Paul Brothers (born April 18, 1945) is a former

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 ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

for the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first seas ...

and Ottawa Rough Riders. He was drafted by the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

in the sixteenth round of the 1967 NFL Draft. He played college football at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...

Early years

Brothers was a two-time All-State

Roseburg High School Roseburg High School is a public high school in Roseburg, Oregon, United States. Campus The campus is roughly and contains seven main buildings as well as a track and an artificial turf football field. Completed in 1926, the "Heritage Buildin ...

, where he led the team to a football state championship in 1961. Following graduation in 1963, he stayed in state to play at

in Corvallis.

College career

Brothers accepted a football scholarship from

to play under head coach

Tommy Prothro James Thompson "Tommy" Prothro Jr. (July 20, 1920 – May 14, 1995) was an American football coach. He was the head coach at Oregon State University from 1955 to 1964 and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1965 to 1970, compil ...

. As a sophomore, he was named the starter at quarterback after a season opener loss against

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. He would lead the

Beavers Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...

to 8 wins out of the next 9 games, the Pac-8 title and the Rose Bowl, where they lost 34-7 to the Michigan Wolverines. In his senior season in 1966, under second-year head coach

Dee Andros Demosthenes Konstandies Andrecopoulos (October 17, 1924 – October 22, 2003) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics He was the head coach at the University of Idaho from 1962 to 1964 and Oregon State University from ...

, injuries forced him to split time with sophomore Steve Preece. Brothers finished his career as a three-year starter, recording 184 completions out of 404 attempts (45.5 avg.), 2,151 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, 17 interceptions, 376 carries for 1,090 yards (2.9-yard avg.) and 13 rushing touchdowns. At the time, he ranked second in school history behind

Terry Baker Terry Wayne Baker (born May 5, 1941) is a former American football and basketball player. He played college football and basketball at Oregon State University in Corvallis, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta. Baker played as a quarterba ...

in total offense. In 1997, he was inducted into the Oregon State University Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2010, he was inducted into the

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame The Oregon Sports Hall of Fame honors Oregon athletes, teams, coaches, and others who have made a significant contribution to sports in Oregon. The first class was inducted in 1980, with new inductees added in the fall. Operated by the Oregon Sports ...

Professional career

Brothers was selected by the

in the

16th 16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and . In English speech, ...

round (416th overall) of the 1967 NFL draft, but opted not to sign with the team. On March 15, 1967, he was signed by the

of the

, who already had veteran quarterback

Joe Kapp Joseph Robert Kapp (born March 19, 1938) is an American former football player, coach, and executive. He played college football as a quarterback at the University of California, Berkeley. Kapp played professionally in the Canadian Football Lea ...

, but did not know if he would re-sign. In July, he was waived after the Lions had previously acquired Bernie Faloney to be their starting quarterback. On August 5, Brothers was sent to the

Eugene Bombers The Eugene Bombers were a professional 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 ...

of the Continental Football League to gain more experience. In 1968, he was one of the three starters at quarterback that the Lions used during the season. In 1969 he was named the starter, registering 200 completions (tied for third in club history) out of 406 attempts, 2,671 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and 33 interceptions. In 1970, he posted 2,604 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. On September 8, 1971, he was released after starting 7 games with a 3-4 record. He started 48 games during his tenure with the Lions. On September 14, 1971, he began a five game trial with the Ottawa Rough Riders, eventually earning a permanent role. On June 17, 1973, he announced his retirement to focus on his real estate business in Oregon.

Coaching career

Brothers coached football and girls basketball at Marist High School in Eugene, Oregon from 1975 to 1986 with a record of 196-139. He joined the

Willamette High School Willamette High School, or "Wil-Hi", is located in the Bethel-Danebo area of West Eugene, Oregon, United States. It is one of two high schools in the Bethel School District along with Kalapuya High School. History Willamette High School firs ...

girls basketball program before the 1993-94 season, where he had a coaching record of 437-122, 17 consecutive postseason appearances, and won four Class 5A state championships (2007, 2009, 2013 and 2014). He retired in 2014.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brothers, Paul Living people 1945 births Sportspeople from Roseburg, Oregon Players of American football from Oregon American football quarterbacks Canadian football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football Oregon State Beavers football players Continental Football League players BC Lions players Ottawa Rough Riders players High school football coaches in Oregon High school basketball coaches in Oregon American women's basketball coaches