re: Frank Broyles has passed away at 92

OBITUARY
Frank Broyles always said he lived a charmed life, and it was true. He leaves behind a multitude of legacies certain never to be replicated. Whether it was his unparalleled career in college athletics, as an athlete, coach, athletics administrator and broadcaster, or his tireless work in the fourth quarter of his life as an Alzheimer’s advocate, his passion was always the catalyst for changing the world around him for the better.

He felt he was blessed to work for more than 55 years in the only job he ever wanted, first as head football coach and then as athletic director at the University of Arkansas. An optimist and a visionary who looked at life with an attitude of gratitude, Broyles lived life to the fullest for 92 years, almost 60 of them in his adopted state of Arkansas. To all who knew him, including thousands of Razorback fans who never met him, he was Coach Broyles, ambassador to the Razorback Nation and the state of Arkansas. To countless others, he was an advocate for caregivers around the world.

Coach Broyles, 92, died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease, on August 14, 2017. A man of faith and a true Southern gentleman, Coach Broyles was a native of Decatur, Ga., but adopted Arkansas as his home in December 1957, when he became the head football coach for the University of Arkansas. He leaves an unmatched legacy of more than five decades of service to the University of Arkansas, the Razorback athletic program, and Arkansas.

Born Dec., 1924, to O.T. and Mary Louise Solms Broyles in Atlanta, Broyles was the youngest of five children and was a three-sport athlete throughout high school and college. He received a B.S. degree in industrial management from Georgia Tech University in 1947, where he lettered in football, basketball and baseball and set numerous records as quarterback of the Yellow Jacket football team. He led the Yellow Jackets to four football bowl appearances, was twice All-SEC and was the 1944 SEC Player of the Year.

He joined the U.S. Navy Reserve in 1942 just prior to his 18th birthday. While still at Georgia Tech, he was activated in early 1945 and served until the spring of 1946. In 1945, he married his high school sweetheart, Barbara Day, who remained his sweetheart until 2004, when she died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. Coach Broyles and Barbara had four sons, Jack (Janet) Broyles, Hank (Mary Bassett) Broyles, Dan (Debra) Broyles and Tommy (Tisha) Broyles; twin daughters, Betsy (David) Arnold and Linda (Jim) Mayes; 17 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. In December 2005, Broyles married the former Gen Whitehead of Fayetteville, doubling the size of his family to include Gen’s seven children, Bruun (Kim Willis) Whitehead, Kathleen (George) Paulson, Eric (Jennifer) Whitehead, Joan (John) Threet, Ruth (Kevin) Trainor, Ted (Kelley) Whitehead and Philip (Kamron) Whitehead, as well as 13 grandchildren. Additionally, he is survived by his sister, Louise Broyles Ferguson of Cornelia, Ga., and numerous nieces and nephews. Broyles was preceded in death by his parents and three brothers (O.T. Broyles Jr., Charles Edward Broyles and Bill Broyles).

Following his graduation from Georgia Tech, Broyles was drafted in three sports, baseball, basketball and football, but he turned down professional offers to become an assistant football coach for Bob Woodruff at Baylor. After three years in Waco, he moved with Woodruff to Florida. A year later, Coach Bobby Dodd hired Broyles as the offensive backfield coach at Georgia Tech, and the team promptly rolled to a 31-game winning streak. In 1957, Broyles was named head football coach at the University of Missouri where he served one season before receiving an offer from UA Athletic Director John Barnhill to come to the University of Arkansas.