Colorful player, coach Pepper Rodgers dies
ATLANTA » Pepper Rodgers, a colorful personality who helped Georgia Tech to an unbeaten season as a player in 1952 and went on to coach the Yellow Jackets as well as Kansas, UCLA and Memphis teams in the USFL and CFL, died Thursday. He was 88.
A statement from his alma mater said Rodgers died in Reston, Va., where he lived after retiring from his final job as Washington’s vice president of football operations in 2004. No cause of death was given, but he had recently suffered a fall.
A quarterback and kicker, Rodgers was part of Georgia Tech teams that went 32-23, claimed two SEC championships and won three major bowl games during his three years on the varsity. He capped a 12-0 season in
1952 by throwing a touchdown pass, kicking a field goal and adding three extra points in a 24-7 victory over Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl.
Georgia Tech finished No. 1 in the International News Service poll, but settled for No. 2 behind Michigan State in both The Associated Press and coaches’ polls.
When he returned to Georgia Tech as the coach in 1974, he showed up riding a Harley and sporting a perm, a sign of the freewheeling style that often put him at odds with his bosses and staid alumni.
When coaching in the USFL, he once wore a tuxedo on the flight to play a game against the New Jersey Generals, a big-spending franchise owned by future president Donald Trump. Another time, he donned the helmet he wore while serving in the Air Force in an attempt to motivate his team.
But for all his antics, Rodgers stuck to business on the field.
“‘He’s no clown,” Memphis linebacker Steve Hammond told The New York Times in 1985. “He’s a good coach who likes to have some fun. That’s all.”
Rodgers began his head coaching career at Kansas in 1967. He went 20-22 over four seasons, including a Big Eight title and Orange Bowl appearance in 1968, before moving to UCLA. After going 2-7-1 in his inaugural season with the Bruins, he went 17-5 with an explosive wishbone offense.
Rodgers left an arguably better job at UCLA to return to his alma mater, where he installed the wishbone but failed to match his UCLA success. His best season was in 1978, when the Yellow Jackets went 7-5.