NFF Hall of Famer Jerry Stovall Passes Away
LSU All-America halfback, Heisman Trophy runner-up and former Tigers head coach was 85.
Jerry Stovall, a 2010 NFF College Football Hall of Fame inductee who was an All-America halfback at LSU and later the Tigers’ head coach, passed away Aug. 31 in Baton Rouge. He was 85.
“Jerry Stovall was one of the great all-around players of his era and a tremendous representative of LSU and the game of college football,” said NFF Chairman Archie Manning. “There simply wasn’t much he couldn’t do on a football field. He ran the ball, caught passes, punted, returned kicks and played defense, and he did it all at an All-America level. His impact on LSU extended well beyond his playing days as a coach and leader in the Baton Rouge community. We are deeply saddened by his passing, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and the entire LSU community.”
A unanimous All-America selection in 1962, Jerry Stovall was a literal “Mr. Everything” for LSU, playing halfback, leading the Tigers in rushing and receiving and handling punting duties during his three years in Baton Rouge.
A two-time All-SEC First Team selection, Stovall was named the conference’s Most Valuable Player in 1962 en route to finishing as the Heisman Trophy runner-up behind Oregon State’s Terry Baker. He was a member of the 1961 SEC Championship team that went 10-1, including a win in the Orange Bowl. In 1962, LSU finished 9-1-1 after a 13-0 win over Texas in the 1963 Cotton Bowl.
Lettering from 1960-62, he finished his LSU career with 1,081 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground while adding 462 yards and one touchdown receiving. Stovall gained nearly 700 return yards on special teams and recorded seven interceptions as a defensive standout. He also held the LSU record for highest punting average (42.1) in a season, amassing 165 attempts for 6,477 yards by career’s end.
Stovall played his first two seasons under Coach Paul Dietzel and then for NFF College Football Hall of Coach Charles McClendon who took over the top job in 1962.
Selected in the first round of the 1963 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals, Stovall played nine seasons in the NFL, earning three Pro Bowl selections.
After his NFL career, Stovall joined Dietzel’s staff at South Carolina. He returned to LSU from 1974-78 under coach McClendon as an assistant before becoming the Tigers’ head coach from 1980-83. In 1982, he was named the Walter Camp Football Foundation Coach of the Year after leading the Tigers to an 8-3-1 record and an Orange Bowl appearance.
In his post-football career, Stovall served as athletics director at Louisiana Tech from 1990–94 and then as President & CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Sports Foundation for more than two decades. He also served on the board of directors for the Louisiana Senior Games.
He was inducted into the LSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1977 and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1981. His No. 21 LSU jersey was retired in Tiger Stadium on Oct. 13, 2018.
Born in West Monroe, La., on April 30, 1941, Stovall played high school football at West Monroe High School, graduating in 1959.
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