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Hall of Fame coach dead at 87

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Former Ohio State football coach Earle Bruce has died at the age of 87, the university announced Friday.

The cause of death was not stated, but Bruce was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease last August.

His daughters, Lynn, Michele, Aimee and Noel, released a statement Friday morning through the school: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, Coach Earle Bruce, early this morning, Friday, April 20. He was a great man, a wonderful husband, father and grandfather, and a respected coach to many. Our family will miss him dearly, but we take solace in the belief that he is in a better place and reunited with his beloved wife, Jean. We thank you for your prayers and good wishes.”

Bruce succeeded his coach and mentor, Woody Hayes, in 1979 and led the Buckeyes to four Big Ten Conference championships.

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Bruce’s first college head coaching job was at the University of Tampa, where he went 10-2 in 1972, his only season there.

He went on to Iowa State, where he won 36 games and led the team to bowls in 1977 and 1978.

OSU fired Bruce before the last game of the 1987 season when the Buckeyes were 5-4-1. He was allowed to coach the team’s last game of the season, and Ohio State beat archrival Michigan in Ann Arbor 23-20.

Bruce coached the University of Northern Iowa in 1988, and then finished his career at Colorado State University. In his second season there, he led the Rams to the first bowl victory in school history.

He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003, the Iowa State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000 and the OSU Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

Current Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer paid tribute to Bruce on Friday.

“I’ve made it clear many times that, other than my father, Coach Bruce was the most influential man in my life,” said Meyer, whose first collegiate coaching job was as a graduate assistant for Bruce in 1986. “Every significant decision I’ve made growing up in this profession was with him involved in it. His wife [Jean] and he were the role models for Shelley and me. They did everything with class. He was not afraid to show how much he loved his family and cared for his family.”

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Others honored the coach on Twitter.

Bruce wasn’t the first in his family to battle Alzheimer’s. His father and two of his sisters died from the disease.

Because of that, Bruce and his late wife, Jean, worked diligently raising funds for Alzheimer’s research. More than $1 million has being raised for the Earle and Jean Bruce Alzheimer’s Research Fund in Neurology at Ohio State, according to the Wexner Medical Center.

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Todd Windsor is a senior story editor at The Western Journal. He has worked as an editor or reporter in news and sports for more than 30 years.
Todd Windsor is a senior story editor at The Western Journal. He was born in Baltimore and grew up in Maryland. He graduated from the University of Miami (he dreams of wearing the turnover chain) and has worked as an editor and reporter in news and sports for more than 30 years. Todd started at The Miami News (defunct) and went on to work at The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., the St. Petersburg (now Tampa Bay) Times, The Baltimore Sun and Space News before joining Liftable Media in 2016. He and his beautiful wife have two amazing daughters and a very old Beagle.
Birthplace
Baltimore
Education
Bachelor of Science from the University of Miami
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Media, Sports




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