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Ralph Clyde "Shorty" Propst (May 12, 1898 – October 13, 1959) was an American college football player and coach. He served as head coach at both Howard and Southwestern from 1934 to 1937. During his tenure as a head coach, Propst had an overall record of 19 wins, 14 losses and 6 ties (19–14–6).
.jpg) Propst photo from the Atlanta Journal's composite All-Southern college football team, 1923. | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 12, 1898 Ohatchee, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | October 13, 1959 (aged 61) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| ? | Birmingham–Southern |
| 1922–1924 | Alabama |
| Position(s) | Center |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1925–1932 | Alabama (assistant) |
| 1934 | Howard (AL) |
| 1935–1937 | Southwestern (TN) |
| 1944–1947 | Auburn (assistant) |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1935–1937 | Southwestern (TN) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 19–14–6 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1 SoCon (1924) | |
| Awards | |
| 3× All-Southern (1922, 1923, 1924) | |
Propst was a prominent center for the Alabama Crimson Tide football teams of the University of Alabama coached by Xen C. Scott and Wallace Wade. In three different years he was selected All-Southern. He recovered Pooley Hubert's fumble in the endzone which was the deciding score in the 9 to 7 victory over Penn in 1922, arguably the biggest win in the era of Scott's coaching tenure.[1] He won the Porter Loving Cup three times.[2] He also played center on Alabama's basketball team.[3]
After he graduated from Alabama, Propst began his coaching career under Wallace Wade with the Crimson Tide in 1925.[4] At Alabama, Propst served as an assistant with the varsity in 1925, led the freshmen team in 1926 and 1927 before returning as a varsity assistant from 1928 to 1932.[5] After the 1932 season, he left coaching briefly to enter private business.[5] On March 21, 1934, Propst was hired to serve as head coach at Howard College (now Samford University) after Eddie McLane resigned to take the same position at Louisiana Tech.[6] During his one season with the Bulldogs, Propst led Howard to an overall record of three wins, four losses and two ties (3–4–2).[7]
He resigned his position at Howard one year later on March 7, 1935 to become both the head coach and athletic director at Southwestern College of Memphis (now Rhodes College).[8] The position came available after the death of James DeHart who was hired, but never coached a game at Southwestern in February 1935.[8][9] During his three-year tenure with the Lynx, his most notable victory came in 1936 when he led Southwestern to a 12–0 upset over Vanderbilt.[10] Propst later resigned both as head coach and athletic director at Southwestern on December 3, 1937.[11] He chose to resign after he learned his contract was not to be renewed in March 1938 by university officials.[5] During his three-year tenure at Southwestern, Propst led the Lynx to an overall record of sixteen wins, ten losses and four ties (16–10–4).[5][11] Propst later served as line coach at Auburn University from 1944 to 1947.[12]
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| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howard Bulldogs (Dixie Conference / Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1934) | |||||||||
| 1934 | Howard | 3–4–2 | 0–1 / 2–1–1 | 7th / T–11th | |||||
| Howard: | 3–4–2 | 2–2–1 | |||||||
| Southwestern Lynx (Dixie Conference) (1935–1937) | |||||||||
| 1935 | Southwestern | 3–4–3 | 2–2–2 | T–4th | |||||
| 1936 | Southwestern | 7–2–1 | 3–1–1 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1937 | Southwestern | 6–4 | 4–1 | T–2nd | |||||
| Southwestern: | 16–10–4 | 9–4–3 | |||||||
| Total: | 19–14–6 | ||||||||
After he resigned from Auburn, Propst was recommended by Sam Hobbs in 1948 to serve as postmaster in Ohatchee, Alabama.[13] He later died on October 13, 1959, at the home of his daughter in Philadelphia where he had resided since 1957.[14]
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