19 Facts About Tommy Prothro

Tommy Prothro was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1991.

The younger Tommy Prothro found his niche in football, starting out as a quarterback for Wallace Wade's Duke Blue Devils.

Tommy Prothro was selected in the fifth round of the 1942 NFL draft by the New York Giants, but rejected the opportunity in favor of a budding coaching career and a brief attempt at professional baseball.

Tommy Prothro spent that fall as an assistant coach at Western Kentucky University.

Tommy Prothro then entered the US Navy during World War II, serving for 39 months.

Ten days later, Tommy Prothro left Oregon State to replace Bill Barnes at UCLA.

Two years later, Tommy Prothro helped a second quarterback capture the Heisman Trophy when Gary Beban was awarded the trophy after the regular season.

Tommy Prothro decried the Pac-8 rule that only allowed the conference champion to go to a bowl game; he witnessed many lower ranked inferior teams go to bowl games while his Bruins stayed home.

Tommy Prothro was never seen opening it during games, and even his players weren't sure what was in it.

On January 2,1971, Tommy Prothro accepted a new challenge when he was hired as head coach of the Los Angeles Rams.

However, Tommy Prothro left his mark on the team by trading many aging veterans, often to George Allen's Washington Redskins, and stocking up young talent and draft picks; players such as Lawrence McCutcheon, Isiah Robertson, Dave Elmendorf, Larry Brooks, Jim Bertelsen, Jack "Hacksaw" Reynolds, and Hall of Famer Jack Youngblood were the core of the Rams teams of the 1970s that won seven straight NFC Western division titles.

Six weeks after his departure, Tommy Prothro filed a $1.9 million lawsuit against the Rams, alleging new Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom breached his contract by dismissing him "without cause".

However, on May 23,1973, the two sides settled out of court, with Tommy Prothro being paid $225,000 to cover the final three years of his contract.

From 1974 to 1977, though, Tommy Prothro drafted a number of players who would have a major impact on the franchise in years to come.

Tommy Prothro was instrumental in the development of Dan Fouts into a Hall of Fame quarterback.

Tommy Prothro resigned his post with Cleveland after the 1981 season.

Tommy Prothro was known as a master tactician with an uncanny ability to get the most out his players and team.

Tommy Prothro's teams were often not as physically gifted or they were much smaller than their opponents, but through great teamwork, superior game plans, and an assortment of trick plays, they often made up for physical disadvantages by outsmarting the other teams.

Tommy Prothro later made his mark as an excellent evaluator and developer of talent as he built the Chargers and Browns from being sub-.