan who coached Iowa to two Rose Bowl victories in the 1950s, died of cancer Friday at his home in Petoskey, Mich., said his son, Forest Evashevski Jr.

Evashevski was hired at the University of Iowa in 1952, seven years after the school’s last winning season. He inherited a program that had languished in the bottom of the Big Ten Conference.

But in the 1956 season, the Hawkeyes reached the Rose Bowl, defeating Oregon State University, 35-19. The team came to Pasadena again in the 1958 season, beating UC Berkeley, 38-12.

Evashevski was 52-27-4 at Iowa, winning three Big Ten championships. He became athletic director after the 1960 season.

Evashevski, born Feb. 19, 1918, in Detroit, was captain of the 1940 team at the University of Michigan, where as a single-wing quarterback he primarily blocked for Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon. In 1941, Evashevski became football coach at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. He served in the Navy during World War II, then took assistant coaching jobs at Syracuse and Michigan State universities. He was head coach at Washington State University in 1950-51.

Evashevski was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000.