John Melvin "Moose" Myers (October 8, 1924 – December 24, 2020) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

(UCLA) and professionally in

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) with the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

and Los Angeles Rams. Myers served as the head football coach at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California from 1953 to 1960, compiling a record of 39–33–5. He was also the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches an ...

at Pacific from 1956 to 1961. Myers attended high school in

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist des ...

, and served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

as an ensign during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Myers first came to Pacific in 1951 for one season as the backfield coach for the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

before returning to the NFL as a player in 1952. Myers died on December 24, 2020, at the age of 96. At the time of his death, he was the last surviving member of both the 1948 and 1949 Philadelphia Eagles championship teams.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* 1924 births 2020 deaths American football fullbacks American football quarterbacks Los Angeles Rams players Pacific Tigers athletic directors Pacific Tigers football coaches Philadelphia Eagles players UCLA Bruins football players United States Navy officers United States Navy personnel of World War II Sportspeople from Ventura, California Players of American football from Ventura County, California Coaches of American football from California Players of American football from St. Louis Military personnel from California {{runningback-1920s-stub