Franklin Cullen "Pepper" Rodgers (October 8, 1931 – May 14, 2020) was an American

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and coach. As a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

player, he led the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to an undefeated season in 1952 and later became their head coach. He also coached collegiately for the

Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools List of college athletic programs in Kansas, in the state of Kansas that participate in ...

and

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

before leading professional teams in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, in the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL) and

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). Rodgers was a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

for Georgia Tech. After the Yellow Jackets won the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

and earned a share of the national championship in 1952, they again won the

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

the following year, when he was named the contest's

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

(MVP). Rodgers began coaching as an assistant for the Air Force Falcons and later the Florida Gators and UCLA. He became a head coach with Kansas in 1967, and later returned to UCLA and then Georgia Tech as their leader. He compiled a career college coaching record of . Moving to the professional ranks, Rodgers coached two seasons in the 1980s with the Memphis Showboats in the USFL and one season for the CFL's Memphis Mad Dogs. In the 2000s, he served as vice president of football operations for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) before retiring.

Playing career

Rodgers was born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, where he became a three-sport star in football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

at Brown High School. His football team won a state championship in 1949. Rodgers played college football at Georgia Tech under head coach Bobby Dodd, where he was a backup

and

as a sophomore in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

. As a junior in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

, he led the Yellow Jackets to an undefeated 12–0 season and share of the national championship after throwing for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

and kicking a field goal in a 24–7 win in the 1953 Sugar Bowl over Mississippi. In the following Sugar Bowl, Rodgers threw for three touchdowns against West Virginia and was named the game's MVP. In 2018, he was named to the inaugural class of the Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame.

Coaching career

Rodgers was selected in the 12th round of the 1954 NFL draft by the Baltimore Colts, but remained at Georgia Tech for a year, earning a BS degree in industrial management while also serving as a student assistant on Dodd's staff. In 1955 he joined the U.S. Air Force, where he was a pilot for five years. While with the Air Force, Rodgers was an assistant coach for their Falcons football team. He was later an assistant for

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

before landing his first head coaching position with

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

. In his second year with the Jayhawks in 1968, he led the team to a share of the

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...

title., this is the program's most recent conference championship. They played in the Orange Bowl in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, but lost 15–14 to Penn State. Rodgers returned to UCLA as its head coach in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. Competing in the Pac-8 Conference, he installed the wishbone offense and with junior college transfer quarterback

Mark Harmon Thomas Mark Harmon (born September 2, 1951) is an American actor, writer, producer, television director and former American football, football player. He is best known for playing the lead role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs on ''NCIS (TV series), NCIS'' ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, the Bruins upset top-ranked and two-time defending champion

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

in the season opener, snapping the Huskers' 32-game unbeaten streak. UCLA finished and ranked No. 15 in the final AP rankings. In

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

they were and ended ranked No. 12. After the season, he returned to Georgia Tech as its head coach, compiling a 34–31–2 record in his six seasons. Rodgers was also the head coach of the USFL's Memphis Showboats from 1984 to 1985 and for the CFL's Memphis Mad Dogs in 1995. With the Showboats, he coached future

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional football (gridiron), professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, 1963, the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of profes ...

player Reggie White. While coaching for the Mad Dogs, Rodgers was noted about his dislike of the rules of

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

Executive career

At 69, Rodgers was considered for the

' head coaching position before Norv Turner's eventual firing during the 2000 season. He was instead appointed the team's vice president of football operations, a position in which he served from 2001 to 2004.

Writing career

Rodgers wrote ''Fourth and Long Gone'', a novel published in 1985 that is a bawdy ''

roman à clef A ''roman à clef'' ( ; ; ) is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people and the "key" is the relationship between the non-fiction and the fiction. This m ...

'' of his experiences as a college football coach and recruiter. He also wrote ''Pepper!: The autobiography of an unconventional coach'' with Al Thomy.

Later years

Rodgers later lived in

Reston, Virginia Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, and a principal city of both Northern Virginia and the Washington metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Reston's population was 63,226. Founded in 1964, Rest ...

, where he died on May 14, 2020, at the age of 88.

Head coaching record

College

Source:

Professional

USFL

Source:

CFL

Source:

Publications

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodgers, Pepper 1931 births 2020 deaths American football placekickers American football quarterbacks College football announcers Air Force Falcons football coaches Florida Gators football coaches Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football coaches Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players Kansas Jayhawks football coaches Memphis Mad Dogs coaches UCLA Bruins football coaches Memphis Showboats coaches Washington Redskins executives Coaches of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Players of American football from Atlanta Players of Canadian football from Atlanta