Born in Dyersburg, Tennessee, in 1920, Tommy Prothro moved to Memphis at an early age and attended public schools before going to Riverside Military Academy in Georgia. At the academy, he was All-Southern in football. Prothro then enrolled at Duke University, where he played in the Rose Bowl his senior year, losing to Oregon State in a hard fought battle, 20-16. At Duke, Prothro won the Mills Trophy as best blocker in the East. His head coaching career began in 1955, ironically, at Oregon State University – the school who had defeated him in the Rose Bowl. Prothro led the Beavers until 1964, compiling an impressive 63-37-2 record, the best of any school on the West Coast during that period. He then started coaching at UCLA in 1965. The Bruins had posted losing seasons for three consecutive years before Prothro’s arrival. He was immediately able to turn the program around and was honored as the National Coach of the Year in 1965. Prothro is one of three people to participate in the Rose Bowl as a player, assistant coach, and head coach and is the only person to ever coach different schools to the Rose Bowl in consecutive years (OSU in 1964 and UCLA in 1965). After leaving UCLA, Tommy Prothro was head coach with the Los Angeles Rams for two years and the San Diego Chargers for five years, capping off a fine career.
