Photo: ArkansasRazorbacks.com
Former University of Arkansas head football coach Frank Broyles died Monday at the age of 92.
Broyles, who led the Razorbacks to the school’s only national championship and later served as the program’s athletics director, had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Coach Frank Broyles,” the Broyles family said in a statement released through the university website. “He passed peacefully in his home surrounded by his loved ones.”
As a native of Decatur, Ga., Broyles was a multi-sport athlete throughout high school and college. He graduated from Georgia Tech University with a degree in industrial management, and was drafted in three sports before ultimately turning down those professional offers to become an assistant football coach at Baylor.
His coaching career took him through Florida, Georgia Tech and Missouri before being named head coach at Arkansas. He amassed a record of 144-58-5, and led the school to seven Southwest Conference titles and 10 bowl bids in 19 seasons.
His 1964 team went undefeated and was awarded the national championship title after a 10-7 win over Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl. That matchup was part of a school record 22-game winning streak that started in the final game of the 1963 season and ended at the 1966 Cotton Bowl.
In 1973, Broyles was named athletics director, a title he held while still coaching until 1976 when he retired as head coach. After retiring in 2007, he continued as a fundraiser for the Razorback Foundation for almost seven years.
Broyles was inducted into more than a dozen halls of fame, including the College Football Hall of Fame, the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.
Broyles spent nearly two decades raising awareness for Alzheimer’s, the neurological disease that took the life of his first wife, Barbara Day, and ultimately his own. He wrote and published the pamphlet “Coach Broyles Playbook for Alzheimer’s Caregivers,” and established the Broyles Foundation to serve Alzheimer’s caregivers and raise money for research.
The athletics department’s office building and the football field at Razorback Stadium are named after Broyles. A statue of him stands on campus.
A celebration of the life of Broyles will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 19 at Bud Walton Arena on the University of Arkansas campus. The event is free and open to the public.
